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Arts, culture and sports

Overview Hong Kong is developing cultural hardware and software in tandem to reinforce the city’s strong credentials as an international cultural and sporting metropolis.

Art and culture  A place where East meets West, Hong Kong has a unique culture.  14 public museums draw about 5 million visitors annually.  More than 1,000 arts groups offer 8,000 performing arts shows annually.  Nine flagship performing arts groups: Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra; Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra; Hong Kong Repertory Theatre; Hong Kong Dance Company; Hong Kong Sinfonietta; Hong Kong Ballet; City Contemporary Dance Company; Chung Ying Theatre Company; Zuni Icosahedron.  Arts Capacity Development Funding Scheme launched in 2011 to nurture small and medium performing art groups and budding artists.  $300 million Art Development Matching Grants Pilot Scheme encourages the community and private sector to sponsor arts and cultural activities.  Major events on year-round calendar include Art Basel Hong Kong, Art Central, Hong Kong Arts Festival, Hong Kong International Film Festival, Le French May, Chinese Opera Festival, International Arts Carnival, Business of Design Week, and, in alternate years, the New Vision Arts Festival and World Cultures Festival.  Expansion of Hong Kong Museum of Art and construction of East Kowloon Cultural Centre underway.  Government will provide more arts spaces in Aberdeen and Tai Po for local artists and emerging art groups, and facilitate opening of more new arts spaces in revitalised industrial or commercial buildings by private owners for use by young artists at below market rent.  Government will provide $216 million over next six years to continue the training scheme for arts administrators and encourage young artistic talents to study and exchange experience with counterparts elsewhere.

Intangible Cultural Heritage  In September 2009, opera became the first Hong Kong item inscribed on UNESCO’s “Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity” (ICH).  In August 2017, the first “Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Hong Kong” was announced. It comprises 20 items of high cultural value and an urgent need for preservation of which 10 have been inscribed onto the national list of ICH.  The 20 items are: nanyin (southern tunes); the spring and autumn ancestral worship of clans; Tin Hau Festival; Mid-Autumn Festival – the Pok Fu Lam fire 1 USAGE INTERNE - N5 - INTERN GEBRUIK

dragon dance; Taoist ritual tradition of the Zhengyi school; sek pun (basin feast); Hong Kong-style milk tea making technique; paper crafting technique; sewing techniques of the Hong Kong-style cheongsam and kwan kwa wedding costume; bamboo theatre building technique; Cantonese opera; herbal tea; Cheung Chau Jiao Festival; Tai O dragon boat water parade; Yu Lan Ghost Festival of the Hong Kong Chiu Chow community; Mid-Autumn Festival – Tai Hang fire dragon dance; the arts of the guqin (the craft of qin making); Quanzhen temples Taoist ritual music; Hakka unicorn dance in Hang Hau in Sai Kung; and, Wong Tai Sin belief and customs.

West Kowloon Cultural District  The Cultural District (WKCD) is a major project to create a world-class arts and cultural district integrating local traditional characteristics and international elements.  The first permanent facility, the M+ Pavilion, opened in 2016. The Xiqu Centre will open in late 2018. The Art Park (including Freespace) will open in phases from 2018 onwards. M+, a museum on visual culture will open in 2019. The Lyric Theatre Complex will be completed in around 2021.  Hardware aside, a variety of events and performances, as well as audience and capacity building programmes are being organised by the WKCD Authority (WKCDA) to provide a taste of the future WKCD experience. The WKCDA is also building international networks and exploring opportunities for collaboration.  To proceed with development, the WKCDA received a $21.6 billion endowment in 2008. In 2017, the Government announced an enhanced financial arrangement to support the District’s sustainable operation and delivery of remaining arts and cultural facilities, in particular a world-class music centre.  In June 2017, the WKCDA signed a Collaborative Agreement with the to develop the Hong Kong Palace Museum (HKPM), which will exhibit artefacts on loan from the Palace Museum. The Museum is funded by a $3.5 billion donation from the Charities Trust, with construction targeted to start in 2018 for completion in 2022.

Sports  The Government will spend $31.9 billion to build the Kai Tak Sports Park. Construction is expected to start in the second half of 2018 for completion between 2022 and 2023.  The Sports Park facilities will include a 50,000-seat main stadium, a 10,000-seat indoor sports centre and a 5,000-seat public sports ground to host a range of sporting and large-scale events.  The Government has earmarked $20 billion over the next five years for 26 projects to develop new or improve existing sport and recreation facilities: in all, 54 facilities including sports grounds, football pitches, swimming pool complexes, lawn bowling greens, tennis and basketball courts.

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 The Government has earmarked $130 million to provide additional funding to national sports associations over a five-year period to train Hong Kong representative teams for team ball games in the Asian Games.  Hong Kong stages many spectacular international sports events annually including the Hong Kong Marathon, Masters of Hong Kong (Equestrian), Hong Kong Sevens, Hong Kong International Dragon Boat Races, WDSF GrandSlam Hong Kong and FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix. New events include UCI Track Cycling World Championships held in April and ICF Canoe Ocean Racing World Championships held in November this year.  The Formula-E Championship was held in Hong Kong for the first time in October 2016 and returned in December 2017 to kick off the global 2017-18 season.  In January 2018, Hong Kong will, for the first time, be a Host City for the Volvo Ocean Race including staging Race Festival from January 17 – 31 at Kai Tak Runway Park. Hong Kong is represented in the 2017-18 Volvo Ocean Race by Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag, with BrandHK as a supporting organisation.

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