The 2017 Hong Kong Arts Festival (HKAF) opened yesterday (16 February) with support from The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, which has been a partner of this highly-regarded international event for 45 years. The Club’s funding covers the opening performance and several other leading productions, as well as various educational programmes.
Guests attending the opening ceremony of this year’s festival included Club Chairman Dr Simon S O Ip, HKSAR Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, Permanent Secretary for Home Affairs Betty Fung Ching Suk-yee, Director of Leisure and Cultural Services Michelle Li, Hong Kong Arts Festival’s Chairman Victor Cha and Executive Director Tisa Ho.
To mark the 45th staging of the festival, the Club is additionally this year funding Danz Up 2.0 and Super Pool, two special programmes being co-presented with the HKAF. The former is a reprise of the highly-acclaimed artistic urban dance musical staged last year; while the latter is an innovative outdoor light installation that fuses visual art and interactive technology to allow people to dance in harmony with dazzling lights.
As a long-term partner of the HKAF, the Club has helped the festival bring in some of the world’s leading performing groups. The popular Hong Kong Jockey Club Series, established in 2008, will feature the festival’s opening show La Bayadi?2re, performed by Germany’s Bayerisches Staatsballett; an exclusive Asian premiere, The Makropulos Case, performed by National Theatre Brno from the Czech Republic; and Vasily Petrenko and the Oslo Philharmonic from Norway.
Other exciting performances and associated events include:
Jockey Club Local Creative Talents Series - Hong Kong Odyssey, a specially-commissioned performance that will illustrate the historical development of Hong Kong and its culture over the past 100 years through poetry, music and song. Related outreach activities, including workshops and talks, are expected to attract 5,600 people.
The Hong Kong Jockey Club Contemporary Dance Series, which promotes local talent by featuring local young dancers and choreographers and their innovative dance works. Under this series for 2017 will be Dance off,Will you still love me tomorrow? Hong Kong Remix and Cecilia’s Rhapsody. As part of this programme, the Club is also supporting educational and outreach activities that allow students to learn more about contemporary dance.
The Hong Kong Jockey Club Student Matinee Programme enables about 3,200 students to enjoy free special performances of Kosmos and O Balcão de Amor by Les Ballets Jazz de Montrealfrom Canada on 3 and 4 March. To enhance their appreciation of the programmes, the students will also learn about ballet technique and theatre etiquette. As in previous years, the Club will fund a transport subsidy scheme to help students from remote districts to enjoy these programmes.
More details of all these events are available at www.hk.artsfestival.org.
The Hong Kong Jockey Club
The Hong Kong Jockey Club is a not-for-profit enterprise dedicated to community betterment. Through its integrated business model of world-class racing, responsible sports wagering and lottery, and charity and community contribution, the Club generates substantial economic and social value and assists the Government in combatting illegal gambling. In 2015/16 the Club donated a record HK$3.9 billion to charity and paid a record HK$20.9 billion in tax. It is Hong Kong’s largest single tax payer and one of the world’s largest charity donors. 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.
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Club Chairman Dr Simon S O Ip (front row, 2nd left) joins HKSAR Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying (front row, 3rd left), Permanent Secretary for Home Affairs Betty Fung Ching Suk-yee (front row, 2nd right), Director of Leisure and Cultural Services Michelle Li (front row, 1st left), HKAFa£á?s Chairman Victor Cha (front row, 3rd right) and Executive Director Tisa Ho (front row, 1st right) at the opening ceremony of the 45th Hong Kong Arts Festival.
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Club Steward Stephen Ip Shu Kwan (left), Director of Leisure and Cultural Services Michelle Li (centre) and Tam Wing-pong (right).
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Club Steward The Hon Martin Liao (2nd left), Chief Executive Officer Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges (1st right), Executive Director, Charities and Community, Leong Cheung (1st left) and Permanent Secretary for Home Affairs Betty Fung Ching Suk-yee (2nd right).
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Club Steward Silas S S Yang (right), HKAFa£á?s Chairman Victor Cha (centre) and Dean of the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine of The University of Hong Kong Professor Gabriel Leung (left).
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The Hong Kong Jockey Club has been a partner of the Hong Kong Arts Festival for 45 years.
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