The 31st Macao Arts Festival (MAF) Outreach Programme features 18 programmes in a total of 24 sessions, including talks, workshops, “Meet-the-Artist” sessions, backstage tour, community tours, arts accessibility service and film screenings.
Among the outreach programme highlights are two thematic talks Meet-the-Artist: Wang Xiaoying and The Creation of a Flowing Space on Stage, in which renowned artists from the theatre and dance circles of Mainland China are invited to share their artistic experiences and creative concepts. National First Class Director Wang Xiaoying was once the most avant-garde experimental theatre director in China and a representative of mainstream Chinese theatre in the 1990s. For him, theatre means not only a sense of responsibility, but also a choice, an ideal and a pursuit, as well as the source of all the sadness and happiness experienced in life. Celebrated stage designer Ren Dongsheng is noted for his “grand yet subtle, ingenious and novel” style and is able to make an implicit, introverted yet poetic visual rendition of his works’ themes, creating interactions and dialogues between the most elementary traditions and cutting-edge technology. In addition, in their workshop focusing on basic modern dance techniques, dancers from the Jin Xing Dance Theatre, one of the top modern dance companies in China, will guide participants in practising dynamic perception while using the body, so as to awaken body awareness, feel the subtle energy changes of the limbs and improve the acuity of body senses.
The MAF has been committed to getting close by the community and deepening the public’s understanding of culture and arts. This edition of the MAF features the community tour Exploring Patane through Architectural Remains, in which local architect Lui Chak Keong will unveil the history of Patane through architectural remains. In The Fading Coastlines, the president of the Shipbuilding Craft Culture Association, Vangaree Tam, will take participants on a guided tour through Coloane shipyard, and painter Wang Chieh and community art curator Lin Shu-hao from Keelung, Taiwan, will hold an online exchange session with participants, exploring how the two coastal cities of Macao and Keelung could better cope with the current state of blurred coastal boundaries, besides sharing their visions for the future. Participants in these two activities are recommended to wear comfortable clothing. A number of other activities, such as workshops, backstage tour and film screenings, will also be held as usual to enrich the cultural life of the public and enhance the cultural atmosphere of the neighbourhoods.
For more information about the outreach programme, please refer to the 31st MAF booklet or visit the MAF’s website at www.icm.gov.mo/fam. Admission to most of the MAF outreach activities is free and registration is open from 9am on 29 March. Seats are limited and subject to availability. Interested parties can register online through www.icm.gov.mo/eform/event or by phone. For registration and enquiries, please contact IC through tel. no. 8399 6699 during office hours.