Bulletin Number One 1985

Orchestra under the 'Month of the Orchestras' in February 1983. For the benefits of staffs children, a cultural programme, 'Children's Talent Quest', was jointly sponsored by the Hall, the Staff Common Room and the College Staff Associations. Bookings by the University and Colleges remained more or less the same as last year's. 1983-84 In the third year, the Hall entered a period of adjustment. For non-entertainment programmes, bookings by the University and Colleges had some sizeable increase. For cultural and entertainment programmes, this was a much more gratifying year in terms of audience attendance although there was a decrease of fifteen programmes compared with last year's. The recurrent programmes of the Hall were closely associated with the annual cycle of events of the University. Some examples were orientation functions, course registrations, New Asia College Biweekly Assemblies, Civil Service Careers Exhibitions, Vice-Chancellor's Receptions for New Staff, Drama Workshop Course of the English Department and various examinations. New bookings of this year were made for the monthly Assemblies and th e weekly General Education Lectures of United College, and the Congregation for Honorar y and Higher Degrees. Bookings for non-routine activities also wen t up steadily, resulting from the increasing number of slide-shows for University visitors, exhibitions hel d in the Foyer, and rehearsals and trainings held in the Rehearsal Room. In addition to these, the last two of the University's Twentieth Anniversary Lectures were also held in the Hall as special programmes. In the opinion of the Management, film-shows are not necessarily good cultural activities in terms of creativity and participation, and too many film- show programmes may affect the development of performing activities. For the sake of a more balanced and healthy development, it was resolved that no more than three film-shows per week should be shown in the Hall. This quota further reduced the total number of sixty-four film-shows in the second year to about fifty this year. At the same time, a Student Performing Arts Subsidy was set up to encourage the students to become more involved in the performing arts. The key area of interest o f the Hall was still drama. Altogether ten plays were staged this year and half of them were the Hall's presentation programmes. The Hall also organized two workshops — the Dram Workshop ‘83 ， and 'The World of Drama'. As for audience attendance, this year's Intercollegiate Drama Competition received tremendous support from the Colleges and about 1,000 people, which were twice as many as last year's, turned up at the function. Also reaching 100% growth were the two concerts in the Month of Orchestras, which were being presented for the second year. The highlights of student programmes were the variety shows of the Chinese University Open Day. Student music programmes were limited to folk and popular music and dance programmes diminished. On the whole, the standard of the students' performance and production has been raised after gaining two year's experience. The last programme of the year ， the 'Drama Workship ‘84’ held in August, was organized by the Hall, which decided to make it a biannual event from this year onwards. 1984-85 Activities of the First Term The most impressive programme of the first term was again the Festival of Chinese Arts, whic h was held in October and presented by the Chinese University Student Union and jointly sponsored by the Office of Student Affairs and the Hall. Occupying nearly a month, this year's Festival was larger in scale than last year's and the programmes were more comprehensive. The performance of th e Liaoning Singing and Dancing Troupe in 'The Pearl Lake' was superb. The Hall's programme contribution in the Festival were the 'Symposium on the Development of Chinese Drama', which is an introduction to the history of Chinese drama over the past thirty-five years, and the photo exhibition on the TV documentary, 'Heart of the Dragon' and the screening of Part One. In view of the mounting enthusiasm in drama, the Hall decided to regularize the programmes — to hold the drama competition in the first term and present a big-scale performance in the second. The 1984-85 Intercollegiate Drama Competition was therefore held i n mid-November, and students' participation was so keen and the standard of performance was so high that it became a crowning achievement in these years. From its development during the first ter m of 1984-85 ， it may be said that the Hall has entered a period of consolidation. Everything is running smoothly now, with added manpower and equipment and a streamlined structure. University members, especially the students, are able to make the bes t use of the Hall's facilities. Undoubtedly the activities of th Hall will continue to boom and the cultural life of the University will be further enriched. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS 21