Gaming sector may be called on to offer higher support to creative industries

Agnes Lam

The majority of members of the Committee of Cultural Industries have suggested that a lack of venues is due to what they term the “sluggish development” of  the local creative industries. Some of them also suggested in the first plenary meeting of the year that the SAR government and gaming operators should help nourish the nascent sector, which is currently struggling in the market. During the three-
hour meeting, some committee members also mentioned  that arts education and international exchanges have an influential role in further developing the creative industries, which is said to lack concrete branding and international horizons.
Four committee members – including Angela Leong, Si Ka Lun, Jenny M. F. Kong and Agnes Lam – identified the city’s limited space for artistic ventures as the source of obstacles in the sector’s advancement. They suggested that parts of “idle facilities”, such as the Macau East Asian Games Dome and the “glass house” in Tap Seac Square, could be made available by the government for the cultural sector. This would allow the creative industries to showcase their offerings to the public. In order to broaden the horizons of talented local artists, the vice-president of the committee, Chui Sai Peng, offered to subsidise trips to exhibitions abroad for eligible candidates from the art industry. He also expressed the hope that the hotel and casino operators could contribute to the city’s cultural and creative industries by potentially including these industries’ products in their procurement plans. “Not only the gaming operators, other large-scale corporations should contribute [to the industry],” he said. “The gaming operators conduct lots of procurements every year. Could we negotiate with them (…) in order for them to hire local brands?”
However, he also said that the definition of “local brands” needs to be clarified from a financial standpoint, for the sake of contributors from the gaming industry.
Another committee member, Agnes Lam, urged the government to establish continuing education funds targeting children with financial difficulties who wish to pursue an arts education outside schools. “In our society, those teenagers or children who are able to receive arts education basically come from middle-class families, or even high-class families,” the 43-year-
old professor said.
“Actually, the poorer the children, the fewer opportunities they have to receive an artistic education despite the little education from their schools.” She also suggested introducing “cultural consumption vouchers”, similar to existing medical vouchers, to encourage more purchases of art-related products. The idea, she confessed, received mixed opinions from the industry as it could produce varied results. Supporters of the notion believed that such discount vouchers would help the industry market, while opponents of the idea voiced concerns that the vouchers would render artwork “worthless.”
The Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Alexis Tam, who presided over the session, concluded that the government could adopt the initiative to purchase and use art products from local brands. He revealed that the Financial Services Bureau has been preparing a guide on the matter, and expressed his confidence that the gaming operators would be willing to accept the committee’s proposal.
However, according to Tam, the city’s existing regulations and laws might not support some of the “creative suggestions” that could emerge in discussions. Additionally, all the funds and subsidies – which he claimed were limited – had to be well-allocated and their usage made more transparent to the public. Staff reporter