Hoping to attract different communities in the city, next year's performances will be held at a variety of different venues including Two IFC
The upcoming Hong Kong Arts Festival, which runs from February 5 to March 8 next year, is reaching out to diverse communities in Hong Kong by holding performances in a variety of different venues. These include town halls in the New Territories, St John's Cathedral in Central, a commercial gallery on Hollywood Road and office space with a jaw-dropping view on the 55th floor of Two IFC.
Tisa Ho, executive director of the festival, said choosing venues away from the usual Central, Wan Chai and Tsim Sha Tsui public performance spaces was an attempt to make the arts festival accessible to a wider audience.
'This is our effort to achieve closer engagement with different communities and locate ourselves in more geographic areas in Hong Kong,' Ms Ho said. 'It's a better way of serving audiences of today and building audiences for tomorrow.'
More than 30 venues will be used for the festival, including the Festival Plus programme, which offers a range of side events including workshops, talks and meet-the-artist sessions. Of the 118 paid performances taking place in the festival, 24 will take place in unusual venues.
Ms Ho said each venue had been chosen carefully to enhance audience experience.
'Every venue is special and unique and impacts on how we experience a performance. This is, in fact, something we are exploring in the symposium Excellence by Design, which is part of our Festival Plus events. We have invited a panel of international experts, and will address questions such as: what primary factors are to be considered in planning and designing spaces for the arts, and what lessons can be learned from recent experience elsewhere in the world. That's happening on February 13 in a space that is new to the festival also - an office building in Kwun Tong,' Ms Ho said.