A Feasibility Study on Setting up a Visual Arts Academy in Hong Kong

In 1981, when the Executive Council promulgated a clear arts policy, performing arts began to undergo rapid growth through a variety of support initiatives from the Hong Kong Government. In addition to funding, publicity and building of venues, education was one of the major means used by the Government to promote performing arts, as exemplified by the setting up of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA) in 1984. It was not until the establishment of the Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC), initially as a non-statutory body in 1994, and subsequently as a statutory authority in 1995, that visual arts were included as an area for development in Government arts policy. While the Five-year Strategic Plan and Three-year Plan drawn up by the HKADC in 1995 and 2001 respectively, have given support to the development of visual arts, higher education in visual arts has never had a great expansion phase. The view that Hong Kong should set up an academy for the visual arts, similar to the HKAPA for the performing arts, has long remained an issue for discussion…