Swire Properties sponsors HKPM bi-city cultural exchange programme

Swire Properties is jumping on board as the lead sponsor for The Hong Kong Palace Museum (HKPM) two-year Bi-city Youth Cultural Leadership Programme. The leadership programme aims to nurture the next generation of cultural talents in Beijing and Hong Kong, and is HKPM’s flagship youth-learning initiative.

The programme has been designed to encourage and facilitate cultural exchange between youth in Beijing and Hong Kong. The two-year programme, which will start in the second half of 2022, will offer an array of hybrid learning activities and training with a focus on fundamental arts and cultural knowledge, innovative thinking, cross-disciplinary capacity building; as well as internship opportunities. The goal is to provide a platform for young people in Beijing and Hong Kong to connect, share and exchange cultural ideas.

As part of the programme, in 2022, 80 university students from Beijing and Hong Kong (approximately 40 from each city) will participate in an online gamified exchange programme over a four-month period. They will interact with each other through a virtual learning platform to complete various creative missions online and offline.

To enrich participants’ learning experience, the leadership programme will also invite arts and cultural leaders as well as innovators to host online talks and workshops to share valuable insights with students. Participants who excel in the first-year programme will be selected to join the next stage of the programme, which includes in-person exchange opportunities and internships.

In 2023, 16 university students (eight students per city) will join a two-month summer-learning programme and participate in various visits, talks and workshops in Beijing and Hong Kong.  The leadership programme will also include a three-week summer internship at leading arts and cultural organisations or companies in Hong Kong. These learning activities aim to cultivate participants’ strategic foresight, cross-disciplinary capacity, systematic thinking and global mindset – to train them to respond to and lead change, and to realise HKPM’s vision of nurturing the next generation of all-rounded cultural talent from these two cities.

Echoing the National 14th Five-Year Plan, the Programme is a testament to HKPM’s vision to promote Chinese arts and culture – locally and globally. It will have a long-lasting impact on the cultural development of both cities, and transform Hong Kong into an East-meets-West centre for international cultural exchange.   

Tim Blackburn, chief executive of Swire Properties said, “As part of our signature 50th Anniversary celebrations, we are excited to be co-creating the multi-faceted youth leadership programme with the Hong Kong Palace Museum. This initiative resonates strongly with our commitment to placemaking, especially in terms of making arts and culture a part of everyday life and encouraging youth empowerment. This joint effort will help raise Hong Kong's profile as a cultural hub and foster the next generation of exceptional leaders.”

Louis Ng, HKPM museum director said, “Promoting the inheritance of Chinese culture to future generations is at the heart of HKPM’s mission. The HKPM is committed to facilitating cultural, artistic and academic exchanges among young people from different regions and cultural backgrounds through collaborations with key industry stakeholders. We are grateful to Swire Properties for their support and for sharing this common vision with us.”

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