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.

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