Amateur Cantonese opera performers contribute to the economy by spending about HK$12 billion a year on musicians, costumes, cosmetics, recordings and lessons in the art, a survey shows.
Raymond Lee Shu-tak, president of Iatopia.com, which designed and conducted the survey, said about a third of regular patrons were interested in becoming performers.
It was this sector of the opera audience that spent HK$6.4 billion on learning the performance skills and HK$1.2 billion in expenses including rent for venues, facilities and wages for musicians.
Total expenses, which also included rehearsals, costumes and donations to charities, accounted for HK$11.9 billion, Dr Lee said. No detailed breakdown was given during a briefing yesterday.
The activities of these amateurs spawned other businesses that contributed to the economy. They spent HK$250 million in makeup, HK$123 million on recordings and photography and HK$100 million on audio-visual products - mainly in publishing video discs for themselves, Dr Lee said.
Local magazine the Hong Kong Opera Review commissioned the survey with a subsidy from the Arts Development Council to profile the city's Cantonese opera audience.
Audiences at 32 performances in 13 venues between March last year and May this year were asked to fill out a questionnaire. Fifty focus groups comprising seasoned Cantonese opera instructors, and amateur performers also took part.