HONG KONG PROVISIONAL URBAN COUNCIL
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music groups to stage concerts of professional standard at schools. Moreover, "Music for the Millions' concerts, instrument exhibitions and promotional activities were held in various districts, so that the general public might learn about main-stream music. The practice of adopting a 'community-oriented' approach to supplement the 'school-oriented' approach has proved to be acceptable and successful. If there were no promotion of arts at the district level and no subsidy from the Government, parents at the grassroots level would have to purchase expensive instruments and pay high tuition fees if they want their children to receive high standard instrumental training. Nowadays, receiving training in violin and attending music examinations held by the Associated Board of Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) are no longer exclusively for children from well-off families. And orchestras formed by the general public are booming. All these demonstrate the success of the 'community-oriented' approach.
It is a great pity that the aforesaid approach is only applied to the popularization of music, while activities to popularize other arts forms are conducted in a piecemeal and unsystematic manner. Mr. Chairman, I fully support the diversification of arts and cultural activities, and further support the Council's continuous effort to enhance the standard of arts and culture in Hong Kong. On the other hand, I deeply believe that a great number of people in Hong Kong, just like myself, are earnestly looking forward to the establishment of a Visual Arts Office, Dance office, Drama office, Opera Office, Avant-garde Arts Office etc. alongside the existing Music Office. To tie in with the establishment of such offices, the Council must, as I mentioned at the annual debate last year, do some concrete things. We should plan for the provision of more cultural complexes, such as district city halls or community civic centres. Apart from seeking to satisfy the great demand for the use of cultural venues, the Council should be far-sighted and allow more room for the popularization and promotion of arts and culture at the district level.
Mr. Chairman, I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate Kwun Tong district's pressing need for a cultural complex. Although Hong Kong is no longer a cultural desert now, Kwun Tong district, which accounts for about one tenth of the population in Hong Kong, remains to be a tiny cultural desert in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Cultural activities organized in the district are limited, which include 24 free cultural and entertainment programmes presented by our Entertainment Office annually. Since Kwun Tong is a large administration district with a huge population, the number of programmes staged there is grossly inadequate. Using the district board constituencies in 1995 as reference, it can be seen that there are 33 constituencies in Kwun Tong alone. With 24 performances annually, each constituency has to wait for an average of 17 months before it can enjoy a free cultural and entertainment programme presented by the Urban Council. In her speech delivered on a public occasion in Tsui Ping Estate recently, the Hon. CHAN Yuen-han, Provisional Legislative Councillor, also urged the Council to
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