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# HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
## ADDRESS BY CHAIRMAN
CHAIRMAN (in Cantonese):-Ladies and Gentlemen, the meeting is called to order.
## MINUTES
The minutes of the meeting held on 20 September 1983 were confirmed.
## STATEMENT BY CHAIRMAN
CHAIRMAN (in Cantonese):-
Urban Council Encourages Cultural Development and Appreciation through Festivals
Hong Kong has developed and prospered because it is a closely-knit cosmopolitan community, sharing common aspirations and equally important, mutual respect, understanding and appreciation of the different lifestyles and backgrounds of those living here.
It is a free and open society and as such we are able to learn and enjoy the cultures and customs of other lands.
To provide the opportunities for this to happen and for the inter-change of knowledge about each other's customs and traditions, the Urban Council plays an important catalytic role between those living here and elsewhere.
In so doing, it devotes considerable time and resources each year to foster this better understanding and appreciation. Thus it gives those domiciled here a chance to experience what they would otherwise have little chance to, while at the same time also promoting and enhancing Chinese traditions and culture among other ethnic nationalities.
There are many ways in which this can be achieved but Council has found from experience that the best method is through the organizing of festivals, festivals which bring together groups on a geographical basis or ones which concentrate on a particular theme such as, for instance, Chinese operas.
The Urban Council took the lead very early on by establishing a number of festivals which have now also been recognized internationally for their purpose and uniqueness.
I am referring of course to the Festival of Asian Arts and the International Film Festival.
The Festival of Asian Arts, now in its eighth year, aims primarily to enable local people to appreciate the vast and diverse cultural expressions of Asia beyond its own narrow confines. At the same time, the festival also encourages the community to support local talent.
This year the festival will start on 18th October, that is in a week's time, and will be presenting altogether 174 performances both indoors and out. Besides, there will be 12 countries participating in addition to groups from Hong Kong, there will also be five exhibitions and a number of lecture demonstrations.
The popularity of this yearly event is reflected in the overwhelming support given to the festival's programme each time. Its success can no doubt be credited to the fact that the festival each time brings to Hong Kong a new group or something that has not been seen here before.
The Festival of Asian Arts has, indeed, become the premiere event of its kind in Asia.
Organized with more or less the same aims, the International Film Festival since its inception in 1977 has also proved very popular with people not only in Hong Kong, but abroad as well.
This festival does not make awards for it was not established to be a competitive festival, but more so to bring to Hong Kong films from all over the world for the enjoyment of the people here and to encourage their appreciation of film making. The emphasis of our festival is on Asian Cinema and Hong Kong films and the success of this has helped to stimulate interest overseas in films from this part of the world.
In developing the theme of promoting the arts and culture through festivals, the Urban Council has taken this a further step to organize each year, a festival of a selected topic. The first of these was the Hong Kong International Children's Choir Festival held last year followed by the European Puppet Festival earlier this year. The acclaim and support given to these events demonstrates that there is a demand for this type of festival and is an encouragement to the Urban Council to continue it in the future whenever the opportunity arises.
I think it would be appropriate at this point to also mention other cultural festivals which though not organized by the Urban Council, do still receive support from the Council, the main ones being the Hong Kong Arts Festival and the recently established Hong Kong Festival Fringe. These festivals, together with others organized by the Arts Centre and other bodies, provide the people of Hong Kong and visitors as well with a wide spectrum of culture which can be matched favourably with any other city in the world.
As Hong Kong has a rich cultural heritage, a significant proportion of the Urban Council's resources is devoted to the promotion of performing arts through smaller and localized festivals. Among them are the annual Chinese Opera Festival and the annual Drama Festival.
Others include the Lantern Carnivals during the Mid-Autumn Festival and the Spring Lantern Festival during the Chinese Lunar New Year, both of these being held at the Council's own parks and playgrounds.
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