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Following is a question by the Hon Ma Fung-kwok and a written reply by the Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr Tsang Tak-sing, in the Legislative Council today (January 7):
Question:
Cultural and arts events are frequently organised on the Mainland and in foreign places (places outside Hong Kong). An example is the Twelfth National Exhibition of Fine Arts & Exhibition of Nominated Works for Chinese Fine Art Awards, Creative Awards held on the Mainland at the end of last year. Nonetheless, some cultural and arts workers have relayed to me that they do not have adequate channels to learn about information on the cultural and arts activities held in places outside Hong Kong, resulting in their missing the opportunity for participation. They are also of the view that the Government has not provided sufficient support to local cultural and arts workers for participating in cultural and arts activities held in places outside Hong Kong. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) which bureaux provide support for local cultural and arts workers participating in cultural and arts activities held in places outside Hong Kong; of the division of responsibilities and co-ordination among these bureaux on such work; whether the Government will consider designating one bureau to be responsible for such work;
(2) of the authorities' measures to support local cultural and arts workers participating in cultural and arts activities held in places outside Hong Kong; whether the authorities provide resources for such support work each year; if they do, of the details in the past three years (with a breakdown by usage of the resources);
(3) whether it will take the initiative to collect information on the major cultural and arts activities held in places outside Hong Kong, and encourage local cultural and arts workers to participate in such activities; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that, and how the authorities ensure that there are Hong Kong cultural and arts workers participating in such major cultural and arts activities; and
(4) whether it has established communication mechanisms with the relevant organisations in places outside Hong Kong to facilitate timely dissemination of information on the cultural and arts activities held in such places to local cultural and arts workers, so as to enable them to make early preparation for participation; if it has, of the details; if not, whether it will consider establishing such mechanisms?
Reply:
President,
The Government attaches great importance to the work of cultural exchanges, which is an important part of the measures for promoting our cultural and arts development. Regarding cultural exchanges with places outside Hong Kong, the relevant Government departments and the concerned public institutions have been organising activities to promote cultural exchanges with places outside Hong Kong over the years. The Government has also been providing resources to assist artists and arts groups to take part in arts and cultural activities held in places outside Hong Kong so as to promote the culture and arts of Hong Kong and our artists in these places.
(1) At present, the Home Affairs Bureau (HAB), the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) under HAB and the Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC) subvented by HAB are the main parties supporting local cultural and arts practitioners and arts groups in their participation in overseas cultural and arts activities. HAB is mainly responsible for policy formulation, overall resource allocation (including grant matters of relevant funds), co-ordination of work and promotion of outbound cultural exchanges through the signing of Memorandum of Understanding on Cultural Co-operation with the Mainland and different places. Both LCSD and ADC are responsible for implementing and carrying out various measures for cultural exchanges with places outside Hong Kong.
(2) The initiatives launched by HAB, LCSD and HKADC for supporting local cultural and arts practitioners' participation in cultural and arts activities over the past three years included the following:
(i) Through the Arts Development Fund (ADF), HAB sponsors arts groups and artists to participate in outbound cultural exchange projects. Approved projects range from performing arts, visual arts to multi-disciplinary arts. In the past three years, 141 outbound cultural exchange projects were sponsored under the ADF.
(ii) The Arts Capacity Development Funding Scheme of HAB seeks to provide funding support for innovative and impactful proposals that can contribute to the objectives of capacity development, programme/contents development, audience building, and arts education. Among the successful applications, 13 arts groups have participated or will participate in outbound arts and cultural activities in 2012-2016.
(iii) HAB and LCSD would also regularly co-ordinate or participate in activities/events to promote our culture and the arts in some places outside Hong Kong, such as the "Hong Kong Week" in Taipei which has been held annually since 2012 to promote the artists and arts groups of Hong Kong. Besides, LCSD co-ordinated local artists to participate in the "Hong Kong and Macao Visual Arts Biennial" organised by the Ministry of Culture in Beijing in 2008, 2012 and 2014. A number of Hong Kong artists' works were featured in these exhibitions to showcase the uniqueness of Hong Kong contemporary art. The participation of Hong Kong artists in the exhibition held in 2010 was co-ordinated by HKADC.
(iv) The nine major performing arts groups (MPAGs) (The nine major performing arts groups are Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Hong Kong Repertory Theatre, Chung Ying Theatre Company, Zuni Icosahedron, Hong Kong Dance Company, Hong Kong Ballet and City Contemporary Dance Company) receiving subvention from the HAB may conduct different kinds of cultural exchange activities with their allotted funds for the promotion of Hong Kong's culture and the arts to the international community. In the past three years, the MPAGs participated in a total of 122 cultural exchange activities on the Mainland and in overseas countries. On another front, through the "Contestable Funding Pilot Scheme for the Major Performing Arts Groups" launched in 2012, HAB has encouraged the MPAGs to come up with new projects and activities that would benefit the long term development of the arts in Hong Kong, which include the engagement in outbound arts exchanges. Examples of such exchange projects include arranging local artists and arts groups to perform in places outside Hong Kong, establishing networks with the overseas counterparts and relevant arts groups to enhance their development opportunities and collaborating with overseas practitioners for exchanges.
