Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC) first launched the “Support Scheme for Arts & Cultural Sector” before Chinese New Year to strengthen support towards small and medium-sized arts organisations and arts practitioners. The original budget is HK$5 million. Owing to the adverse impact of COVID-19, almost all arts events have been cancelled or postponed since February. The situation gravely impacted the work and livelihood of local arts organisations and arts practitioners.
To address the pressing needs of the arts sector, the Government’s Anti-epidemic Fund has channelled HK$150 million through Home Affairs Bureau to support the arts sector, of which HK$50 million is allocated to HKADC to strengthen its “Support Scheme for Arts & Cultural Sector”, increasing the total budget to HK$55 million to help relieve the financial burden of the arts sector during this difficult period.
At today’s press conference, HKADC Chairman Dr Wong Ying-wai, Wilfred, said, “We hope to provide immediate support to alleviate the financial challenge to the arts sector through the ‘Support Scheme for Arts & Cultural Sector’. Beneficiaries not only include arts projects, arts practitioners, arts group and organisations that are supported by HKADC, but also non-HKADC funded arts practitioners and organisations. We hope the funded organisations, arts groups, project managers will use the funds to pay salaries and fees of frontline and temporary staff as well as the contractors and their employees.” Also presiding at the occasion were Vice Chairman Dr Yeung Wai-shing, Frankie, Arts Promotion Committee Chairman Mr Andy Hei and Chief Executive Ms Winsome Chow.
Dr Wong noted that the scheme is expected to benefit more than 630 organisations/projects and around 4,600 individual arts practitioners. Each ADC funded arts organisation may receive up to $130,000 subsidy, each HKADC supported arts project may receive at most $30,000, each non-HKADC funded arts project may receive a maximum of $15,000 and each individual arts practitioner may receive a maximum of $7,500. Tenants of ADC Artspace including those in Genesis (Wong Chuk Hang), Pan Asia Centre and Po Shau Centre (Kwun Tong) as well as Tai Po Arts Centre will receive a three-month rent waiver since February this year. This will benefit 76 artists and 12 arts organisations. In light of the current situation, there is no deadline for application at the moment.
The “Support Scheme for Arts & Cultural Sector” is summarised as follows:
1. Beneficiaries and Funding Amount
In addition to providing assistance for arts organisations and practitioners funded by HKADC, the scheme also supports arts organisations and individual arts practitioners affected by closure of Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) or other legitimate non-LCSD cultural venues. The funding is to subsidise primarily arts organisations, groups and practitioners having work from February to April impacted by COVID-19, including performances, exhibitions, rehearsals, preparation and post-event work.
| ⠀ | Beneficiaries | Original $5M Scheme (Application required) | Additional funding of $50M from the Anti-epidemic Fund | Funding Amount (HKD) |
| a) | Grant recipients of HKADC’s 2019/20 Year Grant, Literary Arts Platform Project and Eminent Arts Group Scheme | Each can apply for a maximum of $50,000 | Direct subsidy $80,000 | $130,000 |
| b) | Projects funded by HKADC | |||
| i) Project Grant, Matching Fund Scheme (non-publication) | Each can apply for a maximum of $15,000 | Each project affected by the epidemic will receive a direct subsidy of $15,000 | $30,000 | |
| ii) Project Grant (publication) | Each can apply for a maximum of $3,000 | Each project affected by the epidemic will receive a direct subsidy of $3,000 | $6,000 | |
| Projects funded by HKADC iii) Cultural Exchange Scheme iv) Commissioned projects : - - Arts-in-School Partnership Scheme - Literary Arts Publication In Media Project - Hong Kong Literary Arts Archive |
Each project affected by the epidemic will receive a direct subsidy of $15,000 | |||
| c) | Arts projects not funded by HKADC | Each project affected by the epidemic may receive a subsidy of $15,000 by application | ||
| d) | Individual arts practitioners | Each individual may receive a maximum of $7,500 by application | ||
*Details on application and application form will be uploaded to HKADC website shortly. (http://www.hkadc.org.hk/SupportScheme).
2. Processing Timeline
In light of the current situation, there is no deadline set for application until full disbursement of the funding or further notice. For arts organisations and practitioners with no application required, HKADC will disburse the funding by bank cheques in one go within approximately two weeks starting from today. For arts practitioners and organisations that need to submit applications, they may use the application forms and guidelines to be uploaded on ADC’s website two weeks from now. They should complete the applications and submit by email or mail. In general, the Administration Office will process all acceptable applications and disburse the funding within approximately one month afterwards.
Appendix
- Support Scheme for Arts & Cultural Sector Overview (Chinese version only)
- FAQ
