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Ayra Wang
Hong Kong has huge potential to preserve traditional Chinese culture while innovating in arts and culture and creative industries, says Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Rosanna Law Shuk-pui.
Speaking at the first ArtCan Award Event, organized by Sing Tao News Corporation at Tai Kwun JC Cube in Central, Law yesterday said the city’s history has made it an East-meets-West culture center, attractive to mainland and overseas tourists.
“Hong Kong, as part of China since ancient times, has long inherited the Cantonese culture in arts, food and festive events, while culture from different countries and regions also integrated in the city, forming Hong Kong’s characteristics,” she said.
Developing local arts and culture and creative industries would help draw high-value visitors to Hong Kong, Law said, adding that the government will jointly promote the sectors with relevant parties under the Blueprint for Arts and Culture and Creative industries released last November.
She also praised ArtCan’s role as a platform to “share high-quality arts and culture information with citizens and tourists and enrich the city’s artistic and cultural atmosphere.”
ArtCan, a supplement published by Sing Tao Daily, focuses on local and international artistic and cultural content. Available both online and in print, it covers drama, music, dance performances and the visual arts.
Headline Daily editor-in-chief and ArtCan curator Lau Kwok-yip said the supplement will continue to work as a platform for creative practitioners in arts and culture to communicate and showcase Hong Kong’s soft power to the world.
West Kowloon Cultural District Authority board chairman Henry Tang Ying-yen said Hong Kong still has room to improve in cultural, creative and artistic industries, which accounted for 4.5 percent of local GDP and 6 percent of local employment in 2022.
Tang hopes the city could play a more critical role in culture and arts development in the country’s upcoming 15th five-year plan.
WKCDA chief executive Betty Fung Ching Suk-yee said the authority expects to set out a plan within the 2025-26 fiscal year to fulfill its leading role in enhancing the city’s ecosystem for arts, culture and creative industries.
Fung said the authority aims to make WKCD, with its globally recognized museums and unique Victoria Harbour views, a must-go tourist destination and a hot venue for hosting major arts and culture events.
She said the district saw over 12.6 million visitors in 2023, with 4.4 million visiting arts and culture facilities.
The authority will further enhance partnerships with overseas arts institutions as well as media collaboration to promote the district, she said.