Crowdfunding for Shakespeare Fest!

We launched a crowdfunding campaign for Shakespeare in the Port.

Shakespeare in the Port is a simple vision of bringing affordable, accessible Shakespeare to the public of Hong Kong. Oftentimes people think of Shakespeare as boring or too expensive to attend. We wish to break down these barriers and create an artistic experience that people of all ages can enjoy. 

We wish to create a theatre festival that is locally produced by the Hong Kong art community and inclusive to people of all backgrounds. Ticket prices will be affordable and the performance space will be handicap accessible.

Please help us spread the word. If everyone who sees our Fringe Backer donates 5HKD or .62USD we'll have the funding we need in less than a day!

http://www.fringebacker.com/en/projects/Shakespeare_in_the_Port/

Every dollar helps us make our dream come true of an accessible, affordable Shakespeare festival created by the artists of Hong Kong. All kids can enter the festival for free! I'm happy to answer any questions about the festival.

You can also find out more about the festival via our facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/hongkongshakes

What Makes Art Good?

I know everyone has a different philosophy on what makes art good.
I think all art is valid but whether it's good is a whole other story.

Opinions wanted! What do you think makes art good?

WTF are you thinking HK Arts Festival?!!!

This is my official response on this. Early Bird Bookings are a necissity for HK Arts Festival but anyone can tell you it's a serious pain in the ass to do it. You have to coordinate with your friends about what they want to see. One of you gets stuck paying for it on your credit card and you have to wait for the person to give you the money. On top of everything you never know if you're getting the first or second choice in seating. ANNOYING but it was a system that worked. And it's how I secured my Juliet Binoche tickets, my Pina Bausche tickets and my Robert Wilson tickets in previous years.

Now, some "genius" at the HK Arts Festival decided to make the Early Bird Bookings in releases. You only a certain number of programs available at a time to purchase. You're not going to have the whole catalog available until after the counters open. Which means all your abilities to do discounts for large ticket purchases are going to be impossible. Apparently, they don't want me seeing 15 shows again...

Our first release opened today and we have access to three of the programs.
None that I am excited about... So, I guess I'm sitting on my ass waiting until someone decides to let the other shows come available for sale...

Thanks HK Arts Festival! This was your best idea-yet.
Well besides having a HK Arts Festival with 70% of the performing groups being from other countries...

http://www.hk.artsfestival.org/en/book/early-bird

HK Arts Awards 2011-2012 THE WINNERS!

Thanks to everyone for all their support during this project! It's been an enlightening experiment.
Congratulations to all the winners. If you were not present at the awards ceremony I have a little something for you as an award. If anyone tonight picked up an award "in honor" of an absentee please pass it onto them. They were not expensive but they were made with love.

I hope you had fun! I know I did!

Conversation with Elizabeth Briel

Sometimes awesome artists leave our fair city but leave their marks! Elizabeth is one of those. I wandered upon her and her work through the twitter verse and thought it was important to make sure people know more about her! She's really an amazing artist and has impassioned views on both Hong Kong as a society for artists and on the business side of art.

She also makes beautiful prints and does beautiful work with paper! Check out her work, it's really quite beautiful! I also find her "rants", as she calls them fascinating and hilarious at the same time. Got to love sharp wit on woman, it's the new look for summer!
Enjoy our conversation!

This is Elizabeth making paper!

Awards Ceremony Wednesday!!!!

This awards process has gotten so much larger than I ever thought it would. I always considered it a little dog and pony show that no one really cared about except for the people in the community and their close friends. Now, I see that the community of Hong Kong does really care about the quality of the shows and is extremely knowledgeable about what they like and what they don't like. People who watch theatre are just as smart as the people who make it and we should be honored that they have taken the time to vote for us in the categories we were nominated in. We have over 600 votes in the part one the survey! Can you believe that?!! Sure, it could just be one over enthusiastic person voting at every Pacific Coffee in town but I prefer to think that it's our dedicated audience members and fans who want to see us rewarded for all the hard work we put into our performances.

More times than not, the artists in this town are not paid for the work and I'm hoping that this award will just give them a little pat on the back and a fun night at the bar with the community.

