Guan Eng announced today that this year’s George Town Festival will take place in July and will feature over 80 programmes.
The Penang government will be injecting RM1.2 million into this year’s George Town Festival, an annual month-long event to celebrate the city’s Unesco World Heritage listing, which was granted in 2008.
Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng announced today that this year’s event was set to be even more successful than last year’s, featuring local and international entrepreneurs in the arts industry such as Datuk Jimmy Choo, Zang Toi, Yeoh Lee, Akram Khan and international model Ling Tan.
“We hope to make this festival a premier event in Malaysia ... we want to turn it into an international event.
“The state has committed itself to this adventure. It will be a rollercoaster ride for us for we had to start from scratch but sometimes, one cannot take the easy way out,” he said during his speech at the launch of the event at the Lot 10 shopping centre here this afternoon.
Lim added that the RM1.2 million earmarked to fund the event was “money well spent”, adding that the state wanted to boost and encourage creativity by providing a platform for those in the arts to showcase their talents.
“You can be assured that everything will be done through open tender,” he said during a press conference after the event.
Lim also noted that the festival is a fully state-funded initiative, without any aid from the federal government.
He, however, said the state government was open to any offer from federal government agencies to help promote and run the event.
The state government spent RM400,000 for last year’s inaugural festival, which featured over 80 programmes, 1,000 performers and attracted an overall audience of 600,000 tourists from 42 nations.
According to festival director Joe Sidek, last year’s event, which was put together within six weeks, managed to generate RM26,000 in profit.
“This year, we started preparations early ... in January. And we hope to raise at least RM4 million, on top of the funds given by the state,” he said.
This year’s festival is expected to attract at least one million tourists, both local and foreign.
“Penang is a state that is buzzing ... perhaps in perpetual motion. When your city is in perpetual motion, we need to pause and reflect a little.
“The importance of slowing down is in appreciating the deeper significance of life, which is fragile and short.
“Sometimes in the rush of the rat race, we lose sight of the important things like our appreciation of culture and arts,” said Lim.
He added that the festival would also see the homecoming of many local talents presently residing abroad, boost tourism in Penang and showcase the state’s beauty, history, culture and heritage.
“It is a celebration of the beautiful and creative people of Penang, a celebration of expertise, entrepreneurship and creativity.
“We also hope that from here, we can create more talents, we do not want to limit ourselves,” he said.
The George Town Festival 2011, to be held in the month of July, will feature over 80 programmes including theatre, music, dance, film, art, opera, food, fashion, photography and inspirational talks.
The gala opening on July 1 entitled “Peranakan Penang” is a cultural and fashion showcase of Peranakan jewellery paired with evening dresses from the collections of New York-based top Malaysian designers like Yeohlee and Zang Toi.
Other event highlights include the “Dinner@8, an exclusive black-tie party where eight international chefs will battle for the title of “Top Chef” at the Eastern & Oriental Hotel in Penang.
There will also be a “Nasi Kandar Festival” programme featuring 500 nasi kandar outlets, a lecture/monologue performance titled “No. 7” inspired by the seventh wife of Chinese tycoon Cheong Fatt Tze, several photography displays, a gala operatic concert by Pro Musica, a dance performance entitled “Vertical Road” by Akram Khan, and a mixed media performance encompassing light design, dance, music and visuals called “River meets Light” in addition to other programmes.
