Theatre in School Conference Opening Ceremony
Speech by Mr Darwin Chen, Chairman of Hong Kong Arts Development Council
Date: July 16, 2002
Venue: Hong Kong Arts Centre

Mr Irving Koo, Ms Ada Wong, Mrs Anna Hui, Principal Pun and honourable guests:

It gives me great pleasure to be able to share your invaluable views and opinions today on the promotion of theatre-in-school in Hong Kong.

Theatre is nothing new in schools but it has tended to be treated as a kind of extra-curricular activity. Now, as social values change, it is widely accepted that arts education can help to stimulate the creativity and critical thinking of children. Many Western countries have already incorporated arts education as one of the basic requirements of fundamental schooling.

In November 2000, the Curriculum Development Council released its "Learning to Learn: Curriculum Development Consultation Document" on education reform. In the proposal, arts constituted one of the "eight key learning areas". It has been suggested that arts should be integrated with other disciplines under the formal school curriculum to enhance the quality of learning.

In fact, the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, with the sponsorship of the Hongkong Bank Foundation, launched the "Arts-in-Education" programme in 2000 to advocate the integration of arts into the formal curriculum. Comments from participating schools and artists were positive. They found that the use of arts as a medium to teach (one of the artists uses drama as a medium to teach Chinese language) was very effective. Not only did it help to inspire students' creativity but it also enhanced their language capabilities.

Among various types of arts, theatre is one of the most inclusive forms of arts education medium that incorporates drama, visual arts, music and movement all together. It also encourages the participants' active involvement and co-operation, thus helping to build team spirit among students.

In 2000, the Arts Development Council commissioned the launch of "The Hong Kong Theatre & Education Conference 2000". The conference was a success, resulting in a broad discussion on theatre-in-school.

Two years on, what is the current situation of theatre education in Hong Kong schools?

More and more local theatre groups and artists have started to devote their efforts to theatre education. This is really a new challenge in Hong Kong. Each form of teaching has its merits and limitations. It would not be appropriate to overstate the lighter side of theatre-in-school and expect it to resolve the problem overnight.

At present, schools and theatre educators are still exploring areas of development of theatre-in-school in Hong Kong. I hope this conference will enable participants to exchange views on theatre education and establish a framework for discussion in response to the needs of education reform and arts education development.

Thank you.