Please invite all your friends that voted to come to THE CANNY MAN, Wednesday June 13th at 8pm for the ceremony! We would love to see people from all walks of the art community in town on Wednesday and I have NO DESIRE to stand up and talk for an hour by myself presenting these things so if you would like to be a presenter please leave a comment here or shoot me a PM. I would love a variety in the presenters, if possible!

Artist of the Month- June- XYZ

Street Art and their creators have had a recent boom in the art industry. Of course we all know the Messiah of street artists, Banksy and HK's God of Graffiti, the King of Kowloon. There is a lot of developing and emerging talent in this kind of work as spray paint and walls are easily accessible to people. As long as one doesn't mind treading a little on the dangerous side...

I thought it was about time that my blog give some love to one of HK's street artists, XYZ.
Despite his penchant for my nemesis, performance art, (ugh),  I think he is incredibly talented. I like how his pieces are never really finished and are always evolving into bigger and better things.  I really love his art collaboration group DimmSumm which consists of him and 2 other local artists making a collective community where artists can come together and share their work together. You can view their work and learn about upcoming shows at their website here.

His survey is below! Some of the questions were slightly altered because his medium is art and not theatre. Check out his answer to number 5, it's so sweet!!!! We are always striving to feature new and upcoming talent on the blog! If you know of someone you think is worthy of the Artist of the Month feature feel free to nominate them! We accept all mediums of art, theatre, music and dance.

Best Local Visual Artist Nominees

Here are the nominees for best local artist. Since we didn't get enough nominations for the category I tried to pick a variety of mediums for you to pick between. We have a gallery manager, a zine artist/graphic designer, a sculptor, a urban sketch artist and a multi-media artist. Pick your poison or pick one at random. All are valid mediums and all are up and coming artists in the scene. You can always find out about new and upcoming local artists on Hong Kong Art Web, which is one of the best sources for local artists to display their work. Here are just some samples of their work but you can always find out more about these artists via their own personal websites and blogs! Just google them, la!

Online Voting Starts Today!

Link for Part One of the Awards!
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/8VSDWPR

Part Two...
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/876KL3C

You can only vote once in each category and you may only vote for one person! Votes are always welcome by email at meaghan.mcgurgan@gmail.com or PMed to the facebook account if you would prefer.

VOTING CLOSES JUNE 10th!

Nominations for HK Arts: Best of Hong Kong 2011-2012

THE PUBLIC HAS CAST THEIR BALLOTS AND DECIDED WHO IS THE BEST OF THE BEST IN HONG KONG'S ART SCENE...  DON'T SHOOT THE MESSENGER!

Below are the nominations for HK Arts: Best of Hong Kong 2011-2012. This was an open nomination process. We had hundreds of emails sent to us by members of the community. Although a lot of people just seemed to be nominating themselves (you know who you are), most of you took some serious thought about who you thought were the best. I deeply appreciate the time it took for you to fill the nomination form out. I know it was tough because when I filled mine out it was a arduous task.

Ballots were not only counted by me but by an outside source not associated with the art community. The nominees are listed in no particular order. We would love to have photos for the blog of any nominated show. If we are Facebook friends could you please tag us so we can upload them? It is for a future article so that people can make informed voting decisions.

Three categories did not have 5 artists nominated in them: Local Band, Local Visual Artist and Best Reoccurring Audience Member. I find this to be a little sad that people don't know 5 local visual artists/musicians so I took it upon myself to fill in the missing gaps to make it five. Do your part and research them before the voting begins! We were only missing one nomination in Audience Member category so I filled it in with something I know we all love and cherish in our community. *please tell me you can read sarcasm!*

Rules

An online poll will up in a few days hopefully! But you are always welcome to turn in your votes via email. You may vote once only and for one person in each category. Votes will be counted not only by me but by my outside source. Winners will be announced in June.

Gallery Opening 3812

I was pleased to be invited by my friend and fellow HK artist, Mark Peaker to his art gallery opening next Friday! They are celebrating their one year anniversary by bringing a young talented artist to Hong Kong. Mark is not only an artist he is a philanthropist and has been very kind to our community by giving and helping to raise money for several artistic charities over the years.

 It is now my duty to help spread the word and make sure we all show up for free booze! It is our duty as a community to eat cheese and crackers! *Please tell me you can read sarcasm...*
 (There will be cheese and crackers right?) There better be or you might have a fucking riot on your hands Peaker... You don't want a bunch of drunk artists around a mixed media piece... BELIEVE ME. Not pretty!

The opening is May 11th, 7pm to 9pm! Please RSVP if you plan on attending. You can more information about directions and so forth by contacting Joe at the gallery when you RSVP or by going on to the 3812 website: www.3812cap.com. The exhibit is called the Sounds of Nature and is a mixed media installation by artist Lin Guocheng.

Here is the beautiful flyer! I can't wait to see the show, lovely! It's going to be fab! I love any opportunity to see new and upcoming talent. More galleries should bring in new stuff! Especially that big gallery on the harbour in TST. I think it's called the Museum of Art. I have seen the same old shitty pottery there for four years. Change it up! Hong Kong is supposed to be one of the most progressive and modern cities in the world! Our Art Museum shouldn't have dusty old ceramics taking up half the building!

A Chat with Jenny*- Problems in Singapore Theatre Scene

*Jenny and I met over twitter back in 2011. She offered to speak with me about the theatre scene in Singapore. She wished that I not use her real name as it could affect the type of work she can get. So you get some background info: Jenny* is a college graduate of theatre, she works professionally for a theatre in Singapore as a box office manager but her real passion is acting and producing. She is a lovely person and I deeply appreciate her answering my questions.

Getting Urban with Art- A Conversation with Gary Yeung

I had the pleasure of talking with Gary Yeung, a local visual artist who calls himself an "urban sketch artist". I discovered his blog via Stumbleupon and really liked his views on our city. He covers the good, the bad, the unique and the mundane. (My personal favorite work of his is the sketch of the beautiful banyan tree in Yuen Long that is covering up an old school building. One of my favorite places in HK and a beautiful piece of artwork.) No stone is unturned, no facet is ignored. You can take a look at his art via his blog: http://www.studiogario.com/.
His sketches would make a unique gift for friends wanting a piece of Hong Kong that is off the beaten path. And art is always a good investment. We never know, Gary could become the next "King of Kowloon"! (If you don't know what this is in reference to, please google it.)

Gary is smart, nice and talented and he does sketches of kittens... What more could a girl ask for?

Our first Vlog! Art Walk 2012

We were blessed to hang out with our friends at Art Walk 2012 and make our first VLOG! This is our favorite charity event of the year because it's great people, great networking possibilities, great food and great art! ( Can you tell I think it's great?)

This year the food seemed not as good as previous years! We were starving at the end of the event and had to hit the Flying Pan! (Oh darn...)

Best Galleries this year were: Wellington Gallery (bring on the risotto balls!), Opera Gallery (Which had Dalis and Warhols on display) and the very cool wire art at Karin Webber Gallery.

HK Arts Award Nomination Form

HK_Arts Nomination Form

You may nominate 5 shows or persons in each category. Do not put your name on the form. Email the form back to meaghan.mcgurgan@gmail.com for privacy. Or PM to the Hk_Arts Facebook account.

Nomination Period: June 2011- May 2012
Nomination Form Due back: May 20th.
Nominations announced END OF MAY!
(Professional Local Companies may be included; tours with international actors are not permitted. This is an award show to promote local artists!)

Nominations to be announced at the end of May. (You can nominate a show that performs in May as nomination sheets are due by May 20th.)
Award show in late June, Venue and date TBA.

1.     Best Show (Non Musical)
2.     Best Show (Musical)
3.     Best Actor (please include show name)
4.     Best Actress (please include show name)
5.     Best Director (please include show name)
6.     Best Designer (please include show name and type of design)
7.     Best New Comer (MUST BE NEW TO THE SCENE! June 2011-May 2012)
8.     Best Producer/Best Company
9.     Best Stage Manager (please include show name)
10.  Best Supporting Actor (please include show name)
11.  Best Supporting Actress (please include show name)
12.  Best Bit Role (Must be 10 minutes or less of stage time)
13.  Best Charity Production (Where 50% or more of proceeds was given to charity. Please include Show name and charity.)
14.  Best Cantonese Production
15.  Best Theatre for Youth Production
16. Best Original Work (Must be newly produced, can be musical or non.)
17. Best Dance Show
18. Best re-occurring audience member
19. Best Local Band
20. Best Local Visual Artist

*Cantonese Performers may be included in the Actor category

Artist of the Month- February- Leo Lakerson

This months Artist of the Month is Leo Lakerson, the manager of the art gallery, Future Industries in Sheung Wan. I had the pleasure of meeting Leo on a roof top party. We share a love of using social media to spread the love of art. He's a pretty cool guy and is the host of the first ever ZINE event in HK. Don't know what zine is? Then you should come! It's Feb 10th at the Future Industries Gallery in Sheung Wan. There will be artists, zines, live music (which HK is sorely lacking) and general awesomeness. If the event is even half as cool as Leo's music choices at the roof top party then it should be a pretty awesome event! (He picked a lot of Johnny Cash, a way to my heart... *sigh*)

 You can attend his event the 10th of February at 7pm! 21 Square St., Sheung Wan! It's right by Man Mo Temple. So get your blessing on, see some cool zines and listen to some great local music!
*I also especially love his answer to number 8, his process is very right to point*

5 ways to be an artist and NOT live in a cardboard box

There are some majors that you can pick in college that come with a free cardboard box for you to live in after you graduate. These are known as the "useless" majors that free spirited minds get for the love and not for silly things like money or food. There was a recent poll in the Huffington Post about the 5 least paying college majors: 5) Art History 4) Philosophy/ Religion 3) Communications 2) English 1) Theatre/Film/Dance

Now, I am here to tell you there is a way you can get that Theatre degree and live a decent lifestyle. Yes, it takes hard work and maybe compromising some of your "ideals" you learned in that fancy school of yours but you can do what you love for a salary.

5) Have two jobs
I know, this idea SUCKS! But a lot of people do a normal 9-5 day job and then spend their nights doing what they really love. Paid theatre and art gigs are rare in this economy particularily for actors so make sure you have a secondary skill like sound engineering, lighting design, stage management or wardrobe. These positions come paid more often then acting or directing. I have friends who are baristas, waiters, data processors and retail slaves during the day and then artists by night. It's a bit like being a superhero. You are under appreciated for your skills and have to realize that you will never get full credit for all the hard work you do for your craft.

New Feature- Artist of the Month

We at HKarts want to know more about the pieces that make our community so great! If you like to be featured as a local artist of the month please let me know. All styles and mediums welcome. (Even performance artists... Yeah, I said it.)

If you are selected as an artist of the month, please fill out the questionare below and PM it back to me with an avant guarde self portrait.
-Meaghan

Questions
1. Name, Birthplace, Age
2. How does where you were raised affect your work?
3. Where did you train?
4. What is your favorite style of (insert appropriate medium here)? Why?
5. What was the best show you EVER saw?
6. What was the best show in HK you EVER saw? (You cannot say your own.)
7.What piece of work are you the most proud of? (please include photo, if possible)
8. What is your process like?
9. What is your dream project?
10. If you could change one thing about the art scene in HK, what would it be?

Review- Oriano Galloni- Silent Soul

Oriano Galloni's Silent Soul was part of the Italy Quality and Lifestyle Festival that is being presented in Hong Kong this month. It was presented at the Koru Gallery in Aberdeen. It was a little bit out of the way for most Hong Kongers but I live on the south side in Pok Fu Lam, so the location of the gallery didn't bother me to much.
I like when galleries are chosen to be out in more spacious areas because it allows the gallery owner and the artists to typically bring in bigger pieces. No offense to the galleries in Soho, but they are very restricting in size and they limit the type of art that can be brought in due to the small sizes of the galleries. And you can only look at landscapes so much.

The artists at Koru Gallery

5 Reasons to Work Abroad

One of the best decisions I ever made as an artist was deciding to work abroad, I had originally made this decision strictly because it offered me more money and health insurance. (BONUS!) But as I come upon my third year in Hong Kong as a teacher I have found that living and working abroad has shaped me as an artist as much as university did. I miss my mother and my sisters every day; and I wish I could be closer to them but taking this step to work independantly and create art in a culture completely different then my own was one of my best decisions.