Hong Kong calling

In the next five weeks, Hong Kong Arts Festival 2008 is one more reason why you should revisit "Asia's World City" in this Year of the Rat.

With the schedule spanning 33 days starting on Valentine's Day, featuring 82 paid performances from the classical to the post-modern in 13 different venues across the city by 31 groups from around the world, including six Asian premieres, the total number of artists exceeding 1,300, and more than 83,000 seats available for performing arts lovers (most of those already sold), the Hong Kong Arts Festival 2008 is inarguably one of Asia's most prominent festivals.

Perhaps, considering that the organiser - a non-profit, non-government organisation called the Hong Kong Arts Festival Society, which works all year round to produce the festival in February and March - has been curating the city's largest annual showcase of international dance, theatre, and music for 36 years now, you may not be that surprised, but thrilled and excited.

"The Hong Kong Arts Festival is quite special because it was started by a group of community leaders who loved Hong Kong and thought that they could do something to improve the quality of life, particularly in regards to the cultural quality. Thirty six years ago, there wasn't a lot. What we have now in terms of dance, music, and theatre wasn't there," says Tisa Ho, the festival's executive director.

Today, Hong Kong's cultural calendar is filled up year round with international and local arts activities. So, how does the Hong Kong Arts Festival retain its prominence?

The answer is that festival organisers look at what's going on during the year, and try to offer something more. "We want to present the best we can find from around the world for the audience's enjoyment. In the festival, there is an integrated sense. When we do our programming, we bear in mind what else is happening - we have consultation with our counterparts and work with many major companies in Hong Kong. It's a bigger and more complicated puzzle, but I'd like to think that the festival is still an important part of that puzzle," Ho says.

Apart from being a major showcase of world-renowned companies, the festival has always been an important platform for local companies. "Being a catalyst for the development of arts in Hong Kong is also part of our agenda," Ho says. The Hong Kong Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Hong Kong Repertory Theatre and the Hong Kong Ballet all play an important role in the festival.

"We commission new works by local artists, featuring them in different ways. On a few occasions, we presented Hong Kong artists who went on to become major stars in their areas - cellist Trey Lee and Colleen Lee, for example. This year, we're proud to present Marimba artist Pius Cheung who just won a major award. I'm looking forward to an important career ahead for this young man," Ho says.

Festival-goers can always expect a wide range of programmes. "Every festival is brand new. Each year, there will be some new and exciting performances to be introduced to Hong Kong and the region," Ho says. "We're picking up on major trends and traditions that haven't been here before. This year, we have iconic works by Stuttgart Ballet, Peter Brook, and Pina Bausch, as well as the artists who are pushing at the edges whose works are very today, like Marie Chouinard."

Despite the diversity, there are links between various artists. "Let's look at the character of a clown. In Peter Brook's 'Beckett', the clown is very important. Then, we have Teatro Regio di Parma's 'Rigoletto', a very traditional work in which the clown, again, is centre-staged. On top of that, we also have a tribute to a great Peking Opera performer Xiao Changhua, who specialised in the role of clown. That's one of the things our festival can do - to look at different dimensions of a single subject, cross-time, cross-culture, and cross-genre."

During the festival, there's fun to be had beyond the time between shows. "In our 'Plus' events, we want to enhance the relationship between the artists and the audience through workshops, masterclasses, and meet-the-artists sessions so that there are more dialogues and interactions," Ho says.

Another initiative is called "Young Friends". "We identify youth audiences as an important part of what we do. Young Friends is quite a big investment. Young Friends get to come to two festival events - they either see a performance, attend a rehearsal, or join a backstage tour." Outside of the festival, the Young Friends are kept informed on a year-round basis, and take part in summer workshops and performances.

In the early years of the festival, there was no support from the government for this private citizens' initiative, except that the Tourism Board helped to do some promotion and marketing overseas, Ho says. Today, the government, through its Leisure and Cultural Services Department, offers some support. "But in fact, our revenue mainly comes from sponsorship and ticket income," Ho adds.

This year, the festival's ticketing is improved with the addition of online, real-time booking. "In the past, you had to get a friend to book tickets for you; now you can book from anywhere," Ho says.

Tickets have sold out quite early, so Ho offers two pieces of advice: "One is to watch out for it and book early. Second is that there are some tickets left, so get on the Internet and try."

The Hong Kong Arts Festival 2008 runs from Thursday until March 16. For reservations, see www.urbtix.hk. For the complete schedule and more information, see www.hkartsfestival.org.

Pawit Mahasarinand  

The writer can be contacted at pawit.m@chula.ac.th.