Watch This | First 'Hong Kong Creative Aging Arts Festival' opens in September

The first-ever "Hong Kong Creative Aging Arts Festival" ("HKCAAF"), sponsored by Link Together Initiatives and organized by Arts' Options, will be held from 25 September to 6 October 2024, at the Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre, Shek Kip Mei. The festival will feature over 100 senior artists who demonstrate their unwavering creativity and passions in drama, music and dance performance, visual arts exhibition, and celebrate life with the goodness of arts.

Arts: Promoting Wellness and Social Inclusion

The press conference cum opening ceremony of the Hong Kong Creative Aging Arts Festival took place at the Lok Fu Place today (Aug. 8). The officiating guest of the event, Chris Sun Yuk-han, JP, Secretary for Labour and Welfare, in his speech at the ceremony, acknowledged the effort of the Link REIT and Arts' Options have paid in supporting the art development among senior citizens, and in the promotion of social inclusion through arts.

Brenda Chan, Artistic Director of the Hong Kong Creative Aging Arts Festival and founder of Arts' Options said, "Arts are for all regardless of age, gender, nationality and race. The festival is created to gather senior citizens who are keen to pursue their artistic dreams and professionalism, and would love to share their works."

The theme of the first HKCASF "Enjoy and Immerse in Arts" originates from Confucian Analects. It underlines the organizer's mission to promote arts as a means to enhance one's wellness and spiritual abundance, as well as a medium of life education that works to influence lives.

The Link Together Initiatives has been supporting Arts' Options' "Sage Players", a program designed to provide professional theatre training for the silver-hair. Lorraine Chan, Managing Director of Corporate Affairs at Link Asset Management Limited said, "Sage Players is a very creative community project which not only facilitates older adults to go after their dreams together with like-minded peers, but also trains those with talent to become professional performers or drama instructors. Through participation, retirees and retiring people can shine in the second half of their lives"

Drama, Music and Dancing

Some 100 artists partaking in the HKCAAF are aged between 55 and 86. They will present more than 30 shows spanning theatre, music and singing performance, video productions, dance and exhibitions.

The drama shows will be kick-started by "King Li, The Final Escape," directed by Brenda Chan. The script borrows ideas from Shakespeare's King Lear to depict the stories unfolded in an elderly home of which the residents are played by the actors and actresses of the "Sage Players" program. The closing show will be "Whispers of Life," directed by Alan Lyddiard from the UK. Other theatre works include "May's Musings" and "Tea Ceremony—A Gentle Discourse on Life". Sing Ladies from Singapore will present a musical theatre "Eternal Stars".

The music performances presented by musicians who are all 65 years old or above include a cappella show "Golden Tunes Under the Banyan Tree, "Band 1011's "1011 Music Party," and an orchestra concert "Endless Sunsets Red Again". Unlock Dancing Plaza, a senior dancing group, will present "One, Two...Two and a Half" choreographed by Andy Li and Wong Wing-luk. The dancers will integrate childhood games like the rainbow hoop and "monkey bars" into their energetic movements.

Visual Arts and Photography Exhibitions

The visual arts exhibition "Forever Blissful Days with Arts," which is curated by Dr. Evelyna Liang, will feature the works by 12 senior artists, including retired university professor, farmers, residents of nursery home and retired executive. Lau Kin-hung, a veteran film director and visual artist, curates a photography exhibition "Endless Moments," which will showcase the works of over 20 senior photographers from Hong Kong, Korea, and Japan.

Cross-Generation Video Making Workshops

Two workshops catering for senior citizens will be conducted. The award-winning young film director Tsang Tsui-shan will host a workshop on Mobile Visuals to teach participants to write scripts and express their inner world using basic cinematography. Animator and multi-media artist Yung Shing-fung will lead a work on stop-motion production, using handmade clay dolls.

Event information: https://bit.ly/4dzoV6E

Tickets are available now at: https://art-mate.net/doc/76732