East-meets-West Centre for International Cultural Exchange
126. Hong Kong's positioning as an East‑meets‑West centre for international cultural exchange has, for the first time, been included in national planning. This gives full recognition of Hong Kong's distinctive advantages as a cultural melting pot of East and West, including the world‑class cultural resources in the West Kowloon Cultural District, our position as one of the three largest art markets in the world and the vast pool of outstanding talents from around the globe. The Government will continue to dedicate its efforts to promote our cultural development, including mapping out a Blueprint for Arts and Culture and Creative Industries Development, nurturing a diverse talent pool, enriching arts, cultural and creative content as well as upgrading cultural infrastructure, with a view to further enhancing the ecosystem for the relevant industries.
Arts and Culture
127. To further promote the exchange of culture and arts in the GBA, Hong Kong will serve as the host city for the GBA Culture and Arts Festival in 2024, offering high-quality cultural and performing arts programmes from the area. I will allocate $20 million for hosting the festival. It is expected that 5 000 Hong Kong and Mainland artists as well as other practitioners in the arts and cultural sector will participate in the festival, attracting an anticipated audience of 140 000 people. I also propose to provide a total of $135 million over five years, starting from the next financial year, to support performing arts groups and artists in Hong Kong in taking part in performances and productions in the GBA. It is anticipated that each year 1 000 Hong Kong artists will participate in these activities, with an audience of 40 000 from the GBA.
Creative Industries
128. The Government launched the CreateSmart Initiative (CSI) in 2009. As at end‑September 2022, nearly $2.3 billion had been allocated under the CSI to sponsor the creative sector in organising about 650 projects in Hong Kong, the Mainland and overseas benefiting around 13 000 SMEs with the creation of nearly 30 000 jobs and over 80 000 nurturing opportunities.
129. I will inject an additional $500 million into the CSI to support the development of our creative industries, encourage more cross‑sectoral and cross‑genre collaboration on creative and cultural programmes, and promote the co‑production of television variety programmes by local television stations with Mainland or Asian production teams to enhance the influence of Hong Kong's pop culture. The CSI will also provide funding support for the Hong Kong Design Centre and the HKTDC to implement flagship events and incubation programmes.
| Previous Page | Content | Next Page |
