ENG-2020 — Page 356

20

Recreation, Sport, Culture and the Arts

Elite Athletes Development Fund

The Elite Athletes Development Fund provides a stable financial source for the Hong Kong Sports Institute to develop elite sports. The fund allocated $665 million in 2019-20 and $737 million in 2020-21.

Hong Kong Athletes Fund

The government's Hong Kong Athletes Fund provides education grants for eligible athletes, one-off grants for eligible retired athletes at the time of retirement from sports training through the Elite Athletes Performance Recognition Scheme, and cash incentives through the Youth Athletes Scholarship Awards for junior athletes participating in major sports events. The government injected $250 million to the fund in July to increase scholarship awards to support the dual career development of athletes and provide more cash incentives for full-time athletes upon their retirement as athletes.

Culture and Arts Funding

Capital Funding

The government granted an upfront endowment of $21.6 billion to the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority in 2008 to develop the West Kowloon Cultural District (WKCD) to meet the long-term infrastructural and developmental needs of Hong Kong's arts and culture. Separately, the LCSD's East Kowloon Cultural Centre was granted $4.17 billion. Targeted to open in 2023, it will provide a 1,200-seat auditorium, a 550-seat theatre and a testbed studio for arts technology. The government also set aside $20 billion in 2018 to improve and develop cultural facilities in 10 years, including the construction of a New Territories East Cultural Centre and a Heritage Conservation and Resource Centre.

Chart 1

Provision for Arts and Culture 2019-20

Arts and Sport Development Fund

0.96% ($50 million)

Others

6.48% ($336.9 million)

Cantonese Opera Development Fund

0.33% ($17.3 million)

Public libraries and activities

25.88% ($1,346.5 million)

Public heritage,

museums and exhibitions

20.82% ($1,083.2 million)

Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts 7.64% ($397.3 million)

Hong Kong Arts Development Council 3.49% ($181.5 million)

Nine major performing arts groups 7.76% ($403.6 million)

Public performing arts

venues and programmes

26.64% ($1,385.6 million)

Total government expenditure on arts and culture in 2019-20 was $5.2 billion.

296

: