The Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) has said it will offer the Hong Kong Coliseum more concert booking slots in a move to reposition the venue from sports events to live concerts.
Under an updated policy, the LCSD aims to provide more performance slots for arts groups and establish clearer venue identities, “thereby fostering a diversified, professional, industry and mega-event development of performing arts,” a Thursday statement read.
The Hong Kong Coliseum in Hung Hom, previously given priority for sports events, will be repositioned to prioritise concerts, thereby promoting the development of a “concert economy,” the department said.
The move also comes after the flagship Kai Tak Sports Park recorded 590,000 concertgoers in the first three months since its opening, with over half of them tourists.
A total of 15 large-scale concerts, including those by British band Coldplay, Taiwanese band Mayday, and Hong Kong pop star Nicholas Tse, have been held at Kai Tak Stadium and Kai Tak Arena since the sprawling sports park officially opened on March 1.
Taiwanese superstar Jay Chou is set to perform for three nights this month, starting on Friday.
Post-pandemic, the Hong Kong government has made it a key policy priority to hold large-scale events in the city, ranging from sports to arts and music, in a bid to boost its tourism industry.
The LCSD also said on Thursday that the East Kowloon Cultural Centre, still under construction and expected to be operational by the end of the year, would be reserved for long-running local performances and arts technology programmes.
“The objective is to promote the curation, production and long-running performances of more local signature performing arts programmes, thereby fostering the development of the sector as an industry, and enhancing cultural tourism,” the statement read.
The Sha Tin Town Hall auditorium will be reserved mainly for Cantonese opera, considered Hong Kong’s intangible cultural heritage item.
According to the LCSD, it will also enhance the Venue Partnership Scheme, which aims to foster ties between venues and performing arts groups.
The scheme, set to run for three years from April next year, will provide more performance slots for different arts groups and deepen partnerships between the venues and performing arts groups or organisations.
