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IX. Arts and Culture and Sports Development
Arts and Culture
A Characteristic Hong Kong Culture
178. With its geographical location and historical background, Hong Kong has a unique position in Chinese cultural history. Through a sophisticated fusion of Chinese and Western influences, it has created a pluralistic culture of its own. It has also achieved great success in preserving Chinese cultural heritage, such as Cantonese Opera. We should continue to leverage our strengths and advantages to further our mission.
179. Hong Kong is an open society that enjoys a free flow of information and frequent arts exchanges. Embracing both Chinese and Western cultures and building on our vibrant creativity, we have developed a thriving cultural industry based on local popular culture. Over the past decades, Hong Kong's television drama, music, films, newspapers, magazines and books have gained immense popularity in overseas Chinese communities. Talented film and television professionals from Hong Kong are not only making their way to Hollywood, but are also engaged extensively in film and television production in both the Mainland and Taiwan. The impact of Hong Kong culture on other cities is testimony to the abundance of our creative talents. Given suitable support, Hong Kong can scale new heights in cultural and arts development.
180. Hong Kong's cultural and creative industries have run into an array of difficulties in recent years. Nevertheless, I have full confidence in Hong Kong's creativity and potential. With necessary resources and appropriate government support, these industries still have much room for development. Providing government support for creative industries is not uncommon. Examples can be found in Korea, Singapore and across the Mainland. I will explore suitable mechanisms to give full support to Hong Kong's cultural and arts activities and promote the development of cultural and creative industries.
Supporting Arts and Culture
181. We spend more than $3 billion a year on promoting arts and culture. Apart from the annual recurrent subvention of $300 million for major performing arts groups, we also provide subsidies which amount to more than $200 million a year and support to small and medium-sized arts groups, through the Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC) and the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD). The Home Affairs Bureau has launched the Arts Capacity Development Funding Scheme, which includes a matching grant element, and disburses about $30 million a year to support relatively larger cross-year arts and cultural programmes and activities.
182. To give young artists and new arts groups more room for development, the Government has allocated additional resources to the HKADC to provide young artists with creative space in an industrial building in Wong Chuk Hang at concessionary rental rates. We are also identifying suitable vacant school premises to provide more arts space. The LCSD is converting the club house of the former Royal Yacht Club in Oil Street in North Point into a visual arts exhibition and activity centre. We will continue to give strong support to the West Kowloon Cultural District (WKCD) Authority in implementing the project to set up arts and cultural facilities and enhance cultural software in tandem. Despite rising construction costs, we will adhere to our original plan. We are confident that the future WKCD will develop into a world-class hub of arts and culture.
Strengthening the Training of Arts Administrators
183. With strong support of the Government, local arts groups and organisations have flourished in recent years, leading to a growing demand for arts administrators. The phased completion of cultural facilities of the WKCD will add to the demand. Additional funding of $150 million will be allocated to strengthen the training of arts administrators with different levels of experience in the next five years, including internships, further studies and diversified professional training.
Cultural and Creative Industries
184. Founded in 2009, Create Hong Kong and the $300 million CreateSmart Initiative will continue to support initiatives to facilitate the development of creative industries. To step up our efforts, we will inject an additional $300 million into the CreateSmart Initiative.
185. We will continue to work with the Hong Kong Film Development Council and support the film industry through the Film Development Fund. To nurture a new generation of film production talents, Create Hong Kong will launch a First Feature Film Initiative to identify new talents through a competition on screenplay and production proposals. The winning film directors and their teams will receive full funding from the Film Development Fund to take forward their proposals.
186. Create Hong Kong will assist in promoting Comix Home Base and PMQ, which are scheduled for opening in mid-2013 and end-2013 respectively. The two projects will foster the development of creative clusters to spur synergy and interaction, giving impetus to our creative culture.
Sports Development
187. On sports development, the Government's strategy is to promote sports in the community, to support elite sports, and to develop Hong Kong into a prime destination for hosting major international sports events. We have been promoting wider public participation in sports and stepping up our support for elite athletes. It is against this background that Hong Kong athletes attained outstanding results in the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
188. We will further promote sports in the community through such measures as planning and building new sports facilities and strengthening the athlete feeder system. We will co-operate with the Hong Kong Schools Sports Federation to provide appropriate support to students from low-income families, so that they can fully realise their sporting potential. The redevelopment of the Hong Kong Sports Institute (HKSI) is underway at a cost of about $1.8 billion. With its major facilities due for completion within this year, the HKSI will provide more modern and extensive training facilities for our elite athletes. We will continue to collaborate with various National Sports Associations to attract international sports events and competitions to Hong Kong. Starting from next year, Hong Kong will host an international tournament sanctioned by the Women's Tennis Association.
189. The Multi-purpose Sports Complex (MPSC) at Kai Tak now in the planning stage will attract major international sports events and enhance our people's quality of life. Planning of the MPSC is a priority. We will ensure that it meets the needs of the sports sector and the wider community as far as possible.
(To be continued)
Ends/Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Issued at HKT 13:05
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