“Art Festivals in the Cities 2.0”
The 17th Macao City Fringe Festival, organized by the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC, from the Portuguese acronym), features a series of outreach activities, including talks, workshops and art critique, in order to broaden the public artistic experience through diversified activities.
Baby theatres, which are specially designed for new born babies and toddlers, are introduced to Macao in recent years. This edition of the Macao City Fringe Festival brings the “Interactive Talk: Know more about Theatre for Babies”, presented by Polyglot Theatre from Australia, to broaden participants’ imagination with regards to theatres for babies and to explore the role of adults in the theatre space; the Polyglot Theatre also hosts the “Creative Production Workshop on Theatre for Babies”, where participants can make their own props and explore ways to use the body and facial expressions in order to give babies a perceptual experience.
Hong Kong dance group Unlock Dancing Plaza, a recurring winner of the Hong Kong Dance Awards, joins hands with Japanese Namstrops to present three different programmes in this edition of the Macao City Fringe Festival: bolero, Hurdle #3 and A Short, Thick Rainbow. The “bolero Workshop”, conducted by the choreographer of the production bolero, Ong Yong Lock, encourages participants to unleash their imagination to the body; four physical education trained members of the company Namstrops join hands with the Professor Rumiko Takahashi from the Faculty of Education and Culture of the University of Miyazaki, to host the “Physical Expression Workshop”, where they will share unique artistic ideas. Upon the completion of the above workshops, participants will join the related activities of the Fringe Festival.
This edition of the Fringe Festival also includes Fringe Reviews, whereby art critics hailing from different regions and with a varied background and experiences offer the public different points of view on the Fringe Festival. This year, the “Fringe Intelligence Division” is specially established to encourage participation of the whole city, training Fringe reporters to collect information from the backstage and to explore the treasures of this edition of the Fringe Festival. Additionally, in order to enhance the artistic exchanges between regions and broaden the space for development of local art professionals, this edition of the Fringe Festival will continue to hold the sharing sessions “Art Festivals in the Cities 2.0”, inviting curators of performing arts events from all over the world to share experiences on local festivals and cultural environment in their hometowns, allowing local art groups that intend to perform abroad to collect necessary information.
Those interested in taking part in the workshops can register online from 9am on 8 December through IC’s “Activity Registration System” (www.icm.gov.mo/eform/event); phone registration will be available from 9am on 11 December; seats are limited and are distributed on a first-come, first-served basis. For enquiries, please contact IC through tel. no. 8399 6699, during office hours. For more information about the programme, please visit the Macao City Fringe Festival’s webpage atwww.macaucityfringe.gov.mo.
