The West Kowloon Cultural District’s (WestK) first major event outside Hong Kong -- the 2025 WestK Shanghai Week -- was an immense success and drew over 300,000 participants in Shanghai via online and offline channels.

That’s according to Betty Fung, Chief Executive Officer of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority.

Speaking on RTHK’s Backchat programme, Fung said the Shanghai Week project is part of WestK’s broader plan to go global.

"We presented seven major signature programmes across six venues in Shanghai, I think by any standard this was a bold attempt, [and] required a lot of resources and coordination," she said.

"I think I can call it a great success."

The WestK chief said there is great demand on the mainland and elsewhere for original content from the SAR, and the programmes that were brought to Shanghai contained a strong Hong Kong element.

The original Cantonese musical, "The Impossible Trial", for example, received overwhelming success in the mainland city, she said.

Another major accomplishment, Fung added, was helping talented, up-and-coming Hong Kong artists and performers make their mark outside the city.

"Through this week of events, many of them had become beloved artists in Shanghai, and there were people actually queuing up outside the theatres to ask for signatures.”

Going forward, Fung said WestK will continue to work on establishing itself on the regional and international stage.

"I. M. Pei: Life Is Architecture exhibition is now in Shanghai and will go to Doha in Qatar later this year, and also our programmes like the Hong Kong Palace Museum exhibitions will be on show at the Capital Museum in Beijing,” she noted.

“So this 'going global' strategy will continue not just to mainland cities but many different parts of the world."

Fung said she’s exploring the possibility of taking WestK highlights to cities where there is a large Cantonese-speaking population, saying she believes there is great demand for artistic and cultural content from Hong Kong.