Government launches Signature Performing Arts Programme Scheme

     The Government announced today (October 2) the launch of the Signature Performing Arts Programme Scheme for selecting performing arts productions with potential and nurturing them to become representative and large-scale local performing arts productions for long-running performances.
      
     Each selected programme under the Scheme will receive a maximum direct subsidy of $10 million to support expenses in areas such as creative concepts, stage productions, venue rentals, and marketing and promotion of the programme. To bring in resources from the community to jointly advance the development of local performing arts and to encourage the selected programmes to seek wider audience support, the Scheme will also provide a matching subsidy of up to $5 million to each selected programme to match the private sponsorship raised and box income received.  
      
     A selected programme must stage at least 15 stage performances in Hong Kong and attract a total of at least 10 000 paid audience members. In addition, in accordance with the objective of nurturing large-scale and representative local performing arts productions for long-running performances, if a selected programme is able to make a profit in its first round of performances and stage a second round of performances of a similar scale in Hong Kong within the following 18 months, an additional subsidy equivalent to 20 per cent of the total funding support for the first round of the programme will be provided, with a view to encouraging successful programmes to be staged in Hong Kong on a long-running basis.
      
     A Government spokesman said, "The Scheme will only select the best programmes among the applications for support, as its name suggests. The Scheme will play a pivotal role in showcasing Hong Kong's performing arts capability and further consolidate our role as an East-meets-West centre for international cultural exchange." The Scheme will be implemented in two rounds, with two quotas under each round. Application details for the first round will be announced in November this year, and the Scheme will be open for application before the end of this year.
      
     The Scheme was announced in the 2023 Policy Address. It aims to support representative and large-scale local performing arts productions to be staged as long-running performances, nurture world-class performing arts productions and international cultural brands that represent Hong Kong, and attract people from other places to Hong Kong, setting a stage facing the world.