HONG KONG SAR, CHINA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Angus Forsyth, Angus Forsyth & Co
the introduction and fine tuning of policy measures applicable to Hong Kong. The well-established West Kowloon Cultural District is actively developing its own arts trading system, introducing the Artist Square Towers scheduled for completion in 2026/27 with a declared programme to attract arts trading enterprises, including galleries, insurance companies and family offices, to house space in the new towers. The West Kowloon Cultural District would establish an international collabora - tion network for arts conservation and provide pro - fessional training and internship opportunities, with associated expansion of systematic training for talent in curation, conservation and arts administration. The Authority would organise more high-profile interna - tional events, promote and implement the touring of exhibitions overseas and on Mainland China to show - case exhibitions and collections of the M+ Museum in Hong Kong and of the Hong Kong Palace Museum. There are plans to establish the West Kowloon Acad - emy to provide professional training for arts and cul - tural organisations and practitioners from Hong Kong, overseas and Mainland China. In addition, there are new plans for the Leisure & Culture Services Depart - ment to utilise various facilities, such as the leasing out of museums at vacant time hours for commercial or private use, and to open up more venues for hire, introducing paid guided tours for visitor groups and developing more cultural and creative products to enhance visitor experience and operational efficiency. East Kowloon Cultural Centre In what is a clearly understandable extension of the intentions of the Airport Authority and the West Kow - loon Cultural District in their application of increased facilities for the visual arts and all related arts produc - tive adjunctive activities such as research, conserva - tion and the like, there is further initiative from the Leisure and Cultural Services Department – planning for the new East Kowloon Cultural Centre, designed by the leading architect Rocco Yim and located in the new performing arts complex in the former public housing site at Ngau Tau Kok Lower Estate.
Just as London’s West End and New York’s Broadway centres provide for full-scale live entertainment, so the entire initiative is based on the intention to establish similar running performances at venues in the East Kowloon Cultural Centre. This has seen the creation of five new performance spaces, including a 1,200- seat main theatre as the first in Hong Kong to be equipped with a full suite of performance technology, including 4K projection, an immersive audio system and an automatic stage tracking system. The result is to enhance audience experience, from creating rich sound scales to automatically focusing lighting on performance. The complex also features a 536-seat venue with a stage centring three sides, which will enable close interaction between performers and their audience. Additional forums are smaller rehearsal and testing practice bases to enable educational activities. These developments are all leading towards full-scale utilisation from November 2025, with the East Kow - loon Cultural Centre’s grand opening – a Cantonese musical based on the life and achievements of the late Charles Kao Kuen, Hong Kong’s only Noble Prize Laureate, awarded for his contributions to the devel - opment of fibre optics. In Conclusion The above-mentioned proposals indicate active sup - port by the government for actions and activities that will engender substantial associated advertising activ - ity for the active outreach of information dedicated to promotion of their practical development.
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