Hong Kong is an international city, people are exposed to all sorts of international trends and they have international and sophisticated tastes, said executive director of the Hong Kong Arts Festival Douglas Gautier in talking about the impression of Hong Kong's audience.

Hong Kong Arts Festival 2005 is gathering more than 1,000 overseas and local arts performers to present 124 programs in the city from Feb. 17 to March 20.

The Festival aims to present the best international standards of music and dance, the best local arts and creation, and also to bring out strong work from Chinese mainland showcase in Hong Kong.

Gautier was with the British Broadcast Company and the Radio Television Hong Kong, and also participated in directing opera in the Hong Kong Festival when he first came in Hong Kong some 20 years ago.

Now being the executive director of the Festival, Gautier told Xinhua that it was a great job in the sense of working with creative people to produce new work for the audience. Besides, it was a very special responsibility for him to maintain the reputation of this world's top ten's arts festival.

"You have to mark your audience, to attract and encourage them to come. If we consistently present high quality of work, we can then keep the trust that have built in the 33 years' history," said Gautier in an interview with Xinhua recently.

The Festival has been working hard to find out what people like. "We take care of people's tastes and try to broaden their horizons a little bit by giving something they didn't expect. I think it's our responsibility to do quality control and to give surprise," said Gautier.

Talking about the Festival, Gautier believed that a good festival should reflect the city in which it takes place and that is why local content is very strong in the Festival.

There is a plentiful of local musicians and dancers, and also local and international arts companies working together in this year's Festival.

The content reflects Hong Kong very well, and in some cases, the directors are trying to present the audience their impression of the city. The flavors of Hong Kong and the creative basis are well reflected, said Gautier.

"Hong Kong is a very creative city, particularly in film and television. Actors, writers, directors and composers are interested in making cross-over in the theater which is a strong and important component in Hong Kong," commented Gautier.

Hong Kong has been chosen as one seat of the two vice-chairmen of the Asian Arts Festival Association which has just formed in 2004.

According to Gautier, Hong Kong is responsible for coordinating the circulation of productions and commission work between festivals in Asian cities, which is an indication of Hong Kong's capabilities and expertise in drawing together various elements of performing arts.

Support of the government and arts groups, enthusiastic audience, creativity of the city, various ingredients make Hong Kong an interesting center of arts, a platform for world class performers. This can explain why Hong Kong Festival can successfully attract world performers to give their performance here.

"Since the Festival has a good reputation, they are keen to be part of it which provides them with an opportunity to perform at the highest level with other great artists," Gautier told Xinhua the response of the performers when they were invited to participate in the Festival.

"They love the city, they love to come here to perform with good facilities and audience," said Gautier.

 (Xinhua News Agency February 20, 2005)