The Hong Kong Arts Development Council said on Thursday that the government’s move to tie the funding mechanism for major performing arts groups to performance and artistic merits will encourage the industry to deliver higher performance standards.

Under the new mechanism, a baseline subvention and a performance-based grant will each occupy half of the annual allocation.

The performance-based subvention will be calculated based on major performing arts groups’ non-government revenue, along with key performance indicators, such as their audience sizes and governance.

Medium-sized arts groups could be promoted to become major ones if they continuously deliver an outstanding performance in those areas.

Better performing groups can receive more funding, while underperforming ones could lose their status.

The reform will be launched gradually starting 2027-28, before it is fully implemented in 2032-33.

Speaking on RTHK, the council's vice-chairman Chris Ip said that the move would help to cultivate arts groups.

“First, I believe after the reform, it will allow major performing arts groups, no matter the pursuit of artistic merits, administration and talents, they will have a goal to do better. This will contribute to the healthy development for arts groups and the ecosystem of the whole cultural and arts sector," he said.

"Second, I have also noticed that there is a promotion ladder for medium and small-sized arts groups to have a goal to be able to do better.”

He said that the five-year transitional period offers enough time for arts groups to plan ahead and make changes, adding that they often come up with a blueprint for the next year or two.

The overhaul comes as the government’s annual funding to nine major performing arts groups rose more than 104 percent to about HK$450 million over the past two decades, but audience sizes and attendance rates have dropped.

Executive director Celina Chin from the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra – one of the city’s major performing arts groups – told RTHK that she believed the decrease was also observed among smaller arts groups.

She believes this was partially due to a lower birth rate, saying that families used to watch performances together, and that the sector has to look for other audience groups now.

The sector has also been adapting to changes in people’s lifestyle, she said.

"People prefer to stay home and go out in the evening," she said.

"We can see that a lot of arts groups have adjusted their admission time or the performance time of their concerts to respond to that.”

Chin added that while arts groups will face pressure under the new mechanism, it is not a bad thing, saying that they will have to change direction or make sacrifices to maintain their positions.


Edited by Aaron Tam