Arts hub aims to give homegrown Hong Kong talent space to blossom

The West Kowloon Cultural District aims to put Hong Kong's performing arts on the world map through cultivating the best homegrown works and connecting artists and audiences at its three major venues, one of its top directors has said.

"Hong Kong's arts policy has been constructed based on the concept of cultural rights, offering the public the right to see arts and artistic expressions through public funding and building venues at a district level," said Louis Yu Kwok-lit, West Kowloon's performing arts executive director, as the arts hub's strategy was unveiled on Thursday night.

"But it's time we added another layer, emphasising the pursuit of artistic excellence, if we want to put ourselves on the world map."

Under the current timetable, Freespace, a blackbox theatre which will cater to new artistic experiments, and Xiqu Centre, dedicated to Chinese opera, are scheduled for completion in 2017, with full openings in 2018.

The Lyric Theatre complex, which will give priority to dance, including company residency, but also incorporate other art forms, is expected to be completed around 2020 or 2021.

Yu said the prime goal is to showcase "good work" with more performances at these three venues.

At present, bookings for government-run venues are restrictive and only allow short runs for shows, which has limited the growth of the arts and stopped artists developing their works. Yu said West Kowloon venues can offer longer runs.