Hong Kong’s Digital Art Fair 2025 failed to secure the “mega-events” funding, the government has said, following the organisers’ announcement that the March event would be axed. They cited “reasons beyond our control” for the cancellation.
A poster for the Digital Art Fair 2025. Photo: Digital Art Fair.
The event was originally slated to be held at the West Kowloon Cultural District from March 26 to 30. It would have been part of the Hong Kong Art Week, coinciding with events such as Art Basel and Art Central.
However, on Sunday, the Digital Air Fair published a statement, saying: “Due to reasons beyond our control, we are forced to cancel the fair.”
On Monday evening, the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau said in a statement that the Digital Art Fair did not get funding from the government’s Mega Arts and Cultural Events Fund.
The organisers had “failed to provide adequate information” on the event’s artistic merits, attractiveness to tourists, and economic benefits, the bureau said.
“As such, the Fund did not offer any funding to the art fair. When the Fund received the said application, tickets for the event were already on sale,” the statement also said.
The bureau called on events’ organisers “to prepare sufficient funding for their events before the sales of tickets.”
Art Basel Hong Kong 2024. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.
The Digital Art Fair was launched in 2021 in Hong Kong. According to its website, it focuses on “innovative art created for every demographic that wishes to appreciate, create, and collect digital and NFT Fine Art.”
The organisers said that refunds would be processed automatically.
Post-pandemic, Hong Kong authorities have made it a key policy priority to hold large-scale events in the city, ranging from arts and music to sports, in a bid to boost its tourism industry. The government expected the “mega-events” economy would bring in some HK$4.3 billion last year.
However, the city has seen a series of event cancellations in recent months.
Last Tuesday, organisers announced the Creamfields music festival would be cancelled. The festival, originally due to run between March 8 and 9 on the Central Harbourfront, was touted as a “mega-event” by the city’s Tourism Board.
In December 2024, the Photofairs photography and video art fair scrapped its Hong Kong debut, also slated for this March, with UK-based organiser Creo Arts citing logistical issues.
