Enticed by the promise of a free concert, Shek Kip Mei resident Tang Loi expected to see Cantonese opera classics at the recently opened Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre. Instead, she was treated to a piece of contemporary theatre combining dance, mime and masks. 'I hadn't seen this kind of show before, but I liked it because their movement was very lively,' says the sprightly 90-year-old.
Titled Love Life Death, the performance by All Theatre Art Association (ATAA) is part of a community festival being staged at the new arts venue until Sunday. The aim is to promote performing arts to residents in the largely working-class districts of Sham Shui Po and Shek Kip Mei through a series of free shows and workshops, says festival co-ordinator Gus Mok Chiu-yu.
'We want to let the people know they have the right to enjoy the arts. It should be an integral part of their daily lives,' says Mok, a veteran community artist.
The festival is among a flurry of community art programmes to have emerged in recent years, fuelled as much by funding for outreach projects from the Arts Development Council (ADC) and the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) as by the passion of promoters such as Mok. But how effective are such schemes at boosting neighbourhood interest and participation in the arts?
Cheung To, a housewife who brought her three-year-old daughter to see ATAA perform, enjoyed the experience. 'The style is refreshing. The theme about love, life and death is something I can relate to,' she says. 'I hope there will be more free performances like this.'
As Mok sees it, community theatre offers a channel for young people and less privileged groups to take control by expressing their hopes and feelings. That's why 'a community artist is more than just a performer: he also serves as an educator and social worker who knows the community he is serving,' he says.