(v) Through organising and co-ordinating outbound cultural exchanges, HKADC arranges for local artists and arts organisations to participate in arts exchange activities held in places outside Hong Kong and provide them with opportunities to showcase their artistic creation and performances to audiences in these places. In addition to providing funding, HKADC also assists in arranging for performance venues, publicity, matching of collaboration partners, co-ordinating with relevant overseas organisations, arranging for extension activities, etc. Through participation in these exchange activities, the arts organisations and artists of Hong Kong have opportunities to collaborate with overseas cultural and arts organisations, to perform and to extend the audience base in other places. Examples of such activities include "Manhattan Hong Kong Music Festival" (held in New York, USA in 2012 with the participation of a total of seven local artists), "Shenzhen-Hong Kong Creative Arts Festival" (held in Shenzhen in 2012 with the participation of a total of approximately 220 local artists), etc. Besides, HKADC has been supporting local artists to participate in the Venice Biennale (Visual Arts) since 2001, and collaborating with the Hong Kong Institute of Architects to participate in the Venice Biennale (Architecture) since 2006.
(vi) HKADC also supports artists' participation in cultural exchanges on the Mainland and in overseas countries through various grant schemes and projects. In the past three years, HKADC supported 81 cultural exchange activities of local arts groups or artists under the "Project Grant Scheme".
(vii) LCSD also grasps the opportunities of large scale expositions or activities held on the Mainland or in foreign places to organise or co-ordinate outbound cultural exchange activities for providing local artists and arts groups with opportunities to showcase their works and performances to overseas audiences. For example, at the half-year-long 2010 Shanghai World Expo, LCSD co-ordinated the participation of over 1200 local artists and art groups in the performances and exhibitions in Shanghai. Besides, at the International Horticultural Exposition held in 2011 and 2014 in Xian and Qingdao respectively, LCSD co-ordinated a total of eight local performing arts groups involving 82 artists to participate in the performances of "Hong Kong Week". LCSD will also collaborate with the Shanghai International Arts Festival in 2015. LCSD will nominate its Community Cultural Ambassadors, comprising mainly young performing artists, to participate in the "R.A.W.!Land" programme of the Festival for showcasing their works created and performed under LCSD's Community Cultural Ambassador Scheme.
(viii) At the invitation of the Liverpool Biennial, the Hong Kong Museum of Art under LCSD and HKADC jointly presented an exhibition in the "City States" programme at the 7th Liverpool Biennial held in the United Kingdom from September 15 to November 25, 2012, with the aim of introducing the outstanding works of Hong Kong artists to the international art arena and strengthening ties with various overseas counterparts.
(ix) The Music Office of LCSD sends its youth orchestras, bands, or choirs on overseas touring performances and competitions each year to foster artistic exchange and to provide local young musicians with valuable experience in overseas competitions. Examples in recent years included the participation in the Summa Cum Laude International Youth Music Festival Vienna (July 2012), the Jeju International Wind Ensemble Festival (August 2013) and the Sing'n'joy Vienna 2014 - 29th International Franz Schubert Choir Competition and Festival (June 2014).
Among the above initiatives, ADF and the Project Grant Scheme of HKADC (i.e. sub-paragraphs (i) and (vi) above) alone provided a total grant of about $20 million in the past three years for the cultural exchange projects of arts groups and artists. As the financial support for artists or arts groups for use in outbound cultural exchanges listed in the rest of the items above are either included in the expenditure of the projects concerned as a whole or subsumed under the total grants for the arts groups concerned, a breakdown of them cannot be provided.
(3) and (4) Regarding the exchanges with the relevant parties in places outside Hong Kong, we have also been working through the concerned authorities in the Mainland and through the co-operation framework and platform established with overseas regions to exchange information relating to the cultural and arts activities held in different places, and to support local artists in taking part in such activities. For example, through the Greater Pearl River Delta Cultural Information Net, an initiative developed under cultural information exchange - one of the areas of co-operation under the Greater Pearl River Delta (GPRD) cultural co-operation mechanism, we have been disseminating updated information on the various cultural activities, cultural exchange projects, performance and exhibitions of the three places of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao throughout the year. Other areas of the co-operation under the GPRD cultural co-operation mechanism have also included promoting artists of the three places to take part in the arts and cultural activities held in different places like arts festivals, and the lining up touring of performances of the three places.
In addition, LCSD and HKADC also maintain close working relationships with cultural and arts organisations in the Mainland and different areas of the world for keeping abreast of the key overseas cultural activities and actively seeking opportunities for participating in international exhibitions and arts festivals for local cultural and arts practitioners.
Besides, HAB and LCSD from time to time acquire information on cultural development and activities in places outside Hong Kong through liaison with consulates of other countries in Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices (HKETOs) of the SAR Government set up in the Mainland and overseas to facilitate our planning of matters related to outbound cultural exchange activities. We will also invite HKETOs to include the performances of local artists and art groups in their promotion programmes to promote the cultural diversity of Hong Kong and local artists.
Ends/Wednesday, January 7, 2015
Issued at HKT 13:20
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