ENG-1995 — Page 415

RECREATION, SPORTS AND THE ARTS

International Children's Arts Festival

The International Children's Arts Festival, which entered its sixth year in 1995, is an annual summer event organised by the Regional Council for the youngsters and their families to savour cultural activities of various kinds.

Overseas artists participating in the 1995 festival included the National Youth Music Theatre of Britain, the Guangzhou Children and Youth Acrobatics Troupe from China, and Bugs and Balloons from the United States. Local and district performing groups also played an active role in the festival. The Hong Kong Ballet with its Regional Council-commissioned programme The Snow Queen, the Hong Kong Symphony Orchestra, the Yip's Children's Choir, and the Anonymous Theatre Company all performed enthusiastically for the young audience.

Participatory programmes continued to be the focus of the festival and many new items were added including workshops in modern dance and creative drama, all of which aimed at encouraging the young audience to participate, stretch their imaginations and learn to appreciate different performing arts. The festival featured three fun days, nine workshops and 10 stage performances, drawing 26 549 people.

Chinese Folk Culture Festival

A showcase of the rich variety of folk art and culture in China and Hong Kong, the Chinese Folk Culture Festival featured a diversity of programmes including acrobatic shows by the China Acrobatic Troupe from Beijing; Chinese opera by the Huangmei Opera Troupe from Anhui; puppet shows by the Yangzhou Puppet Theatre Company from Jiangsu; shadow puppet shows by the Hua Shadow Puppet Theatre of Shaanxi; ethnic song and dance performances by the Song and Dance Ensemble of Tujia of Wubei, Beijing Quyi Ensemble, Suzhou Lyrics Ensemble; and arts and crafts demonstrations from Shaanxi.

Local performances included Cantonese operatic singing, southern singing (nanyin), provincial music of southern China such as Chaozhou and Fujian music, Guangdong puppets as well as Beijing and Kun operatic singing. Outdoor programmes and air festival fairs added variety to the festival, which drew about 98 178 people.

Dance and Drama Animateur Schemes

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The council continued to co-present the Dance and Drama Animateur Schemes with the City Contemporary Dance Company and the Prospects Theatre Company to nurture interest in modern dance and drama among secondary school students by means of outreach classes. In total, 31 schools and 815 students joined the two schemes.

District Arts Support Scheme

The District Arts Support Scheme began in 1994 to provide greater support for non- profit making cultural organisations at the district level. It has continued to help performing, visual and literary arts activities by district organisations, in the form of free use of civic centre facilities and/or a cash subsidy. A total of 76 cultural programmes and 30 training courses were organised under the scheme in 1995.

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