The organiser on Wednesday said there were high expectations for the Hong Kong Performing Arts Expo to become a large-scale platform not only for artists but also for policymakers and managers in the industry to forge connections from a business perspective, especially those eyeing the mainland China market.

“We stress that this is an exposition, we’d like Hong Kong to be a trading centre,” said Kenneth Fok Kai-kong, chairman of organiser the Arts Development Council.

“For a whole art and cultural ecosystem to be healthy and to be taken to an international level, it takes a lot of investment and opportunities.”

Wilfred Wong Ying-wai, chairman of Hong Kong Arts Development Fund Advisory Committee, added: “We hope this exposition can be a trading platform that enables overseas investors, buyers, and performing arts enthusiasts to see these shows in Hong Kong, then to decide whether they’d invite these groups to their respective countries for performances.”

The HK$42 million (US$5.4 million) expo will take place at different venues across the city between October 14 and 18 next year with the programme involving performances, pitching sessions, talks and an optional tour to Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

Wong said groups or individual performers from Hong Kong, the mainland or overseas could apply to participate in pitching sessions where they showcased their works-in-progress to potentially attract investors and partners.

Asked how overseas groups could navigate the national security law in putting on shows, culture minister Kevin Yeung Yun-hung said it had no impact on the industry, pointing to numerous events since the city’s borders reopened after Covid-19, including performances in the Hong Kong Arts Festival and Le French May.

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“[The national security law] will not affect the development of arts and culture,” Yeung said. “We continue to have plenty of space and freedom.”

He said an international panel of adjudicators for the expo would balance various aspects such as content and artistic standards, and pick “the best programmes” for Hong Kong.

The council did not reveal a target trade volume the expo was expected to generate, but said it was hoping for a long-lasting impact.

“Business and collaborations are not going to happen right away,” Wong said.

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“We will continue to follow the participating groups and see how many collaborations, exchanges, and visits we manage to facilitate, and whether certain groups or artists will continue to receive inquiries and invitations in the two to three years that follow.”

Immediately after the five-day expo is the 2024 Greater Bay Area Culture and Arts Festival, which will enable international groups who have travelled to Hong Kong to gain access to the mainland market.

The council said the expo was more international and business-focused, while the festival was centred around the nine cities of the Greater Bay and was more audience-based.

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It added the expo was strategically arranged to take place in October next year.

“Before us will be the performing art market in Seoul, which has been going on for many years. So we can see the movement of these practitioners and also investors, and directors,” Fok said.

“They can go to, for example, Seoul first, and then come to Hong Kong and then the Greater Bay Area.”

Drama, dance, xiqu – or Chinese opera – music, and multidisciplinary arts performers from across the world could apply to participate in the expo. There is no set proportion for proposals from Hong Kong, the mainland and the rest of the world, according to the organiser.

“It depends on the market, which places much emphasis on quality. So we’d focus on that,” Fok said.

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Banky Yeung Ping-kei, artistic director of FM Theatre Power, said Hong Kong groups involved in dance or music could have an edge as plays in Cantonese might have limited reception overseas.

But there could now be a market overseas for performers from Hong Kong because of a wave of emigration, he noted. “Recent examples include performances at festivals in Edinburgh in the UK and Taiwan,” he said.

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Yeung stressed that freedom and space were indispensable for creativity and for the uniqueness of the city’s performing arts to shine. He observed many groups had started self-censoring since the imposition of national security law.

With a lack of clear red lines, he said, it could sometimes be confusing. “Performance groups will start playing very safe, and there won’t be any artistic explorations.”

He said concerns about national security were unlikely to deter international groups from taking part in the expo because it was common for different places to have their own requirements and rules on performances.