Arts, Culture and Heritage All Categories Arts, Culture and Heritage Education and Training Elderly Services Emergency and Poverty Relief Environmental Protection Family Services Medical and Health Rehabilitation Services Sports and Recreation Youth Development

The Hong Kong Arts Festival (HKAF) is a highly-regarded international arts event that enriches the cultural life of Hong Kong each February and March by presenting top-notch local and international artists. Since 1974, the Club has been a committed partner of this annual extravaganza.

Details were recently announced of HKAF 2017, including a number of performances and art-related events funded by the Club’s Charities Trust. To mark the 45th staging of the HKAF, the Club is additionally funding The Super Pool, a special programme co-presented with the HKAF that allows people to dance in harmony with lights.

The Super Pool is an amazing computerised installation designed by renowned new media artist Jen Lewin which fuses visual art, technology and human interaction. Using energy-saving LED lights and environmentally-friendly materials, Lewin has created a dance floor with light pad that can allow more than 100 people to participate at a time. It has been demonstrated at more than 30 major arts festivals around the world, and looks sure to be a highlight of HKAF 2017. It will be set up throughout the Festival in different spaces, including the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, to allow as many people as possible to enjoy its dazzling experience.

Among the Festival’s stage presentations, the now well-established Hong Kong Jockey Club Series will comprise the opening show, La Bayadère, 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.

Also solely sponsored by the Club’s Charities Trust will be Hong Kong Odyssey, a specially-commissioned performance in the Jockey Club Local Creative Talents Series 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.

Another programme solely sponsored by the Trust, The Hong Kong Jockey Club Contemporary Dance Series, 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 Trust supports educational and outreach activities that allow students to learn more about contemporary dance.

To encourage local students to enjoy and appreciate the arts, the Trust is also funding two complimentary presentations under The Hong Kong Jockey Club Student Matinee Programme. About 3,200 students will be able to enjoy free special performances of Kosmos and O Balcão de Amor by Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal from Canada on 3 and 4 March. To enhance their appreciation of the programmes students will also learn about ballet technique and theatre etiquette. As in previous years, the Trust will fund a transport subsidy scheme to help students who live in remote districts enjoy these programmes.

More details of all these events are available at www.hk.artsfestival.org/en/