參與者投票表決相關建議方案

Theatre Practitioners convene Forum Discussion

Theatre Practitioners convened Forum Discussion regarding the impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic to the Performing Arts Industry.
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Local theatre practitioners convened a forum discussion to collect data about various dilemmas faced by their industry under the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as to bring out suggestions to prompt the government for urgent reactions to help all theatre practitioners and organisations to survive the current crisis. Over 40 theatre practitioners participated in the meeting, five emergency relief measures, in addition to many suggestions for the mid and the long term development of the cultural and educational policy have been voted out as the result of the discussion.

 

The Covid-19 pandemic has not yet reached its end. For monhs local performing venues and schools have been suspended, hundreds of performances and cultural activities were cancelled or postponed since February without a clear resume date.  The local theatre industry was hard hit, many fellow practitioners became unemployed, theatre groups are facing huge burdens for rental and operational expenses.  Even if some shows can be postponed to the second half of the year, the current performing venues are insufficient to sustain the numerous activities by the time.  Therefore, the industry had held the forum discussion on 27th March at 3.30pm to 7pm in Hou Kok Experimental Theatre. The meeting included group discussions, collective suggestions and process of voting. 

Resolutions had been passed to prompt the related departments about the following emergency rescue package for the industry:

  • Start communicating with local theatre groups and enterprises.

  • Extend the execution period of all 2020 cultural funding projects to the third quarter of 2021, and allow the organisers to alternate the use of the fund in each activity.

  • Provide loans, financial subsidies and rental allowances to the affected performing art groups and individual theatre practitioners.

  • Release more cultural, educational and sport venues for theatre groups to relieve the urgent demands of rehearsal and performance spaces for various ticket-selling productions when the epidemic eases.

  • Drive and encourage the private enterprises in Macao to release appropriate spaces and venues for art groups to hold cultural activities and performances when the epidemic eases.

 

Other suggestions for mid and long term theatre arts industry development include:
 

  • To reform Art and Cultural Subsidy system

  • Review the part for subsidy system in Decreto-Lei n.º 26/94/M for Cultural Fund to keep up with the present situations of art organisations and their development models.

  • Provide cross-annual operational subsidies for art organisations and allow them to allocate the amount of the budget in reasonable and flexible ways among the funded activities.

  • Expand the Talent Training Programme in Arts Management to more positions including Performer, Designer, Technician, etc., for art organisations to apply.  In addition, increase the number of funded organisations, as well as the funding amount appropriately with reference to the local inflation.

  • Provide more Project Subsidy Programme to support academic research for performance, creativity and production in phases including training and research and development, new playscript development, newly established art troupe, art school graduate internship programme, etc.. 

 

To resolve the problem for insufficient performing venue

  • Renew local suspended spaces for art organisations to station or to manage art and culture related venues. 
  • Review the current safety related policy of theatre/performing venue, allow non-governmental organisations to manage performing spaces.

 

Discuss Cultural Policies, accelerate the professional development the local art organisations

  • Form a regular communication channel between the Cultural Affairs Bureau and the theatre industry.
  • Study and establish social security norms and systems for the practitioners in the fellow industry.

Introduce tax reduction measures for cultural activities to encourage private enterprises to actively cooperate with art organisations.

 

Strengthen the corporations between schools and performing art organisations, deepen theatre education

  • Encourage school to match with art organisations through the “Performing Art Troupe Residency” approach, allowing artists to provide the participating schools with comprehensive and tailor-made theatre education and performances.  Meanwhile, art troupes can use campus space for rehearsals and offices.  Generating mutual benefits for both theatre education in schools as well as the development of the performing art groups.

 

The representatives of the forum would present the most voted suggestions about short, mid and long term cultural supporting measures to the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture and Cultural Affairs Bureau.  We look forward to any prompt and effective aids from the related departments, to help local theatre practitioners and art groups to survive in the impact of the epidemic.

 
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