The western headland of the West Kowloon Cultural District (“WKCD”) will be bustling with cultural activities as well as recreational, entertainment and community events starting this autumn, the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (“WKCDA”) announced today.

“We will bring a rich and balanced mix of programmes to meet the various tastes and preferences of Hong Kong people with different backgrounds,” said Mr Louis Yu, Executive Director, Performing Arts.  “They are activities and events that we hope would bring life and people to the district before we start a tree nursery and the Park construction at the headland next year.”

Leading the parade of programmes this autumn will be the Freespace Fest – a two-day contemporary performing arts event of music and other experimental performances.  The Festival aims to prepare the public for the opening of the Freespace in 2015/16, a performance venue situated inside the Park for live music and cross-boundary performances.

Encouraged by positive feedback from the public, the West Kowloon Bamboo Theatre will make its comeback on the future site for the Xiqu Centre near Canton Road in early 2013.  “This year, as many are expecting, the scale of events would be bigger to provide a more comprehensive cultural flavour over a three-week period.  Among the new exciting elements are Chinese dance, music and a mini Lunar New Year fair which will certainly add variety and entertainment to the Bamboo Theatre,” Mr Yu added.

Mobile M+: INFLATION! – a group exhibition of large inflatable sculptures curated by WKCDA’s M+ team will take place on the headland next March.  Located on the waterfront of the arts hub, the exhibition examines the idea of artificially transforming a piece of WKCD land into a pleasant park with the power of public art and brings into question our understanding of leisure, entertainment and beauty.

“After the maiden success of the ‘nomadic’ exhibition Mobile M+: Yau Ma Tei this summer, we are happy to transport the experience of visual culture to the WKCD site in 2013.  Same as our past programmes, this new exhibition will have a strong education component to secure growing knowledge about contemporary visual culture among the Hong Kong audience before the scheduled completion of the M+ building in late 2017,” said Mr Tobias Berger, Curator of M+.

Apart from WKCDA’s self-initiated programmes, different areas of the headland will also be made available to events such as the Hong Kong Wine & Dine Festival (early November), Clockenflap Music & Arts Festival (early December) and during the festive season, an 11-week carnival (from mid December to late February) featuring rides and other activities.

“We will try to keep the West Kowloon Waterfront Promenade open to the public insofar as advance works of the WKCD project or temporary programmes permit.  We will give ample notice beforehand and will place notices at strategic locations if the promenade needs to be closed or partially closed for public safety or security reasons,” Dr Chan Man-wai, Executive Director, Project Delivery, added.

The WKCD development plan was submitted to the Town Planning Board for consideration in December 2011.  Subject to the completion of the statutory planning process, construction work for the Park is scheduled for commencement in 2013.  A tree nursery to prepare for the future Park is planned to be commissioned in the middle of next year.