Empower Arts, Animate Communities

Chapter 1:
Changing the Imagination of Community Programs at District Councils of Hong Kong

DOI: 10.54165/9789887928522/01

Clara Cheung

In Hong Kong, Art and cultural programs supported by District Councils have long been considered as more traditional, old-fashioned and targeting mainly the elderly group in communities.  This phenomenon had a change in 2020, when a large number of younger councillors, who newly entered the scope of municipal governance after 2019’s election, encouraged more diverse projects focusing at community engagement.   The current essay reviews the different engagement methods in three series of community art projects conducted by contemporary artists in the financial year of 2020-2021, with the funding from District Councils in Wong Tai Sin, Wan Chai and Kowloon City, and discuss challenges and possibilities for further development of DCs’ community art programs in the future. 

pp. 6-19 (PDF)


To cite:
Cheung, Clara, “Changing the Imagination of Community Programs at District Councils of Hong Kong”. In Empower Arts, Animate Communities, edited by Benny Lim & Hing-kay Oscar Ho, 6-19. Hong Kong: Department of Cultural and Religious Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2021. https://doi.org/10.54165/9789887928522/01