Jockey Club promotes French cultural exchange at Le French May

03/10/2016

For the fifth consecutive year, The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust will be the major partner of Le French May, contributing funding to help bring in a fascinating mix of five French arts and cultural programmes, as well as support educational activities, so as to promote arts development in Hong Kong. One of the highlights of this vibrant celebration of French culture will be an exhibition of paintings by renowned French impressionist Claude Monet.

Today (10 March), Club Steward Michael T H Lee, Consul-General of France in Hong Kong and Macau Eric Berti, Under Secretary for Home Affairs Florence Hui and Chairman of the Board of Le French May Andrew Yuen attended a press conference to announce the details of this year’s programmes under the theme of “Dreams and Wonders”.

Mr Michael Lee said the Club’s Charities Trust was honoured to be the major partner of Le French May once again. The Trust was strengthening its support this year through the Jockey Club Community Outreach and Arts Education Programme, which would benefit over 33,000 festival-goers. “In addition, we are sponsoring 1,500 complimentary tickets for disadvantaged students and the less privileged and supporting programmes for the visually or hearing impaired,” he noted. “In this way we hope to deepen Hong Kong’s engagement with the arts and open up the pleasures of Le French May to as wide an audience as possible.”

The five Trust-sponsored programmes being staged between May and July are expected to attract more than 310,000 people. They are Mozart in Love from globally-acclaimed Ensemble Pygmalion with Soprano Sabine Devieilhe, Gounod’s master opera Romi?¢Xo et Juliette, a neo-classical production Cinderella by The Malandain Ballet Biarritz, the amazing contemporary circus and acrobatics Extri??miti?¢Xs of Cirque Inextremiste, and an exhibition Claude Monet: The Spirit of Place with some of the emblematic artworks of the “founder of French impressionist painting”, gathered from French National Museums and private collections. For more information, please visit: http://www.frenchmay.com/.

To celebrate the Festival, the Club will also organise special French-themed nights of racing and entertainment every Wednesday at Happy Valley Racecourse between 4 and 18 May.

The Hong Kong Jockey Club
Founded in 1884, The Hong Kong Jockey Club is a world-class horse racing operator and Hong Kong’s largest community benefactor, as well as one of Asia’s most prestigious membership clubs. Operating as a not-for-profit organisation, the Club allocates its surplus funds for charitable and community projects. In 2014/15, its donations reached a record HK$3.87 billion, and in the last decade alone it supported over 1,300 projects. The Club is also Hong Kong’s largest single taxpayer, contributing a record HK$20.05 billion in 2014/15. With about 70% of its revenue given back to society every year through donations and tax contributions, The Hong Kong Jockey Club delivers a significantly higher return to the community than any other racing and/or sports betting organisation in the world. As a socially responsible organisation, the Club helps Government combat illegal betting and advocates responsible gambling. The Club is also one of Hong Kong’s largest employers with over 24,000 full-time and part-time staff. Committed to global excellence and giving back to society, the Club is always “riding high together for a better future” with the people of Hong Kong.