The 54th Hong Kong Arts Festival (HKAF) opened today (27 February) with continuing support from The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust. The partnership dates back to the inception of this major cultural event in 1973, underlining the Club’s commitment to promoting arts and culture while fostering community participation.

Officiating guests at the opening ceremony included HKSAR Chief Executive John Lee; Deputy Director of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the HKSAR, Sun Shangwu; Secretary for the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau Rosanna Law; Director of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department Manda Chan; Club Chairman The Hon Martin Liao; HKAF Chairman Lo Kingman; and HKAF Executive Director Flora Yu.

Since 2008, the Club has supported three pillar programmes at the HKAF under The Hong Kong Jockey Club Series. This year, the series features the festival’s opening performance of La Bella Otero by Ballet Nacional de España, choral masterpieces from The Constellation Choir and Orchestra led by Sir John Eliot Gardiner, and Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin by the National Theatre Brno.

A further highlight is the Jockey Club East-meets-West Series: Aristophanes’ Lysistrata, a Chinese-language adaptation of an ancient Greek comedy. Underscoring Hong Kong’s strength as a melting pot of Chinese and Western cultures, this production promotes collaboration between artists from Hong Kong, the Chinese Mainland and overseas.

In addition, the Club continues to support the fusion of arts and technology through the Jockey Club InnoArts Series. This year will feature a mixed-reality piano recital entitled KAGAMI by Ryuichi Sakamoto & Tin Drum. With the help of augmented reality (AR) headsets, audience members can stand beside iconic Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto and experience his final performance – blending physical and digital realities.

The Club has long supported The Hong Kong Jockey Club Student Matinee Programme to give students from diverse backgrounds an appreciation of world-class artistic performances. This year the Club will provide up to 3,200 complimentary tickets to Duel Reality by The 7 Fingers – a reimagining of Romeo and Juliet in a sports arena that brings together high-energy acrobatics, dance and music. There will also be pre-show talks to deepen students’ understanding of this celebrated Shakespeare play.

For details and all the latest information about this year’s programmes, please visit www.hk.artsfestival.org/en/.

The Club’s support for the Hong Kong Arts Festival, like all its charity and community donations, is made possible by its unique integrated business model through which racing and responsible sports wagering generate substantial tax contributions, charity support and employment opportunities for Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong Jockey Club
Founded in 1884, The Hong Kong Jockey Club is a world-class sports and entertainment organisation that acts continuously for the betterment of our society. The Club has a unique integrated business model, comprising racing and racecourse entertainment, a membership club, responsible sports wagering and lottery, and charities and community contribution. Through this model, the Club generates economic and social value for the community and supports the HKSAR Government in combatting illegal gambling. In 2024/25, the Club returned a total of HK$39.1 billion to the community. This included HK$30.1 billion to the HKSAR Government in duty, profits tax and Lotteries Fund contributions and HK$9.0 billion in approved charity donations. The Club is Hong Kong’s largest single taxpayer and one of the city’s major employers. Its Charities Trust is one of the world’s leading charity donors.