Apart from presenting high quality performances, the Hong Kong Arts Festival also invests heavily in arts education for young people and offers a diverse range of outreach programmes each year. Working relentlessly with various sectors of the community, we wish to provide our students with exposures to quality arts programme and arts education projects, hence nurturing their interest and knowledge in the arts.
Arts education requires ample resources. We invite corporations to join hands with us to create a better cultural environment for the next generation. Each outreach sponsorship scheme is designed based on programme nature, community needs and the sponsor’s CSR direction.
The following are examples of our outreach sponsorships:
For details, please contact the Development Department by phone at (852) 2828 4910/12, by fax at (852) 2824 3722 or by email at dev@hkaf.org.
Young Friends
In 1992, the Hong Kong Arts Festival launched “Young Friends”, an integrated arts education and audience development programme designed to cultivate student interest in, and appreciation for, the performing arts. Over the past 29 years, our “Young Friends” scheme has reached over 782,000 local secondary and tertiary school students and accumulated membership has exceeded 171,000 students.
“Young Friends” members can participate in the following activities:
On campus tours and performances
Festival programmes, rehearsals and tailor-made “Young Friends Specials” performances
Workshops, talks, backstage visits and other "Festival PLUS" events
"Young Friends Volunteer" and "Young Friends Reporters" activities
The Sir Edward Youde Memorial Fund, Founding Sponsor of Young Friends, has been asupporter of the project since the latter’s inception in 1992. To support the ever-expanding project, we encourage corporations keen on supporting arts education to consider sponsoring “Young Friends”, where more resources would enable us to further develop and diversify our programmes, as well as extending our reach among the future generation.
To find out more about "Young Friends", CLICK HERE.
Student Matinee Programme
To enable more students to experience world-class arts programmes, the Hong Kong Arts Festival has been organising the Hong Kong Jockey Club Student Matinee Programme every year since 2007. Apart from providing exceptional performances to up to 3200 students each year, the Festival also organises preparatory talks in schools and community centres before the shows to promote a better understanding of the performances, different art forms, and even theatre etiquette.
Preparatory talks at schools
Students at the performances
With support from The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, more than 25,500 students have enjoyed the following specially arranged world-class Festival performances. The Festival also prepares specially designed house programmes which provide information on the artists, the art form and theatre etiquette. Check out some of the programmes of the previous years at the links embedded below.
| Year | Performances |
|---|---|
| 2007 | The Leipzig Ballet (with Gewandhaus Orchestra and soloists and choir from Leipzig Opera) – The Great Mass |
| 2008 | New York Philharmonic |
| 2009 | English National Ballet – Alice in Wonderland |
| 2010 | The Mariinsky Ballet – Don Quixote |
| 2011 | Birmingham Royal Ballet – Hobson’s Choice |
| 2012 | Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo – Le Songe |
| 2013 | American Ballet Theatre – Dance Gala |
| 2014 | Igor Moiseyev State Academic Ensemble of Popular Dance |
| 2015 | Dutch National Ballet – Cinderella |
| 2016 | Mikhailovsky Ballet – The Sleeping Beauty |
| 2017 | Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal – Kosmos and O Balcão de Amor |
| 2018 | American Ballet Theatre – Whipped Cream |
| 2019 | The Hamburg Ballet and John Neumeier - The Nutcracker |
Family Adventure Days
Our Festival PLUS offers a diverse range of fun, educational and family-friendly activities each year to extend Festival experiences and enhance audience engagement. Recent examples include:
Opera Adventure Days at the 46th HKAF in 2018 and 47th HKAF in 2019
“I can’t wait to see myself in the mirror!”
The opera world lies beyond!
The Opera Adventure Day was held for two consecutive years in 2018 and 2019. The events feature a series of fun and family-friendly events delving into the world of opera, such as props and costumes display, treasure hunt, opera make up for children, photo booth, VR experience, theatre workshop, live performance, and backstage tours for families to enjoy.
P is for Percussion! Family Day at the 47th HKAF in 2019
Playing the thumbiano is not that hard!
At the P is for Percussion! Family Day in 2019, both adults and children could feel the pulse of percussion in a wide range of family-friendly activities, including an interactive percussion exhibition, foyer performances, as well as thumbiano and musical bottle workshops.
More engaging events and educational activities of similar nature will be offered in the future. We encourage corporations to join hands with the Festival in making the arts more accessible to members of our community, young and old.
For details about sponsoring our Outreach projects, please contact the Development Department by phone at (852) 2828 4910/12, by fax at (852) 2824 3798 or by email at dev@hkaf.org.