HONG KONG: Three more venues may come into play as settings for budding young talents of Cantonese Opera to take their training, a trade advisory panel has said.

Stephen Chow Chun-kay, chairman of the Cantonese Opera Advisory Committee, said the Hong Kong Centre for Youth Development in Chai Wan, the Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre in Sham Shui Po and the former Lai Chi Kok Hospital, soon to be revitalized, are on their list of viable training sites for young aspirants to the traditional performing art.

"(Hong Kong Centre for Youth Development) is an ideal venue for holding camps to promote Cantonese Opera," said panel member Leung Hon-wai. "It sometimes takes days to learn and practice a skill. It will be great if students can stay in the camp for a few days."

The center, with 150 guest rooms, will comprise a 15-storey main block and a 12-storey hostel block with a total floor area of about 40,000 square meters.

Chow said the center would open by the end of this year. The panel is still in negotiations about the rent.

For the arts center in Shek Kip Mei, Chow said his group will carry out an on-site inspection to assess its suitability for training.

Meanwhile, the Hong Kong Institution for Promotion of Chinese Culture, which was selected by the government to redevelop the former Lai Chi Kok Hospital into a hostel and galleries, had also asked the committee for its co-operation, said Chow.

Revitalization of the historical building will be completed in 2012 and Chow said the panel would discuss details of the co-operative agreement with the institute at a later date.

(HK Edition 05/23/2009 page4)