Hong Kong’s top stage awards organisers vow show will go on as support pulled by Arts Development Council, which says last year’s event damaged its reputation

“So far, we have not received a response.”

The federation added the council had also refused the federation’s funding application for this year’s Hong Kong Drama Awards event because of “intense competition and limited resources”.

But the event organisers insisted the awards, presented every year for more than three decades, would still go ahead in 2024, although it admitted the “format will inevitably change” after the loss of government support.

The shock news came in a letter dated December 8 last year, which also said that, after a review of a video recording of the 2023 ceremony and “prudent consideration”, that the council had decided to hold back the final instalment of the subsidy for last year’s event.

The council said on Wednesday night that it had decided to cut the funding for last year’s award ceremony after two rounds of deliberation, based on several factors, including “unusual arrangements” made for the ceremony.

“While recipients of grants enjoy freedom of artistic expression and creation, they must also abide by Hong Kong laws and bear responsibility for individuals [in the group], the organisation, and their creation and expression,” the arts body said.

“As a government-funded statutory body, the council has the responsibility to ensure that public funds are used appropriately while taking into account the public interest.”

But the council did not outline what the “unusual arrangements” were, or how last year’s ceremony might have breached city laws.

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Grant reports from the body showed that the 2023 ceremony was given funding HK$441,700 (US$56,448), 10 per cent higher than the ceremony than the grant for the previous year.

Neither the council nor the federation specified the amount that had been deducted from the 2023 funding.

The federation said it had also been verbally informed by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department that it will not be offered a venue or financial support for the 2024 ceremony.

The organisation said the awards were the city’s longest-running stage awards and had been given full support from the government “for years”.

“After careful discussion and consideration, the federation decided to continue shouldering its mission and carry on holding the 32nd Hong Kong Drama Awards selection and award ceremony,” the federation said.

“Due to lack of resources, the event’s format will inevitably change. Details will be announced in due course.”

The federation added it would hold a press conference on Friday to discuss the funding drama.

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The 31st Hong Kong Drama Awards ceremony was held at the Kwai Tsing Theatre, Kwai Chung, in the New Territories, on June 14 last year, with the theme of “courage”.

The ceremony featured a line-up of government critics as award presenters, including political cartoonist Zunzi, whose real name is Wong Kei-kwan.

Zunzi’s regular series of cartoons was axed by Chinese-language newspaper Ming Pao last May after criticism from senior government officials.

Other guests included Bao Choy Yuk-ling, the first journalist in Hong Kong to be found guilty of breaching the law over a search on the government’s vehicle registry. The conviction, however, was last year quashed on appeal.

Other prominent figures at the event included renowned film director Johnnie To Kei-fung, who told reporters at last year’s Berlin Film Festival that people “fighting for freedom” should support the cinema.

Playwright Candace Chong Mui-ngam, the external affairs secretary of the federation, who won the best stage play award last year, wrote on her Facebook page that the federation had always been “law-abiding and above board”.

She suggested the media should question the council on its reasons for the funding cut.

The Post has asked the Leisure and Cultural Services Department for comment.