ENG-1985 — Page 318

RECREATION AND THE ARTS

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In 1985, 531 700 people attended 1 056 performances at the Concert Hall, the Theatre and the Recital Hall. A total of 117 exhibitions were held at the Exhibition Hall and the Exhibition Gallery.

Town Halls

There are four civic centres under the management of the Regional Services Department. These are the Tsuen Wan Town Hall, Lut Sau Hall in Yuen Long, North District Town Hall located south of Sheung Shui and Tai Po Civic Centre. The facilities of these civic centres can be hired at reasonable rates. The Tsuen Wan Town Hall, the first multi-purpose cultural complex in the non-urban areas, has, among other things, a 1 424-seat auditorium, an exhibition gallery and a cultural activities hall. A total of 445 presentations and exhibitions were organised by the Regional Services Department at the four civic centres, attracting more than 256 710 people.

Hong Kong Cultural Centre

The Hong Kong Cultural Centre is being jointly built by the government and the Urban Council on a choice site in Tsim Sha Tsui at the tip of the Kowloon peninsula. It will comprise a 2 250-seat Concert Hall, a 1 860-seat Grand Theatre, a 300-500 seat Studio Theatre, an arts library, a restaurant block and a garden. Construction work is expected to be completed in 1988–9.

Aberdeen Cultural Centre

The Aberdeen Cultural Centre, on the fifth floor of the Urban Council Aberdeen Complex, is basically intended to be a district cultural facility. It has a 200-seat Cultural Activities Hall, an Exhibition Hall which also serves as a rehearsal room, a Conference Room, two music prac- tice rooms and ancillary facilities which are suitable for a wide variety of small-scale cultural performances and community activities such as recital, dance, drama, chamber music, mime shows, rehearsals, exhibitions, lectures, meetings, receptions and other functions.

The Cultural Centre is available for hire by the public and a total of 196 activities were held in 1985.

Community Arts Centres

In order to maximise the use of land, cultural facilities are to be provided on upper floors of a number of the Urban Council's market complexes to achieve an even geographical spread of cultural centres in urban areas. A community arts centre will normally comprise a small auditorium for performances, rehearsal and practice facilities, an exhibition hall and a visual arts studio. Two such centres are under construction in the Ngau Chi Wan Complex and the Western Complex, and are scheduled for completion in late 1986 and early 1988 respectively.

Hong Kong Arts Centre

Opened in October 1977, the Hong Kong Arts Centre is the home of an independent non- profit making organisation which presents multi-cultural arts events, including music, drama, dance, film and the visual arts. In 1985, the Shouson Theatre, Recital Hall and Studio Theatre were used for 5 600 hours and the Pao Sui Loong Galleries held 69 exhibitions. The rehearsal rooms, art and crafts studios, music practice rooms and other areas were used for 8 168 hours.

Main events of the year included a sponsored Children's Festival, a sponsored Music Series and exhibitions such as 'Contemporary British Theatre Design' and 'The Art of