Art and culture can shape the essence of a city, strengthening its soft power and elevating its ability to draw visitors from around the world. The benefits the arts industry can bring to Hong Kong, and the city’s reputation globally, are intangible but potentially enormous and sustainable.

Detractors will say that spending on arts and culture is a frivolity and a diversion, an unnecessary expense in a world struggling to balance budgets and provide the basic necessities for citizens. But what delegates at this week’s summit and the various events around town are showing is that arts and culture can bring cities to life and help them flourish in significant and surprising ways.

We have seen a spate of new exhibition spaces and galleries, making the arts scene in Hong Kong arguably more exciting than ever and helping to elevate people’s perception of a city still working hard to rebuild its reputation.

These are the synergies that Hong Kong can unleash when all stakeholders work together in a concerted manner, staging quality exhibitions and events coupled with art trading, cultural exchange and networking opportunities.

Visitors coming to Hong Kong this month, from artists, museum directors and collectors to journalists, critics and tourists, are going to experience for themselves the unique East-meets-West cultural flavour of the city. And the world will hear that Hong Kong is very much alive and kicking – a vibrant, culture-rich city that has more to offer than ever before.

Ever since the opening of the West Kowloon Cultural District and its group of world-class venues, various players in the arts sector, public and private, local and overseas, have been seeking collaboration opportunities that will in turn enrich Hong Kong’s cultural offerings.

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I’m truly excited about what we are seeing in Hong Kong this month and the potential that arts and culture hold for our city’s future. It’s time to build on the great things that are happening and turn our unofficial art month into an official, well-supported annual event that will attract the movers and shakers of arts and culture every March and get people talking about our city as a new and vibrant cultural tourism hotspot.

Betty Fung is CEO of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority