Cross-Media and Cross-Cultural Comics Concert & Creative Workshop
31 January to 3 February 2013

【Hong Kong Arts Centre】(HKAC) will participate in the four-day Angoulême International Comics Festival in the cultural city of Angoulême in southwest France from 31 January to 3 February 2013. Two Hong Kong comics artists Siuhak and Little Thunder will also be joining this trip to France and become the first Asian artists to perform in Comics Concert (Concerts de dessins®) of the Angoulême Festival. Angoulême is the centre of comics in France, its annual international comics festival is a must-go for all comics professionals from around the world, and has been capturing the attention of comics artists, publishers and distributors consistently. The Angoulême International Comics Festival is of equal weight to the San Diego Comic Con International as the world’s most prestigious comics events. This year, France and Hong Kong will collaborate and embark on a new journey of creativity and discovery in the world of comics art, where artists from the two ¬¬regions will work magic together on their arts to dazzle and inspire their audiences. This project is also another step to a closer relationship between the HKAC and the Angoulême Festival. 

The HKAC, celebrating its 35th Anniversary, has gained the precious opportunity to bring the two Hong Kong artists to Angoulême, thanks to the efforts and supports of many parties, including the leading sponsor Create Hong Kong (CreateHK) of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, as well as the two organisers of Le French May the Consulate General of France in Hong Kong & Macau and the Alliance Française de Hong Kong. This is also the second project sponsored by CreateHK for sponsoring Hong Kong comics industry to participate in the Angoulême Festival since 2011.

The first exchange programme of Hong Kong’s participation in the Angoulême Festival is the Comics Concert. The two visiting Hong Kong artists Siuhak and Little Thunder will perform together with six other French artists and musicians in a cross-media and cross-cultural comics and music performance.  The programme aims to showcase the talent and creativity of Hong Kong comic artists to audiences from different countries,  highlighting Hong Kong’s position as Asia’s city of creativity and explore overseas markets for Hong Kong comics.

First initiated by comics artist Zep and the Angoulême Festival’s Artistic Director, Benoît Mouchart, the Comics Concert has been one of the most popular events at the Festival. Siuhak and Little Thunder will be the first two Asian artists to perform in the Comics Concert since its inauguration.

While Siuhak’s works have yet to be translated into French, he has already been a prominent figure of the Hong Kong comics scene for many years. As a columnist and a satirist, Siuhak’s works are particularly well-known among his compatriots, and his graphic spirit is close to that of alternative comics. Little Thunder, a few years younger than Siuhak, has already been introduced to the French readers with her comics Kylooe, published by Kana in 2010. They will both join the other French artists on the stage of the Angoulême Theatre for an improvised drawing demonstration in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the comic Titeuf. 

Connie Lam, Executive Director of Hong Kong Arts Centre, remarked, “The Angoulême International Comics Festival is renowned in Europe, and has made substantial influences. It has recently built a close working relationship with the Hong Kong comics industry. During the 38th Angoulême International Comics Festival in 2011, there was a special feature of Kaleidoscope – History of Hong Kong Comics Exhibition to introduce the history and development of Hong Kong comics. We are delighted to return to the Festival with two aspiring comics artists this year. Their participation in the Comics Concert in Angoulême is only a prelude to a similar performance in Hong Kong in this June. The latter is an official programme of one of the most important arts and culture events in town for the local public – Le French May. It will feature French musicians Areski Belkacem, Yan Péchin and Bobby Jocky, as well as French comics artists Charles Berberian and Bastien Vivès, and of course, alongside Hong Kong comics artists Siuhak and Little Thunder. The two local artists will enjoy the show with their French counterparts while demonstrating their live performance skills in comics drawing to the audience.”

Also, as part of the collaboration between the HKAC and the Angoulême Festival, the Festival’s Editorial Manager and Asia Coordinator Nicolas Finet will visit  Hong Kong to present a series of conferences and workshops to introduce the development of comics in the French and Francophone regions during Le French May. These events are specially organised for Hongkongers who are interested in French culture.

The cultural exchange between the Angoulême Festival and Hong Kong is also a prelude to the launch of another major project that adds colours to Hong Kong comics and animation scene. The HKAC, awarded the five-year contract by the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) to be  the Main Operator of Mallory Street/Burrows Street Revitalisation Project ("Art Community") in Hong Kong, has been turning the cluster of 10 pre-war Grade 2 historic buildings into a Comix Home Base(CHB, www.comixhomebase.com.hk ).  Upon the completion of building refurbishment work by the URA this year, the HKAC will operate in this new hub by curating and organising comics and animation related programmes, and promoting Hong Kong and overseas comics and animation creations through education, retail, documentation, etc. This will be the first arts and cultural centre that is dedicated to comics and animation cultures, especially to those of Hong Kong. 

“We hope that this trip to France, along with the cross-media and cross-cultural comics and music performance and exchange, will bring new creativities and new concepts to Hong Kong audiences. This will also at the same time open up different channels to promote local creations to audiences, while expanding the network of Hong Kong comics artists, deepening the world’s audiences’ understandings towards Hong Kong comics market. These will help create more room for collaborations and will promote the development of creative industries actively,” Connie Lam added, “For the Arts Centre, which is the Main Operator of the soon-to-open Comix Home Base on Mallory Street and Burrows Street, the Angoulême International Comics Festival is a very valuable event for us to learn from. It will give us diverse nutrients and ideas, making the Comix Home Base livelier and more colourful!” 

Connie Lam will give detailed information on the Comix Home Base during the 40th Angoulême International Comics Festival.

Comics Concert Information
Producers: Hong Kong Arts Centre / Angoulême International Comics Festival 
Leading Sponsor: Create Hong Kong
Supporters: Consulate General of France in Hong Kong & Macau / Alliance française de Hong Kong/ Le French May



31 January to 3 February

Producer: Hong Kong Arts Centre 
Having started celebrating its 35th anniversary from October, 2012, the Hong Kong Arts Centre (HKAC) has a strong heritage and is one of the most respected arts institutions in Asia. The HKAC has been serving the Hong Kong community as an NGO for over 30 years under a self-financing business model with its mission to promote contemporary arts and culture within and across the border. The HKAC houses facilities that include theatres, a cinema, galleries, classrooms, studios, restaurants as well as office spaces occupied by local and international arts and culture organisations. Its education arm, the Hong Kong Art School (the School), was established in 2000. The focus of the School award-bearing curriculum lies in four core academic areas, namely, Fine Art, Applied Art, Media Art, and Applied Theatre & Drama Education, and its scope covers programmes with academic levels ranging from Higher Diploma, Professional Diploma, Bachelor Degree to Master Degree. The short courses and the outreach projects of the School span an even wider variety of artistic disciplines. Hong Kong Arts Centre website: www.hkac.org.hk

Leading Sponsor: Create Hong Kong 
Create Hong Kong is a dedicated office set up by the HKSAR Government in June 2009 to promote the development of creative industries in Hong Kong.. 

Disclaimer: The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region provides funding support to the project only, and does not otherwise take part in the project.  Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in these materials/events (or by members of the project team) do not reflect the views of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

Annie Ho (Marketing & Development Director) 
Phone: 852- 2824 5306 / 852- 9481 8706　　　　　　　　　　　　 
E-mail: aho@hkac.org.hk