While having to address the many issues that have affected the arts and resulting sponsorship over the past 12 months, the Hong Kong Arts Festival has again managed to secure a programme of performing artists that would be the envy of many other festivals around the world.

'The Arts Festival society is pleased to say that it has met its sponsorship target this year,' executive director Douglas Gautier said.

'The festival is a strong brand that has been delivering a quality product to our customers for over 30 years and is recognised as one of the pre-eminent events in the region, so there is high brand recognition and customer loyalty. These are important ingredients for sponsors.'

With many arts organisations totally dependant on funding from the likes of the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, this organisation has realised its changing role in the community.

'The council seeks to better position itself as a cultural and art foundation, to have a more positive and pervasive role and to change for the better in a number of ways,' chairman Darwin Chen Tat-man said.

The methods suggested include encouraging excellence, and lifting the profile and status of artists, promoting lifelong arts education, encouraging community participation and developing the social function of the arts.

The Fringe/City Festival last year was hit by the Sars outbreak.

'It was like one long dark night,' Fringe Club director Benny Chia Chun-heng said.

'No one came out to play and sponsors were as commonplace as coral in the harbour. Hopefully, we will not see a repeat of this and events such as ours can continue to further grow and develop.'

Commenting on whether the government does enough to develop Hong Kong as a regional arts hub, Mr Chia said: 'The intention is there, the resources and manpower are there, and certain efforts have been made, but they are not well co-ordinated.

'If you are a first-time visitor to Hong Kong, do you think you would even notice that Hong Kong is a regional arts hub? I don't think so.

'So much has yet to be done by the Tourism Board, which is still intent on projecting the image of Hong Kong as a soulless consumers' cauldron.

'There is no lack of arts and cultural activities, more than in Singapore and Shanghai. We have to make the people here aware of this and be proud that we have so much to offer. We need to know that as a major city we are ultimately defined by our arts and culture.'

Mr Chen lists the top three items that would be included on his 'arts wish list' - more strategic partners from the community; cultural tourism from the mainland; and a really effective cultural organisational structure, with better use of existing resources.

Mr Gautier would obviously concur, and recently organised a promotion of special festival travel packages in China to further entice mainland culture buffs to the city.

'Hong Kong has a diverse and vibrant culture that you expect from a great cosmopolitan city,' Mr Gautier said. 'Increasingly, tourists want to experience the distinct flavours of a city that distinguish it from other destinations, and Hong Kong has a lot to offer in this regard.'

Mr Chen said the arts must be fostered in the young.

'Arts education in schools is definitely a priority for us,' he said. 'With assistance from the Hong Kong Bank Foundation we are introducing art and history as part of the curriculum and encouraging teachers to use the arts as a teaching tool to further enhance students' learning experience.'

On the future of the arts in the city, Mr Chia said: 'Looking back over the past 20 years, the arts scene in Hong Kong has grown in size and variety.

'It may not have produced anything world-class yet, but these things take time, like planting a fruit tree and waiting for it to bear fruit. I tend not to measure things by short-term results.'