The 25th Macao Arts Festival (MAF) Outreach Programme, organised by the Cultural Affairs Bureau, is diversified and flexible, covering a wide range of subjects. In order to bring the arts to all the different social strata, this year’s MAF outreach programme features an art criticism programme for secondary school students, in which keynote speakers share their experience of art appreciation with teachers and students in schools. Moreover, the exhibition prior to the children’s puppet theatre performance Rain of Stone, Song of the Sea introduces the history and current status of Macao’s ocean to audiences of all ages. To promote community care, this year Arts Festival also features exclusive sessions for disadvantaged groups, enabling audiences from different social strata to share the joy of the arts.

This is the second year the ‘art criticism programme’ was launched in schools. Different speakers were invited to share their arts appreciation experience and introduce a variety of performing art forms, helping to expand the students’ art and culture horizons and increase their interest in the performing arts. Four experienced artists and critics - Tang Hio Kueng, Lei Ioi Chon, Ip Ka Man and Wu May Bo - were invited by the organiser to visit Choi Nong Chi Tai Secondary School, Pui Va Middle School, Kwong Tai Middle School, the Workers’ Children High School, and Taipa Fong Chong School and introduce the characteristics of different performing art forms to teachers and students, namely about drama and dance, as well as sharing their experience and processes of writing art critique. Six sharing sessions were held.

The outreach programme also included the Rain of Stone, Song of the Sea Exhibition for Children held at the Old Court Building, which ran for 30 minutes before the children’s play with the same name, in order to enhance the audience’s understanding of the ocean surrounding Macao. The Macao Peninsula juts into the ocean; due with the social and economic development of recent years, in addition to the changing landscape, the adjacent ocean has changed a lot. The exhibition was divided in four sections: ‘Macao: A City Fighting for Boundaries with the Ocean’, ‘Who is Manufacturing Marine Litter?’, ‘Granite Areas’ and the prologue of Rain of Stone, Song of the Sea, aiming at enabling children and adults to better understand the relationship between the ocean and daily life from different angles, namely the environment, ecology, memory and imagination. The event also featured a session entitled ‘Reading the Ocean’, in which a number of selected ocean-related picture books and literary works were displayed, allowing the public to read them to the accompaniment of the sounds of the ocean. On 26 May 2014, the organiser hosted docent tours for a total of some 200 kindergarten and primary students from Jardim de Infância Luso-chinês Girassol, Escola Hoi Fai, Macau Pui To School, Escola da Sagrada Familia, Xin Hua School. In addition, photos of Rain of Stone, Song of the Sea taken by the students of the Stage Photography Workshop, also features in the outreach programme, were also displayed in the Old Court Building.

In order to promote the arts to all the different social strata, and to implement the spirit of community care, this year’s Arts Festival not only featured an exclusive session for persons with visual and hearing impairment, but also featured three exclusive sessions for disadvantaged groups on 19 and 20 May. Various social groups were invited to Special Creatures, a puppet show performance by renowned Argentinean puppeteer Roberto White, who breaks the language barriers, enabling over 200 people from to enjoy this great performance together and experience the beauty of art.

For more information and enquiries about the 25th Macao Arts Festival, please visit: www.icm.gov.mo/fam.