The 28th Macao Arts Festival (MAF) Outreach Programme features 23 programmes multiplied in 44 activities, including talks, master classes, workshops, meet-the-artists sessions, school performances, art critique, accessibility services and movie screenings, expanding different art spaces and travelling across time and artistic spaces.
The famous Hong Kong expert in Japanese culture, Kengo, holds the lecture “The Untold Secrets of Japan – Kengo’s Talk on Japanese Culture”, showing participants the way to understand the Japanese Yamato people and unveil crazy and bizarre secrets of Japan. In “Miss Revolutionary Idols Berserk”, Japanese director Toco Nikaido leads her artists in surprise appearances in the streets of Macao and in the appearance of idols in a mind-blowing performance.
In turn, in “New Directing on Classics - Lecture-Workshop with Yana Ross”, Latvian theatre director Yana Ross addresses new directing methods and techniques in adapting classical texts by playwrights like Anton Chekhov. The “Master class with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company” helps participants to explore themselves, practice and reflect on how to use one’s own body in performances to express social issues. Acclaimed Japanese choreographer Hiroaki Umeda returns to Macao to share his unique perception of the human body, of technology, of performing arts and the aesthetics of multimedia.
“One Day! Cantonese Opera” passes on the artistic essence of tradition, allowing participants to join hands with young actors and put into practice their Cantonese opera techniques, gain in-depth knowledge of the performing techniques of Cantonese opera, texts and costumes, and experience the world of Cantonese opera. The literary epic “Westland Feuds” leaps from the pages of the book to the stage and, in a pre-show talk, local playwright Lawrence Lei will share some of its highlights with the audience and explore the literary, performing and artistic value of this work. The “MAF Free Talks” invite art critics from all over the world to share their observations on and expectations on the Macao Arts Festival. Additionally, the organizer specially offers the digital platform “Your Reviews” to allow art lovers to leave their opinions and express their feelings. Likewise, the “Secondary School Students Writing on the MAF” will continue to improve young critics’ writing and arts appreciation skills.
The Macao Arts Festival Outreach Programme aims to promote art activities for the whole family. Dutch TAMTAM objektentheater hosts the “Waste in Transformation – Creative Craft Classes for Parents and Children”, encouraging children to recycle used materials and “make the impossible possible”. The Strawberry Fields Arts Education Workshop also offers “Adventures of Illustrated Stories” and encourages children and adults to interact, revealing their performing abilities and imagination; family service organisations and groups are welcome to register. In “Remote Macao Performances for Schools”, participants put on their headphones and take part in a “remote-controlled journey”.
For this edition of the MAF, seven outstanding and varied films were selected to be screened in several venues around Macau. In order to allow people with visual and hearing impairments to enjoy arts without barriers, arts accessibility services will be made available for several shows, including accessible captions and sign language interpretation services at the screenings of “My Way” and “Little Prince”. The children’s musical “Metamorphosis under Starry Night” will also feature Cantonese audio description for theatre services and 6 complimentary tickets for each performance are available for those in need of such services.
Other activities are also available in the 28th MAF Outreach Pogramme. For more information, please refer to the 28th MAF Outreach Programme booklet or access the MAF’s webpage at www.icm.gov.mo/fam. Registration is free for most of the activities and applications are open from 13 March onwards. Places are limited, subject to availability. Interested parties can register online through the webpage www.icm.gov.mo/eform/event, or by phone. For more information and reservations, please call IC through tel. no. 8399 6699, during office hours.