George Town: A Retrospective in the Visual Arts
Date: 4 December to 8 December 2008
Time: 10am to 6pm
Venue: E&O Hotel

Penang has one of the largest pools of local artists in Malaysia. This exhibition, which focuses on Penang’s visual heritage in the last 300 years, will provide a glimpse of the state’s evolution as a mercantile trading port into a colourful multiracial and multicultural city. It will include the works of early artists like Captain Robert Smith and William Daniels and other English East India Company painters. It will also feature works from the Penang State Art Gallery's Permanent Collection. They include works by Lee Leong Looi, Jamaludin Marjuni, Lim Chan Hong, GK Tay, Yusoff Abdullah, Dr Neoh Chin Boon, Jo Khay Beng, Ida Hadjar and Kechik Abu Bakar.

Members of the Penang Watercolour Association have been invited to display their works and collections. We expect outstanding art pieces and classic photographs to be displayed for public viewing at the festival.
The main objective of this project is to provide an opportunity for local artists to display and sell their works. To keep Penang culturally vibrant and a unique draw for visitors, this project also provides hanging space for young artists creating continuity in the visual art tradition here.

Co-organisers: Penang State Museum & Art Gallery, The Penang Watercolour Association, Trafalgar Publishing House

Sponsor:

Penang Island Jazz Festival 2008
Date: 4 December to 7 December 2008
Venue: Bayview Beach Hotel, Batu Ferringhi

The Penang Island Jazz Festival, now in its fifth edition, has the objective of continuously creating and maintaining a “festival experience”. Its activities include main stage performances (with 11 local and foreign groups), An Evening with Denise Mininfield, music workshops, the Jimmy Boyle Young Talent Jazz Competition, “The Fringe Stages”, The Jazz Gallery, The Community Drum Circle, “Jazz with a Heart” Charity Dinner and a photography exhibition (as a run-up to the festival)

The past four editions have seen the Festival sustain a gradual growth from year to year and served to establish it as a highly anticipated event in the calendar for music lovers from all over Malaysia and its neighbouring countries.

Co-organiser: The Capricorn Connection

Sponsor:

Penang Cultural Nite
Date: 6 December 2008
Time: 7.30pm to 11pm
Venue: Fort Cornwallis

Penang is well-known for its performers. Stage actors, musicians and comedians have all found inspiration in the state. Taking the cue from the famed Penang Story Project initiated by The Star, its music greats include the late Tan Sri P Ramlee and the late Jimmy Boyle, Ooi Eow Jin and a new breed of stars like The Alley Cats.

As part of a colourful celebration of George Town’s newly-minted status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, some of Penang’s most well-known musical talents have been invited for an unforgettable performance. They include Dasha Logan & Band, James Boyle & Band, James Rozells & Kathleen Rodrigues, Jeon Youngse Trio and The Alley Cats. Apart from some contemporary hits, they would take the opportunity to remember Penang’s musical heritage by performing songs of our late stars.

Co-organisers: Knowledge Kinetics Services with assistance from The Capricorn Connection

Sponsor:

Goguryo Traditional Orchestra
Date: 4 December 2008
Time: 8.30pm to 10.30pm
Venue: Auditorium, Dewan Sri Pinang
(more than 1,000 seats)

Presented to the people of Penang, the Goguryo Orchestra performance will be the first time the Korean traditional performing arts takes centre stage here. Korea is famous for its conservation of its traditional performing arts. Cultural vibrancy is what attracts visitors to Korea. The Goguryo Orchestra is one example of the results of Korea’s farsighted cultural policy. Penang is also home to over a thousand Koreans, who work here and have made Penang their home. This will help create awareness of Korean culture and add an international dimension to the Penang Cultural Fest.

Co-organisers: Korea Tourism Organization, Star Publications, Knowledge Kinetics Services

Sponsors:

Penang Food Hunt 2008 & Food Bazaar
Date: 6 December and 7 December 2008
Venue: Various places including New World Park, ending at the Esplanade

Penang is famous for its street food. Locals and foreign tourists are often confronted with dizzying choices. It is also home to a wide variety of traditional and intercultural cooking traditions like the Nyonya, Indian Muslim, Eurasian, East Asian and British Colonial cuisines, to name a few.

Penang Food Hunt 2008 (PFH2008), like the inaugural event in 2007, will see hunt enthusiasts coming from all over the country to discover more about Penang and its food while engaging themselves in activities that will test various skills including food preparation.

This year, PFH will be complemented by a food bazaar at New World Park. There will be cooking competitions by students and the public, demos by Penang’s best and a special kiddies cooking workshop. There will also be various food stalls showcasing the multiethnic culinary delights.

Co-organisers: RASA RASA Malaysia, Time Out Solutions, foodies ‘n’ friends

Main sponsors:

Little Penang Street Market
Date: 7 December 2008
Time: 10am to 3pm
Venue: Upper Penang Road

Little Penang Street Market is a monthly market which takes place on the last Sunday of each month, in Upper Penang Road. Since the first market in July 2006, it has become established as a major venue for the showcasing of Penang’s culture and creativity.
It combines some 70 craft stalls with food, live performances in The Space, visual arts, children’s activities, hands-on demonstrations and book readings.

At the Penang Cultural Fest 2008, the street market will join in the celebration with the rest of the programmes. It will complement the ongoing George Town: A Retrospective in the Visual Arts exhibition which will be held at the E&O Hotel.

Organiser: Little Penang Street Market

Sponsor:

International Conference on ‘The New Economic Vision for Penang and Malaysia’
Date: 5 December and 6 December 2008
Venue: Traders Hotel

This related event is a forum where a wide group of people including government representatives, investors, intellectuals, policy implementors and businessmen, from Malaysia and overseas, meet to discuss the directions of Penang's development in particular and Malaysia’s development in general.

Chief Minister YAB Mr Lim Guan Eng will be delivering his vision for Penang, establishing where the state shall be in the near and distant future. Speakers will include Tun Datuk Seri Utama Dr Lim Chong Eu and other international experts.

The objectives of the conference are to allow the business and economic stakeholders in Penang to interact and discuss issues like overcoming the obstacles to high growth, priorities in formulating development strategy, moving up the value-added ladder, new engines of growth in a globalised world, establishing the framework institutions to support development and getting the politics right to enable sustainable economic growth that is socially-just.

Organiser: investPenang

Sponsors: