Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng said yesterday that the government plans to shape Macau as “City of Sport” and “City of Performing Arts”, as part of its strategy to promote Macau as “an exchange and cooperation base of multiple cultures’ co-existence with the Chinese culture as the mainstream” (commonly known as “One Base”).
Ho made the remarks during a plenary session in the Legislative’s Assembly to deliver his 2024 Policy Address yesterday afternoon, stressing efforts to seek support from the central government in developing performing arts in Macau, and to continue to hold more high-level large-scale sporting events with Macau characteristics, so as to promote the interconnected development of the sport and culture industries, as well as tourism.
The “One Base” is a part of the “One Centre, One Platform and One Base” policy that positions Macau as, respectively, a World Centre of Tourism and Leisure; a commercial and trade cooperation service platform between China and Portuguese-speaking countries; and as a multicultural exchange and cooperation base with special emphasis on Chinese culture (collectively known as the centre, platform, and base policies).
According to Ho’s policy address, the government plans to create more revitalised spaces in historical buildings and cultural and tourism attraction complexes, expand and utilise cultural facilities such as the Macau Literature House, with a focus on promoting the development of the local film and television industry, cultural performances and cultural and creative projects, so as to build a brand of the city’s cultural and creative industry, and to introduce exhibitions that can enhance cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries.
Reporters asked Ho during a press conference yesterday at Government Headquarters whether the introduction of non-local qualified human sources to the cultural industry in Macau will affect the employment opportunities of local cultural workers. Ho insisted that Macau’s non-local talent introduction policy was not “indiscriminate”, but aimed to give the imported qualified human resources a leading role in the local industry. “I believe the pie will be bigger in the cultural and creative industry, as a lot of performances and cultural workers will be needed.”
Ho noted that in order to build Macau into a “Performing Arts City”, the government would formulate policies in accordance with the market. He singled the newly-built black box theatre out as an example, which showed the government’s support for the local performing arts sector.
Ho underlined that Macau has hosted the largest number of large-scale performances among the neighbouring areas this year, “and the performances are of the best quality, in light, sound and all aspects, which have reached international standards,” Ho said, adding that in order for Macau to become an officially recognised “Performing Arts City”, the central authorities needed to assess the local events’ quality, including seat comfort and visual enjoyment, a goal, Ho said, he was confident that Macau was capable to reach.
As for the “Sport City” objective, Ho underlined that although no formal assessment has yet been made, the government would come up with clear guidelines so that the sport and arts sectors, as well as the gaming sector, could understand the government’s direction in developing non-gaming attractions for Macau.
Media workers raise their hands to ask Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng questions during yesterday’s post-policy address press conference at Government Headquarters. – Photo: GCS
