Arts and cultural creative industries development to draw high-value-added visitors, says Rosanna Law

Hong Kong possesses significant potential to preserve traditional Chinese culture while simultaneously fostering innovation within its cultural creative and arts industries, according to Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Rosanna Law Shuk-pui.

Addressing the inaugural ArtCan Award Event hosted by Sing Tao News Corporation, Law highlighted the city's unique historical context, shaping it into an East-meets-West cultural hub appealing to both mainland and international tourists.

Law further emphasized that nurturing local arts and cultural creative industries would attract high-spending visitors to Hong Kong. The government, she stated, will collaborate with relevant stakeholders to promote these sectors, aligning with the blueprint unveiled last November.

Headline Daily's chief editor and ArtCan curator, Lau Kwok-yip, viewed ArtCan as a platform enabling arts and cultural creative practitioners to connect and showcase Hong Kong's cultural soft power globally.

Henry Tang Ying-yen, Chairman of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority, acknowledged Hong Kong's existing strengths, noting that the cultural creative and arts industries currently contribute 4.5 percent to the local GDP and employ 6 percent of the workforce. However, he expressed hope for enhanced contributions from these sectors, advocating for a more prominent role for Hong Kong in national cultural and arts development within the upcoming 15th five-year plan.

A panel discussion on AI art at the ArtCan Award Event featured Gillian Howard, founder of Digital Art Fair Asia. Howard cited Hong Kong's robust financial system and its unique blend of Eastern and Western cultures as strong foundations for rapid AI art adoption. She described Hong Kong as an essential destination for global artists, noting the optimism among many foreign artists regarding the city's AI art prospects.

He Xiaoyang, founder of the multi-chain generative art platform Genify, underscored the growing value of AI art assets and urged Hong Kong to capitalize on this opportunity.

Local artist Cheng Ran advocated for increased government support and educational initiatives to empower young arts and cultural talents in leveraging AI technology.