The British Council is proud to support “Asian Transformation: New Perspectives on Creativity and Performing Arts Education”, a symposium hosted by the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts to explore the unique role that Asia is playing in creative practice and performing arts education in the 21st century. This symposium will see internationally renowned performing arts and creative industry practitioners participating alongside their Hong Kong counterparts and Academy staff and students in this three-day event.
The symposium will explore in open dialogues its theme:
“21st century Hong Kong is a dynamic and diverse cultural metropolis at a unique point of intersection between Asian and Western creative practice. With Asia ascendant on the world stage, Hong Kong’s identity as Special Administrative Region of China and its rich cross-cultural influences ideally position it to explore new creative paradigms and their potential to shape the future of performing arts education”.
Keynote speakers, performances by Academy students and partners, and round-table discussions, centered around the themes of Crossing Cultures, New Paths to Creativity, Living Traditions, and New Pedagogies, will allow participants to contribute their expertise in building new approaches, methodologies, practices, and paradigms in performing arts and creative industry practice, research, and education. Key British speakers include: Professor Leon Rubin, Director of East 15 Acting School of the University of Essex, who will give a keynote address titled: Living Traditions on 21 November 2014. Ms Hilary Boulding, Principal of Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, and Dr Emma Redding, Head of Dance Science of Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance will participate in a roundtable discussion titled: Contemporary Trends in Performing Arts Pedagogy on 22 November 2014.
Highlights of the symposium include performances by the Academy’s Young Cantonese Opera Troupe and its Schools of Drama, Dance and Music, students and faculty performers from the Shanghai Theatre Academy and student and graduate composers from Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and Taipei.
With planning ongoing, and interest mounting, organisers anticipate that Asian Transformation: New Perspectives on Creativity and Performing Arts Education will prove a fitting culmination to the Academy’s 30th Anniversary celebrations.