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The Permanent Secretary for Home Affairs, Mrs Carrie Yau, who was currently visiting Seoul, exchanged experiences in the promotion of arts education and audience building while visiting several famous Korean museums today (April 8).
The National Museum of Contemporary Art, one of the museums Mrs Yau visited, is a large national museum in Korea. The museum organises not only educational activities for children or students, but also programmes targeting adults as well as exhibitions and activities for the socially disadvantaged to promote arts and build up audience extensively.
：The Hong Kong SAR Government attaches great importance to arts education. The curriculum reform implemented by the Education Bureau also covers the element of arts education. The SAR Government has a clear vision to popularise arts to enable the general public to appreciate and participate in arts activities in their daily life. Apart from museums, the Arts Promotion Office of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) has been actively promoting work in this direction. The organisers of public programmes have also organised a variety of performing activities at district level. Our direction for future development will focus on further incorporating arts into people・s life and the community. The educational programmes and activities of the National Museum of Contemporary Art targeting children and the socially disadvantaged serves as a good reference for us,； Mrs Yau said.
Mrs Yau also visited the Nam June Paik Art Centre, a new thematic museum dedicated to the Korean world-class video art master Nam June Paik. Video and technology media not only closely connect to modern life but also coincide with the strategic development of high technology in Korea. The interaction and mutual benefit of arts and science further enhance the collaboration between the cultural and commercial sectors, serving as a good model for organic and interactive social development.
Mrs Yau then visited the Seoul Arts Centre which is an integrated cultural centre comprising opera house, music hall, calligraphy art museum and design museum. Mrs Yau briefed the centre on Hong Kong・s funding mode for the arts and learned that a large portion of the centre・s operational cost was sponsored by the community.
：The promotion of arts, education and audience building cannot simply rely on the government. The participation and collaboration of the community is one of the crucial factors for Korea・s success. The Seoul Arts Centre is a good example of the support and participation of the community in arts development. Hong Kong should explore more the feasibility in this area. Another successful experience of the Seoul Arts Centre is making good use of the public spaces of various visual and performing arts facilities for the promotion of arts programmes, which attracted and built up the audience in the long run. During the visit, we have particularly studied their mode of management and operation and exchanged experiences with their representatives,； Mrs Yau said.
：The cultural and arts organisations we have visited today all share a common characteristic that they have attained a balanced development between traditional or local culture and modern arts. This mode of balanced development coincides with the fundamentals of Hong Kong・s cultural development over the years. Hong Kong is a meeting point of Chinese and Western cultures and the LCSD・s museums have a good collection of both Chinese and Western arts. I have taken this opportunity to propose to the Korea・s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and museums the exchange of our exhibits to introduce to Korean people China and Hong Kong・s ink art as well as showing to Hong Kong people the unique arts of Korea,； Mrs Yau continued.
On the last day of her visit tomorrow, Mrs Yau will meet with representatives of the Bucheon Cartoon Information Centre in Bucheon and the planning team of the Bucheon International Film Festival to have an in-depth understanding of the organisations and work relating to the promotion of cultural industries in Korea.
Mrs Yau will return to Hong Kong after tomorrow・s visit.
Ends/Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Issued at HKT 20:14
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