HKADC to Provide 150% Matching Fund for Arts Projects MFS (9/2018) Open for Application

Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC) announces a raise of the matching ratio of one-to-one to 1:1.5 to successful Matching Fund Scheme (MFS) recipients to encourage corporate sponsorship and private philanthropy in supporting arts development of Hong Kong. A maximum of $2.25million matching grants may be provided to one arts group which secures $1.5million cash donation/sponsorship for carrying out its approved arts project.

MFS seeks to help small and medium sized arts groups to enhance their ability in widening the funding source to private and business sectors, and hence sustainability in the long run. With a wide entry bracket of $30,000 to $1,500,000 of cash donations/ sponsorships from the non-government sectors, MFS supports and facilitates the arts groups as well as the donors/sponsors of the arts.

From this round of funding exercise onwards, HKADC will adopt some refinements to the MFS to give further incentives to the donors/sponsors and flexibility to the arts groups for the use of funds. These refinements include the opening up of the application eligibility to arts groups which have received grants in the past three years under the HKADC’s One-Year/Two-Year/Three-Year Grant Scheme or the Literary Arts Platform Scheme in addition to the current grantees of these schemes, the disbursement of grants upon signing of funding agreement in three months’ time, a 12-month project implementation period and a widened scope of surplus usage.

The MFS continues to take two rounds of application in March and September in each financial year. In the last four rounds of funding exercises spanning across two years, the MFS has been supporting over 50 arts projects by providing a one-to-one matching grant of $17 million to arts groups. The MFS has successfully drawn attention from the private sectors, empowering the arts groups/ practitioners to produce innovative programmes and engaging a wider scope of audience. Supported by the Home Affairs Bureau, the increased 150% matching is intended to further motivate the arts groups to pledge commercial sponsorship/ private donation in order to realise their dream projects and enhance sustainability.

Interested arts groups are advised to refer to the Guide to Application, Form and FAQ which can be obtained from the HKADC Administration Office (10/F, 1063 King’s Road, Quarry Bay, Hong Kong) or downloaded from the HKADC website: www.hkadc.org.hk. Completed applications together with all required documents and information must be received by HKADC by 6pm the latest on or before Monday, 15 October 2018. Late applications will not be considered.

A series of briefings will also be arranged every Tuesday 10am-12nn and Thursday 2-4pm this September at the HKADC Administration Office to assist the potential applicants to familiarise with the refinement of MFS. RSVP: Yman Yuen (28201089, [email protected])