Hong Kong is developing hardware and software to reinforce the city’s status as an international hub for arts and culture. This ties in with Hong Kong’s new positioning as an East-meets-West centre for international cultural exchange, as set out in the National 14th Five-Year Plan.
Arts and Culture
Hong Kong has:
– 14 museums and 16 performance venues under the management of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) draw about 3.5 million visitors and 2 million in attendance respectively annually.
– Over 7,000 cultural programmes/activities organised by the LCSD attracting over 2 million spectators/participants each year.
– 9 major performing arts groups: Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra; Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra; Hong Kong Repertory Theatre; Hong Kong Dance Company; Hong Kong Sinfonietta; Hong Kong Ballet; City Contemporary Dance Company; Chung Ying Theatre Company; and Zuni Icosahedron.
– Major cultural events: Art Basel Hong Kong, Art Central, Fine Art Asia, Hong Kong Arts Festival, Hong Kong International Film Festival, French May Arts Festival, Chinese Opera Festival, International Arts Carnival, New Vision Arts Festival, Business of Design Week, and Asia Cultural Co-operation Forum.
– West Kowloon Cultural District is one of the world’s largest cultural projects. Major venues have started to open.
– Tai Kwun – Centre for Heritage and Arts, encompassing 16 heritage buildings, including the former Central Police Station, Victoria Prison and Central Magistracy, is a cultural hub offering multi-purpose venues for a full array of artistic offerings from home and abroad.
Other initiatives
– The Government set aside a total of $100 million (US$12.8 million) under various funds operated by different bureaux to promote arts technology through encouraging related sectors to implement projects that integrate technology and arts.
– The 2022-23 Budget earmarked $85 million each year to support the development of the East Kowloon Cultural Centre, scheduled to be commissioned in phases in 2023, into a major arts technology venue and incubator providing structured training. An amount of $30 million will be allocated to implement an Arts Technology Funding Pilot Scheme to encourage the nine major performing arts groups to apply arts technology.
– Arts Capacity Development Funding Scheme was launched in 2011 to nurture small and medium-sized arts groups and budding artists. The 2022-23 Budget will inject $10 million into the Scheme to
encourage the arts groups to further explore the use of arts technology under the scheme.
– The 2022-23 Budget set aside $70 million to upgrade facilities of performing arts venues under the LCSD.
– The Government will allocate $42 million to organise the first Hong Kong Performing Arts Market within two years.
– The 2021-22 Budget set aside $169 million to take forward local cultural, heritage and creative tourism projects, such as the Yim Tin Tsai Arts Festival and the City in Time.
– The 2021-22 Budget injected an additional $1 billion into the CreateSmart Initiative to drive the development of the creative industries.
– The Government allocated an additional $900 million in 2021-22 for the Art Development Matching Grants Scheme to further promote sponsorship of cultural and arts from all sectors.
– The Government injected $1 billion into the Film Development Fund (FDF) in May 2019 with a view to promoting further development of the local film industry through new and enhancement measures under the FDF.
– The Government will allocate $37 million over the next 6 years to provide professional training for the conservation staff of the LCSD and the soon-to-open Hong Kong Palace Museum and increase the number of places under the museum trainee (conservation) programme and the summer internship programme.
– $216 million was earmarked from 2018-19 to 2023-24 to continue the arts administrators training scheme.
– Sham Shui Po Design and Fashion Project to nurture young designers and support fashion design start-ups. Expected completion 2023-24.
Michael Carry is the lead editor for Bonanza Magazine. Michael has been working as a freelance journalist for nearly a decade having published stories in the New York Times, The Plain Dealer, The Daily Mail and many others. Michael is based in Dawrin and covers issues affecting his city and global news. When he is not busy writing, Michael enjoys reading books and walking with his dogs.
