Latest news with #BettyFung
RTHK
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- RTHK
WestK Shanghai Week a 'great success': Betty Fung
WestK Shanghai Week a 'great success': Betty Fung The Chief Executive Officer of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority, Betty Fung, said Hong Kong artists made their mark during the 2025 WestK Shanghai Week. File photo: RTHK The West Kowloon Cultural District's (WestK) first major event outside Hong Kong -- the 2025 WestK Shanghai Week -- was an immense success and drew over 300,000 participants in Shanghai via online and offline channels. That's according to Betty Fung, Chief Executive Officer of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority. Speaking on RTHK's Backchat programme, Fung said the Shanghai Week project is part of WestK's broader plan to go global. "We presented seven major signature programmes across six venues in Shanghai, I think by any standard this was a bold attempt, [and] required a lot of resources and coordination," she said. "I think I can call it a great success." The WestK chief said there is great demand on the mainland and elsewhere for original content from the SAR, and the programmes that were brought to Shanghai contained a strong Hong Kong element. The original Cantonese musical, "The Impossible Trial", for example, received overwhelming success in the mainland city, she said. Another major accomplishment, Fung added, was helping talented, up-and-coming Hong Kong artists and performers make their mark outside the city. "Through this week of events, many of them had become beloved artists in Shanghai, and there were people actually queuing up outside the theatres to ask for signatures.' Going forward, Fung said WestK will continue to work on establishing itself on the regional and international stage. "I. M. Pei: Life Is Architecture exhibition is now in Shanghai and will go to Doha in Qatar later this year, and also our programmes like the Hong Kong Palace Museum exhibitions will be on show at the Capital Museum in Beijing,' she noted. 'So this 'going global' strategy will continue not just to mainland cities but many different parts of the world." Fung said she's exploring the possibility of taking WestK highlights to cities where there is a large Cantonese-speaking population, saying she believes there is great demand for artistic and cultural content from Hong Kong.
South China Morning Post
15-05-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong arts hub records 19% visitor surge, welcoming 15 million in 2024
Hong Kong's premier arts hub welcomed over 15 million visitors last year, marking a 19 per cent increase from the previous year's estimate, with local events and international collaborations planned to further boost visitor numbers. Advertisement The West Kowloon Cultural District also announced on Thursday that it had already seen at least 400,000 visitors since the beginning of April, thanks to activities during long weekends such as Easter and mainland China's 'golden week' holiday in early May The series of events at the arts hub is part of an initiative to attract more visitors and revenue as it continues to find ways to ease its financial strain and reduce its operating deficit, with measures including the sale of 1,995 residential flats on site. 'Summing up 2024, over 1,300 events took place at the cultural district including exhibitions and performances, among which 500 were private events from venue rentals, attracting over 15 million visitors,' said Betty Fung Ching Suk-yee, CEO of the arts hub. The managing authority commissioned an impact study and found a conservative estimate of 12.6 million visitors had visited the cultural district in 2023 which was likely lower than the actual number, according to a spokesperson. Advertisement They added that the methodology of counting visitor numbers had changed in the past year to rely more heavily on a new system with sensors across the district put in place for 'more accurate' figures. In March and April alone this year, the cultural district saw 3.8 million visitors to its various offerings such as the 'Picasso for Asia: A Conversation' exhibition, the announcement of the Hong Kong China Rugby Sevens Team, and the WestK FunFest.
