Long known for its record-setting art auctions that rival sales in New York and London, Hong Kong is emerging as a vibrant international arts hub, home to a growing number of world-class museums, galleries, and cultural events, and an ecosystem that’s incubating a young generation of talent.

 

The city’s burgeoning arts scene is a reflection of Hong Kong’s unique heritage and blend of Asian and Western cultures, its ability to adapt to new trends and ideas, and government support.

In addition to factors like the sophisticated local art market, zero tax on art deals, and a maturing arts education system, a wave of new art infrastructure has come online in the past few years, enhancing Hong Kong’s position as a thriving arts hub.

 

“A lot has changed in the 11 years since I landed here,” says Pi Li, head of art at Tai Kwun Contemporary, located in Hong Kong’s former Central Police Station Compound. Pi Li took up his current role in February 2023, having moved to the city from Beijing in 2012 to work at M+, where he was Sigg senior curator and head of curatorial affairs.

 

“The whole cultural landscape has transformed. After fairs such as Art Basel came to Hong Kong 10 years ago, blockbuster art galleries followed. In the past few years there’s been huge investment in art institutions. Now, there’s a huge spectrum of cultural institutions, which is exerting a huge effect on culture and arts in the region,” he says.

From street and multimedia art to contemporary installations and virtual art, Hong Kong is quickly establishing itself as a creative powerhouse.

 

Born in 1988, in Guangdong province, China, Trevor Yeung moved to Hong Kong as a boy, and went on to study art at Hong Kong Baptist University’s Academy of Visual Arts, graduating in 2010.

 

“Tuition fees in Hong Kong are not as expensive as other places, and there are government grants and low-interest loans for students,” says Yeung. “I had thought of doing an MA (Masters of Art) in the UK, but it cost too much.”

 

After graduating, Yeung worked as a project assistant in an art space before becoming a full-time artist in 2013. He worked with Para Site, a non-profit art organisation that invites international artists to Hong Kong, where he learned about the art industry from an international perspective.

 

Working in Hong Kong’s blossoming art industry, Yeung says, helps him learn about the commercial aspects of being an artist, such as marketing and working with galleries, as well as fostering cultural exchanges.

 

“Para Site has a programme that invites international artists to Hong Kong. By working with them, I learned much more about how artists are seen in other places,” says Yeung.

 

Yeung’s mixed-media work, which has been exhibited in Finland, France, Switzerland, and mainland China, among other locations, examines the inner logic of closed systems and how it shapes human emotions.

 

On September 28, 2023, he presented his first solo exhibition in the United Kingdom at Gasworks, a non-profit contemporary visual arts organisation in London.

Hong Kong’s cultural and creative industries make up one of the economy’s most dynamic sectors, accounting for some 4.5% of GDP in 2021, and there are big plans to boost that contribution.

 

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government (HKSARG) in 2022 unveiled a decade-long plan to develop Hong Kong’s arts and cultural facilities, which will build on the city’s existing infrastructure and add new venues. In 2022-23, government recurrent expenditure on developing the arts and culture was $756.4 million (HK$5.9 billion), up from $551.2 million (HK$4.3 billion) five years previously.

 

China’s 14th five-year plan outlines Hong Kong’s development trajectory as an east-meets-west centre for international cultural exchange. Hong Kong will host the Greater Bay Area (GBA) Culture and Arts Festival in 2024, with a view to enhancing arts and cultural exchanges among the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao GBA by showcasing 5,000 Hong Kong and mainland artists as well as other practitioners in the arts and cultural sectors.

 

The HKSARG’s four-pronged approach to expanding the city’s cultural and creative industries comprises developing world-class cultural facilities and a pluralistic cultural environment; enhancing cultural exchanges and co-operation with the mainland, and strengthening connections with overseas arts and cultural organisations; leveraging technology; and nurturing talent.

In his inaugural policy address in October 2022, chief executive John Lee Ka-Chiu outlined initiatives to nurture arts and cultural talents. These include new arts and cultural internship programmes and subsidies for students of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA) and other tertiary institutions majoring in culture and arts-related subjects to undertake internships in arts groups and at the West Kowloon Cultural District, with the goal of helping them develop a career in the sectors.

 

Also, HKAPA will conduct a feasibility study to consider the long-term need of establishing another campus in the Northern Metropolis, a proposed new urban centre for up to 2.5 million residents to be developed close to the boundary with mainland China.

 

“The education department is spending much more money on art education, having added the arts to STEM education a few years ago. This has injected oxygen into creativity,” says renowned ceramist Rosanna Li Wei-han, former assistant professor at Hong Kong Polytechnic University’s School of Design.

 

In July 2022, Hong Kong Baptist University established the School of Creative Arts, comprising the Academy of Film, Academy of Music and Academy of Visual Arts, which will run two new transdisciplinary programmes, the Bachelor of Arts and Science in Arts and Technology and the Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration (Global Entertainment).

 

Government-administered funding schemes such as the Arts Capacity Development Funding Scheme and the Art Development Matching Grants Scheme support large-scale cultural initiatives and encourage arts groups and organisations to expand their funding sources, and foster a culture of sponsoring and promoting arts and culture in the business sector and community.

 

Funding support for creatives also comes from the quasi-government organisations like The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust and Hong Kong Arts Development Council.

 

Meanwhile, the Hong Kong Art Gallery Association runs an Artists Residency Abroad Funding Scheme that provides resources for artists seeking international experience.

 

“I started from scratch, had to take a full-time job, and didn’t have any scholarships or grants. Today, there are many more opportunities for grants, sponsorships, mentorships and various programmes, and training to take up roles like gallery manager or curator,” says Rosanna Li, who received a Bachelor in Education from the UK’s University of Liverpool in 1986 and completed her MA in Education Management from Cheltenham and Gloucester College in 1989.

Over the past five years, the city has added to and revamped its art institutions, creating a growing set of opportunities for homegrown artists.

 

From its opening in 2018 to September 2022, Tai Kwun Contemporary held over 2,800 public programmes, from exhibitions and performances, to talks and workshops, shining a spotlight on the works of dozens of local contemporary artists alongside respected international artists. Its artists’ studios and residency apartments have provided space for budding Hong Kong talents to develop their practice.

 

The Hong Kong Museum of Art underwent a facelift, which expanded the total exhibition area from about 7,000 square metres to 10,000 square metres, reopening in November 2019. It houses an art collection of over 18,800 items, representing the unique cultural legacy of Hong Kong’s connections across the globe.

Meanwhile, M+, a global museum of visual culture in the sprawling West Kowloon Cultural District, opened in November 2021. Dedicated in part to Hong Kong’s visual culture of the 20th and 21st centuries, its collection includes works by artists such as Shirley Tse, Kan Tai-keung and New Ink Painting movement advocate Irene Chou.

As well as increased resources and more art facilities, young artists are drawing inspiration from Hong Kong’s unique cultural heritage.

 

“Hong Kong’s young people are becoming more conscious of their own identity and drawing inspiration from the city’s culture. Its unique position as an in-between culture, blending both Eastern and Western influences, is particularly interesting and important to build upon,” says Rosanna Li.