East Kowloon culture hub to open in phases amid tech push

The East Kowloon Cultural Centre in Ngau Tau Kok is expected to open in phases starting from the end of this year or early next year, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said.

Delivering a video speech at an IT and art development forum yesterday, Lee said the performing arts complex will be fitted out with technology and innovation facilities that will encourage experts from the arts and technology sectors to exchange ideas and cooperate with each other, adding momentum to performing arts.

Lying across Kwun Tong Road from Kowloon Bay MTR station, the 2.16-hectare cultural center will be equipped with performing halls for dance, music, and drama programs, as well as an arts-tech lab with innovative stage equipment, such as real-time stage tracking system and 3D projection mapping.

"Hong Kong is developing into an international innovation and technology center, and a hub for culture and arts exchanges. We are also upgrading the facilities of performing arts venues to cope with the development and application of arts-tech," Lee said.

The government will continue to support the integration of arts with innovation and technology, and encourage artists to make use of technology to present unprecedented artistic works to the audience.

Lee said 324 art and innovation related groups or personnel have benefited from subsidy schemes to the tune of over HK$100 million aimed at supporting the arts and cultural sector's application of technology to projects.

In addition, there will be an arts and technology academy to provide systematic training and produce different types of arts and technology projects to promote exchanges and cooperation between artists and technology professionals.

Lee also said WEB 3.0 - a decentralized world wide web that is safer and more convenient for web users than blockchain - is a new direction for the internet that incorporates recent technologies and has the potential to become a trend that will drive the development of finance and commerce.

"We have implemented a new licensing regime for virtual asset trading platforms in June, and we are also exploring the regulatory arrangements for stablecoin [a type of cryptocurrency]."

He added the government is also closely monitoring international developments to ensure that Hong Kong's regulatory requirements are in place to facilitate market development.