HK’s cultural prowess breaks through yoke of pandemic

The Hong Kong arts and culture industry has gone through a tumultuous period since the coronavirus loomed over the city, with shows canceled, venues inaccessible and disposable income slashed dramatically. However, the city’s spirit of innovation and mass arts capital enabled the sector to heal its wounds in only a few months. The incredible resilience and adaptation, from the sudden pause of all onstage performances to fully booked art events, showcases Hong Kong’s great potential to punch above its weight as a cultural powerhouse in the world. 

The spike in COVID-19 cases put paid to countless Hong Kong arts exhibitions, galleries and live performances in 2020. Prestigious art fairs like Art Basel and Art Central were called off; museums were shuttered several times; the 48th Hong Kong Arts Festival, featuring more than 120 performances of dance, music, theater and operatic programs, was revoked, following a ban on the use of cultural venues by the government in January last year; etc. This resulted in a revenue decline of more than HK$160 million ($20.5 million) in the sector in the 2019-20 financial year, according to the Hong Kong Arts Development Council.

The resilient and resourceful arts and culture industry in Hong Kong, however, refused to give up and evoked the “Spirit of Lion Rock”, a term which originated from a hit 1970s TV series used to describe the shared core values of grassroots Hong Kong people responsible for transforming the city into a financial powerhouse. The absence of an international audience, as well as financial hardship, cannot devour the city’s zest for art and the vitality of its cultural industry.

The sluggish art market with a lack of international headlines has left the stage empty for local artists, whose works have received a warm welcome and applause, underlying a beacon of hope for Hong Kong to be a creative hub. Unscheduled, the city’s first post-coronavirus homegrown art fair, attracted more than 2,800 visitors in 10 days. Encouraging data from an Art Basel and UBS report showed the share of sales for Hong Kong galleries increased 11 percent from 2019 to 2020. 

The energy of a cultural sphere demonstrated in the event can be attributed to well-trained Hong Kong artists. The city’s multicultural background enhances their ability to appreciate and absorb the quintessence of West and East. And the artists in the “melting pot” go one step further in redefining the traditional formula with their own thoughts. 

Hong Kong has long been criticized for its lack of cultural creativity. For decades, the special administrative region built a reputation in finance and business, while its art talent was largely ignored. Luckily, the arts and culture sector now can take advantage of upgraded financial tools, and leverage the capital market amid the doom and gloom of the pandemic. Non-fungible tokens, unique digital assets based on blockchain technology, were used to tap into this year’s Fine Art Asia, held in October at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. The cryptocurrency makes remote transactions more flexible and allows buyers to hold an irreplaceable part of artworks, propelling local art pieces onto the international stage. 

Technology also applies to the performing arts, helping the city’s cultural pulse reverberate across the city. Most training classes, rehearsals, and shows have gone through a digital transformation, which is an innovative step to explore new performing forms. Hong Kong Sinfonietta, cooperating with local entertainment company MOViE MOViE, released a concert documentary, Back On Stage, in July, amid strict social-distancing rules. Pop singer Eason Chan Yik-shun’s online charity concert in July 2020 drew over 20 million people. As an old saying goes, “There are two sides to every coin.” The COVID-19 crisis has put the brakes on live performances, but it also gives opportunities to break with tradition. The new performing form eliminates barriers of geographical confinement and lowers financial burdens. 

From March 2020, when the gathering restrictions were introduced, Hong Kong took less than seven months for its arts and cultural events to spring back to life. And the industry keeps seeking survival and growth in a new form. In stark contrast, two of the world’s most renowned art cities, New York and Mexico, are still struggling with their grueling pandemic recoveries. 

After a yearlong lockdown to the arts and entertainment sector, it wasn’t until February 2021 that concert venues holding over 10,000 in New York state were allowed to reopen at 10 percent capacity, while performing arts facilities, including Broadway theaters, remained shut that month. Meanwhile, the sector in Mexico faced a 75 percent loss in operating budgets in the past year, compared to the same period in 2019. A report by the National Autonomous University of Mexico said some museums in the city face the risk of permanent closure.

Arts and culture should be the vibrating lifeblood of Hong Kong — a magnet for visitors and residents alike that will play a key role if the city is to remain vital in the post-COVID-19 era. The industry in Hong Kong boasts the supportive features including adapting advanced technology, financing with capital management and growing with self-healing strategies — all these valuable traits are in the DNA of the city’s ever-growing cultural prowess. The opening of M+ Museum, the H Queen’s building, Tai Kwun for Heritage, and the upcoming Hong Kong Palace Museum — as the list grows, the “Pearl of the Orient” is shaping its rising image as a world cultural hub in the post-pandemic age.

The author is a Hong Kong-based journalist.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.