What is the title of this project?

Support Disabled Artists + Promote Public Awareness of Rotary

COMMUNITY IMPACT

How many non-Rotarians benefited from this project? How were they helped?

300 non-Rotarians benefited from this project. The project supported people with disabilities to gain access to all forms of art and encouraged greater participation by them; it also conveyed to the public, especially the youth of Hong Kong, the message of social inclusion and appreciation of the artistic talents of artists with disability

How has the project provided community members with specific skills or knowledge that will allow them to help themselves?

This project encouraged students with disabilities to express artistically and explore their artistic talents and provided support. Community members also became more aware of the challenges which people with disabilities encounter in daily life and also more aware of the support they can provide to them.

If a cooperating organization was involved, what was its role?

City University of Hong Kong students – organizers and providers of venue; Arts with the Disabled Association Hong Kong – demonstration by disabled artists.

ROTARIAN INVOLVEMENT

How many Rotarians participated in the project? How did they participate?

20 Rotarians participated in the project. DG Peter Wan+President David Ting officiated the opening ceremony. AG Luci Yau also supported the event and helped with the competitions adjudication. Rotarians and their families took part and adjudicated the competition, helped choose winning entries, staged exhibition on Rotary International, District 3450 and club projects, took photos and chronicled the event for publicity and archive.

Provide an overview of project spending below.

Items purchased and project expenses are itemized as follows: Display panels (12 pcs), T-shirt (250 pcs), materials & promotion for pebbles and Exhitbition Opening, banner, color ink and paper for photography, transportation for materials, transportation (dismantling display panels to ADA), insurance, volunteer subsidies, cleaning wipes, labels, USB extension, and travels amounted to approximately HK$50,000.

This project has received generous matching grant support from the Rotary District 3450 The Rotary Foundation District Simplified Grant (DSG) 2005-2006 for Rotary service activities or humanitarian endeavors.

FERGUS FUNG
DIRECTOR AND COMMUNITY SERVICE CHAIRMAN
ROTARY CLUB OF CITY NORTHWEST HONG KONG

- We have booked City University's grounds for the open day demonstration on January 15, 2006.  We have also booked the same premises for a week-long exhibition from January 16 to January 21, 2006 for the arts to be displayed in City University.  All this has been done free of charge by City University thanks to their students' help

- The demonstration and the exhibition by ADA will be open to the public.

- LoveFaithHope will also invite students from different schools to attend the open day demonstration.  We plan to invite 100 to 200 students, from primary to secondary schools all over HK, as well as from special needs schools.  All children will be accompanied by volunteer helpers.

The goals of this open day demonstration are as follows:

- Educate the public, and in particular the children, by raising awareness of how people with disabilities can also excel in life

- Raise awareness of Rotary Club of City Northwest Hong Kong and ADA

What Rotary Club of CNWHK needs to do now:

- Finalise on the budget of the project... for the exhibition boards, as well as T-shirts and other marketing needs ADA has for this project, plus the costs of logistics of grouping such a large number of children in the same place.  The exhibition boards will be reusable, and T-shirts are perfect for displaying our Rotary logo and name

- Invite our family members and friends to participate on the open day demonstration (Jan 15, 2006)

- I will also continue to work alongside LoveFaithHope and ADA.  Our next meeting is on Thursday, November 17.

YIR,
Fergus.

A short introduction of the charity organization LoveFaithHope from their website:

LoveFaithHope Charitable Foundation (www.lfhf.org) was established to provide the "missing link" - to urge society to devote more efforts into children's moral development. We wish to take up the challenging role of instilling vital aspects of moral and social awareness in our children. We have identified the most effective means in achieving this - to provide opportunities for children from different backgrounds and cultures to communicate, collaborate, and learn from each other. We believe that this will help develop mutual respect as well as appreciation.

For more information, please visit LoveFaithHope's website: www.lfhf.org.

Support Disabled Artists + Promote Public Awareness

What are the objectives of this project?

1. Support people with disabilities to gain access to all forms of art and encourage greater participation by them.

2. Convey to the public, in particular, the youth of Hong Kong, the message of social inclusion, and appreciation of the artistic talent of artists with disabilities.

Can you describe this project a bit more?

Rotary Club of City Northwest Hong Kong's aim in this project is to promote Rotary's image of Service Above Self. We want to provide support for people with disabilities, and to show Rotary’s determination in the community to promote an inclusive society with no discrimination. In line with the theme on education, by targeting students in particular, we hope to foster this belief in the youth of Hong Kong early on in their lives.

This project is divided into two parts:

A) We plan to help stage a week-long exhibition featuring art works by artists with disabilities for public viewing in the City University grounds. We also plan to co-host an opening ceremony of this exhibition with a non-government organization called Arts with the Disabled Association Hong Kong (ADAHK) and the students of City University. At the opening ceremony will be an interactive art demonstration where we plan to co-host a "fun day" for primary, secondary and tertiary students. We believe this will promote the theme of an inclusive society through artistic activities jointly participated by persons with and without disability.

B) We would like to raise additional public awareness of the mission of ADA and Rotary's support in the community by sponsoring flyers / T-shirts which would be given out at various retail outlets in Hong Kong.

For your reference, ADA promotes the idea that everyone has potential for talent, a capacity for creativity and a right to enjoy to the fullest the beauty and vitality of the arts.

How does the project meet the community needs?

Equal opportunity is essential for everyone in the community; artists with disabled abilities should be encouraged to express themselves, and be supported by the community at large. By supporting this project, children can also become more aware of the difficulties in which people with disabilities encounter in daily life.

What is the Club involvement in the implementation of this project?

1. Provide funds for the exhibition stands. These will feature art work made by disabled artists, ADA's mission and past activites, and will also feature at the top of all exhibition stands Rotary Club of City Northwest Hong Kong's involvement. The exhibition stands can be reutilized again in other exhibitions that ADA holds on a regular basis, thus promoting their mission, and our Rotary image, in many future events and reach an even wider audience.

2. Provide funds for printing flyers and T-shirts. These items will again feature ADA's mission and our Rotary club's involvement. Again, raising public awareness further.

3. Attend and co-host the opening of the exhibition in City University, which will feature interactive art demonstration and other games for children and adults. Some of our members' families plan to participate as well.

What is the plan for promoting the project including publicity arrangement involving the media?

1. Marketing will be made by ADA within local schools, universities and the general public regarding the opening of the exhibition.

2. Press releases will be sent to all major newspapers and magazines in advance of the exhibition.

3. The project will be posted in our club's and ADA's websites.

4. As mentioned above, our club name and Rotary's logo will appear as sponsors in all flyers, T-shirts, and exhibition stands.

How did you get interested in this project?

One of our Rotary Club members Past President Simon Yung had invited Ms Ida Lam, Chairperson of Arts with the Disabled Association Hong Kong for a luncheon talk in June 2005. Ida spoke about the talents and creativity of the disabled and their international visual and performing arts exchange programs and we became interested in their work and the groundwork for a joint community project was established.

Sources: Rotary District 3450 The Rotary Foundation Application for Allocation of District Simplified Grants 2005-2006 for Rotary service activities or humanitarian endeavors