Through different cultural and arts events, the 25th Macao Arts Festival hosts over 40 outreach programmes in various formats in order to promote arts to different sectors of the local society. This year the Festival launched its Arts Accessibility Services offering audio description and visual interpretation workshops for selected programmes for people with visual and hearing impairment in order to enable them to enjoy the arts without barriers. In addition, the Festival promoted the activity 'Puppets in the Hospitals' to bring puppet shows to children's wards in hospitals with the objective of enriching their lives through the arts, while the 'Stage Photography Workshop by Hsu Ping' seeks to enable participants to capture all of the behind-the-scenes action prior to performances, including the hard work of the performers and production crews and every exclusively unique moment. In order to promote social inclusion and an opportunity for people from different backgrounds to enjoy various types of arts programmes, the Festival created 'Activities for the Visually and Hearing Impaired' which include professional audio description and theatrical interpretations in partnership with the Hong Kong Jockey Club Arts Accessibility Service Centre and the Arts with the Disabled Association Hong Kong. One of these activities - Venetians Want to Get a House by the Macao Experimental Theatre - was successfully held at Dom Pedro V Theatre on 3 May at 3:00pm counting with the participation of nearly a hundred visually and hearing impaired people. Via simultaneous theatrical interpretation, the audience was able to experience the plot development, the emotions of the characters and the theatrical ambience, whilst immersing themselves in the performance, thereby realising the spirit of 'arts without boundaries'. The Hong Kong Puppet and Shadow Art Centre visited the children's wards of Conde de S. Januário Hospital and Kiang Wu Hospital Via on 9 and 10 May with 'Puppets in the Hospitals', performing Special Creatures, The Little Monkey from Mount Yao, and The Little Monk Going down the Hills. These shows were a fascinating experience and produced endless amusement to the hospitalised children. Puppeteers ingeniously and skilfully manipulated the puppets to present a number of interesting shows. Children who were in the intensive care units who and been there for a long period of time due to their relatively weak immune systems, and who are rarely able to enjoy such shows, also attended the performances. With the aid of the hospitals, a small stage was set up in a specially designed environment, where children could interact with the lovely puppets at close range in order to boost their vitality and cheer them up through the arts. Professional documentary photographer Hsu Ping has engaged in the 'Stage Photography Workshop' since April, guiding students in the shooting of rehearsals of various programmes of the Festival, including Revival, The Legend of the White Snake, Cloning Ecstasy, Rain of Stone, Song of the Sea, etc.. Participants works are displayed at the performances' venues. Currently, the works about the performance Revival are displayed in the Old Court Building on Av. da Praia Grande, and the works on Rain of Stone, Song of the Sea will be presented later in the same venue. Works about The Legend of the White Snake are shown in the foyer of the Alegria Cinema and works about Cloning Ecstasy will be displayed in the Tap Seac Galley. For further information about the 25th Macao Arts Festival programmes, please visit www.icm.gov.mo/fam.
