Nine Hong Kong arts groups in plea to government for increased funding
Publicly funded bodies say culture is important to growth and Hong Kong lags behind others
Nine publicly funded major performing arts groups are calling for the government to increase the overall arts and cultural budget from less than 1 per cent of the total government expenditure to 2 per cent - the same goal as South Korea.
In a letter to Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah seen by the , the nine arts groups alleged that the government had not allocated additional resources for culture in real terms for more than a decade and demanded the government review the status quo.
"Developing arts is an investment for our society rather than a welfare service," they wrote.
"Since the local economy is restructuring into an intellectual economy, the government has the responsibility to re-examine the existing allocation of public spending to take advantage of such an opportunity."
Government statistics show that although arts and culture expenditure rose from HK$2.64 billion in 2008/09 to HK$3.3 billion in 2013/14, the percentage of total expenditure fell over the past three years.
In 2010/11 it stood at 1.2 per cent, then fell to 0.98 per cent in 2011/12. It was 1.01 per cent in 2012/13 and in 2013/14, it is expected to account for only 0.93 per cent.
