The 23^rd Macao City Fringe Festival held by the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC, from the Portuguese acronym) will stage 13 outreach activities, including flash mob events, workshops, exhibitions, seminars, exchange sessions and discussion sessions, with a view to broadening the audience’s artistic horizons in diverse ways.

The Crème de la Fringe: “TOMATO” Interactive Digital Theatre Showcase offers two outreach activities, namely, Join the “TOMATO” Pop-Up Fun!  and “TOMATO” – I Want to Explore. The creative team will help the audience to learn how to use mobile phones as a medium to experience the coexistence of the city and stories by engaging them in immersive and interactive flash mob events and sharing their creative process and practical experiences. The other “Crème de la Fringe” series: “Clowns for Complicité Festival”, presents the “Play Clown Workshop” and the “Character Play Station”, guiding participants to learn the physical and performance skills of clowning and unlock the essence of “play” through role playing.

Moreover, “A Sea in the Old House of Orchids”, an immersive sound installation drawing from The Old House of Orchids, will, use the actors’ voices as navigation to guide the audience to experience the physical and emotional voyage of Cheang Hoi, the protagonist, as he travelled across the seas. The “Sharing Session: Will Immersive Performances Fail?” will explore the relationships between performers and audience of the immersive performances via Thanks for Being Here. The “Interactive Herbal Tea Workshop” will introduce the history of herbal tea, the principles of Chinese medicine, and the creative concepts behind the Herbal Tea Cultural Development Association. The “Acrobatics Family Workshop” will invite coaches to teach parent-child pairs participants acrobatic movements through interactive games, strengthening physical interaction and bonding between parents and children. Led by experienced art critics, the “Fringe Docent Programme” will help the audience to gradually grasp the core and perspectives of art criticism through appreciation, discussion and commentary. There is also the “Fringe Chat”, where multiple critics will share their insights into the features and highlights of the Fringe Festival this year, and the “Fringe Exchange: Connect with Festivals”, where local artists and arts groups will exchange with festive event organisers worldwide. The widely popular participatory “Art Exhibition for All” will continue to provide a platform for residents to showcase their creative artworks. Creativity is prioritised and there is no limit to the form or the theme for submitted works. An improvisation zone will be also be set up on site for the public to unleash their creativity. From 30 to 31 August, three “Creative Workshops for All” will be especially arranged at the Fai Chi Kei Activity Centre, namely the “Paper Collage Workshop”, the “Glass Painting Workshop”, and the “Ceramic Mosaic Workshop”. The finished artworks may be put on display at the “Art Exhibition for All”. Registration for the outreach activities will open at 10am on 11 August (Monday) through the “Activity Applications” of the Macao One Account (activity.mo.gov.mo/activity-h5/activity-list-web). The number of places is limited, and admission is charged for some activities. Those who are selected for participation will receive a notification by SMS or e-mail. For enquiries, please call 8399 6872 during office hours.

For more information about the programmes, please visit the Fringe Festival’s website at www.macaucityfringe.gov.mo, the “Macao City Fringe Festival” page on Facebook, or IC’s official WeChat account “IC_Art_Macao”.