“Wonderful Arts, Wonderful Life” is our motto for this year’s Arts Festival. We aim to reach out to locals and visitors, to captivate a more diversified audience and to mould the occasion into an enjoyable event celebrated by maximum participation.

The guiding principle behind the Macao Arts Festival is to propagate the culture of the Chinese nation, to disseminate outstanding works of art from around the world and motivate the development of the local art scene.

The spectacular acrobatic show Chinese Soul takes the lead in opening the Festival while the grand finale is a traditional Chinese music concert Chinese Roots, Macao’s Heart. Other performances such as the Legends and Fables of Chinese Folklore puppet show and “Cantonese Nursery Rhymes”, Raise the Red Lantern – the Ballet, and The Butterfly Lovers all provide a rich insight into the diversity and wealth of Chinese culture.

Once again, Macao has the honour of welcoming international artists and performers to stage their works in the Arts Festival: the music and dance performance Condanza Spirituale from Germany, Mayumana- A Burst of Energy, and Fauna and Flora, a multimedia recital from Portugal. Such foreign elements help to broaden the horizons of local residents, reinforce cultural exchange, and hence, shed light on a diversified culture shaped over the past four centuries.

The steadfast cultural policy of the Macao SAR government has been to foster and accommodate the creativity of artists from Macao. During previous Macao Arts Festivals, participants from different local artistic groups, namely, those of drama, Cantonese opera, music, calligraphy, painting and photography, have been enthusiastically involved with a wholeheartedness that has preserved the freshness of the local art scene. As expected, these local groups will participate in the current Arts Festival. Their works, “Macao’s Cultural Heritage”, Guangxu and Zhenfei – The Love Story of an Emperor, It’s Hard to Say Goodbye, The Love Potion, Man of La Mancha and the selection of videos from the Old Images, New Life competition, will give outsiders a different impression of Macao.

The Macao SAR government clearly understands that culture and tourism are mutually entwined and attaches a lot of importance to their simultaneous development. In view of this, we would like to extend our deepest gratitude to all the performers and tourists who give their support to the Macao Arts Festival. We trust that guests will depart from Macao with a pleasant memory of the city, and spread this gratifying news wherever they travel.

Best Wishes for the Success of the 13th Macao Arts Festival.

Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture

Fernando Chui