The East Kowloon Cultural Centre (EKCC) — Hong Kong’s newest world-class arts and performance complex — raised its curtain on Monday, with officials and industry leaders bullish about its role in supporting local artistic productions.
Set on the site of the former Lower Ngau Tau Kok Estate in Kowloon, the 2.16-hectare center is the city’s latest major arts facility, distinguished by its deep integration of art and technology. The facility was envisioned as a must-see destination for high-quality, long-running shows, comparable to New York’s Broadway or London’s West End.
The center houses the 1,200-seat The Hall, equipped with a full suite of performance technology; the 536-seat The Theatre that boasts a three-sided stage for closer audience engagement; The Turns that features full-wall projection; the acoustically refined The Beats; and The Lab, a versatile arts and technology testing studio.
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During Monday’s opening ceremony, Chief Secretary for Administration Eric Chan Kwok-ki described the center as “a major milestone” in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government’s push for arts and cultural development. He added that it is “a crucial part” of the city’s plans to become a global cultural exchange hub.
He highlighted the facility’s “comprehensive, state-of-the-art equipment” designed to support production needs, with a long-term bid to nurture local talent, encourage the creation of more high-quality performances, and promote sustainable development of the industry.
The EKCC dovetails with a wider government initiative to specialize Hong Kong’s performance venues, as outlined in the latest Policy Address. Each venue is expected to focus on different aspects: the Hong Kong Coliseum will prioritize concerts, the EKCC will concentrate on long-running performances and art-tech, and Sha Tin Town Hall will become a dedicated space for Cantonese Opera.
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To open the season, Cantonese musical HighLights — The Memories of Charles Kao, a tribute to the late Charles Kao Kuen (1933-2018), a Hong Kong-based Nobel Prize-winning physicist, will premiere on Nov 15. It will kick off a lineup of 17 programs with over 80 shows slated through mid-February.
Erica Li, the musical’s director, expressed confidence in the center’s potential to become a world-class, pioneering theater.
“With perseverance, success is assured,” she said. “Given time, the right team, and the necessary support, (the vision) is absolutely achievable.”
Johnny Yim, the show’s music director, praised the venue’s audio system as “definitely top-notch”. He singled out a 170-speaker “soundscape” system capable of shifting auditory perception, which allows directors to execute innovative, dramatic experiments that enhance audience immersion.
The musical’s project strategist, Brian Chow, added that the sector has high expectations for the center to help Hong Kong productions become signature shows of greater scale and influence.
By offering dedicated, long-term spaces, the EKCC directly tackles the longstanding barriers of high venue costs and limited availability, factors that have hindered the extension of local theatrical works’ runs, he said.
Chow also revealed that during the production phase, the musical’s creative team intends not only to stage it in Hong Kong, but also to tour the show across other regions, eyeing the rest of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area as the next stop.
Fifteen performances of the musical have been scheduled, with potential additional shows to be decided later, Chow said.
Contact the writer at wanqing@chinadailyhk.com
