West Kowloon Cultural District Venue Hire Guidelines

These guidelines outline the process for: 1. All hirers seeking to book a Performing Arts venue within West Kowloon Cultural District (The Authority);

2. Artistic hirers seeking to book a venue within the Art Park and public open spaces within the Authority.

Definitions of terms The Authority refers to the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority.

Art form refers to dance, music, theatre, multi-arts & variety and xiqu.

Artistic hirer refers to those hire a venue for art form-related activities and events, including performances, shows, festivals, rehearsals,

as well as exhibitions, training, seminars, movies, ceremonies, etc.

Booking calendar opening date refers to the periods that are open for bookings at a specified venue.

Hirer refers to those hire a venue for artistic or non-artistic purposes.

Non-artistic hirer refers to those hire a venue for non-artistic purposes.

Pencil booking refers to, in relation to a venue, a potential booking request for specified dates.

Pencil mark refers to, in relation to a venue and the specified dates, a potential hire granted by the Authority.

Performing arts premises refers to the cultural facilities and ancillary facilities within the venues.

Venues refers to the Xiqu Centre and Freespace for all hirers and the Art Park and public open spaces for artistic hirers.

Venue Hiring Process 1) To make an initial booking enquiry, please submit an online enquiry form at https://www.westkowloon.hk/venuehire or call venue

sales on 2200 0217. Pencil bookings for artistic hirer events are accepted year-round, and up to three years in advance.

2) All hirers must provide the venue operations team review before a tentative pencil booking can be made:

a ) Name of programme;

b ) Nature of event (e.g., performing arts, ceremony, exhibition, film screening, festival, wedding, sports, meeting, seminar etc);

c ) Preferred dates and time;

d ) Number of performances;

e ) Preferred venue;

f ) Programme information (e.g., programme synopsis, names of creative team, anchor cast, reviews etc);

g ) Estimated number of attendees;

h ) Type of admission (e.g., free admission, by invitation, ticketed, etc);

i ) Ticket price range;

j ) Venue set up and services required (e.g., sound, lighting, video, broadcast/recording, IT, security, catering,

sponsorship information, etc);

k ) Name of organisation, business registration and address;

l ) Name of contact person, position and contact details;

m ) A dditional information (e.g., level of event experience, tour information, synopses and reviews of previous events, etc);

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West Kowloon Cultural District Venue Hire Guidelines

3) If the application is incomplete, the venue operations team may request additional information from the hirer before considering a

pencil booking. If the venue and date required is available, the hirer may request a site visit with the venue sales team. An early site

visit is crucial to help determine the suitability of the venue for the performance or event.

4) A pencil mark can only be granted for events to be held within the booking calendar opening date. (Table 1)

5) Once a hirer is granted a pencil mark for an event, the requested dates will be held.

6) The hirer will be provided with a licence agreement based on the information provided during the venue hiring process.

7) To confirm the booking, the licence agreement should be signed by the hirer and returned, together with the requested deposit,

within 14 days. If the signed licence agreement is not returned within 14 days, the requested dates will be released from hold.

8) The final decision on all bookings rests with the authority. The authority reserves the right to accept or refuse any booking for any

reason at any time.

Reviewing Venue Hire Criteria and Priority • Art form/Partner – the preferred art form(s) or partner(s) for each venue have higher booking priority than other art forms.

For example, in Xiqu Centre, xiqu will be prioritised over other art forms.

• Artistic consideration – the artistic team lead by the artistic director will take an holistic approach in prioritising bookings in line with

the artistic mission and positioning of that venue at particular periods of time. Such factors include artistic merit (as determined

by the overall standard, cast, creative team, performers, programme, production team, technical expertise, company reputation,

repertoire, past experience, etc.). New, experimental and commissioned works will also be considered.

• Period of use – longer production runs shall have prioritized over shorter production runs.

• Yield potential – potential revenue to be generated by the event.

The four criteria above carry equal weighting. The final decision on all individual bookings, as well as the overall schedule, lies with the

artistic director.

Table 1 Booking Calendar Opening Date for The Authority Performing Arts Premises

Xiqu Centre Freespace and Art Park

Within 16 months in advance All xiqu-related art forms Theatre, dance, music

Within 14 months in advance

All other art forms (xiqu will be prioritised)

All art forms

Within 9 months in advance All hirers (includes non-artistic hirers)

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