THE ARTS

An Inside Job

Being Neighbourly x Peter Ross and Kyra Campbell, HKARTS

Author/ Being Neighbourly
17 November 2024

Set up in 2019, the business bills itself as ‘The Artists platform’. True in the sense that Ross is a trained architect and Campbell is a photographer; it is also true in another sense: the platform has grown from being a very small number of artists to representing over 130 artists in its lustrum of operation.

“It started out as being a few people who were just hanging out,” says Ross, adding that the company has now grown, not just in terms of its A-Z of artists on its website, but to include art consultancy, a web-shop, print service and blog, the usefulness of which a quick peruse confirms to be its insider perspective.

One of the manifestations of this utility is the company’s online blog, comprised of focused write-ups that stay close to the company’s mandate ‘to nurture the Hong Kong art scene, to support and promote artists in Hong Kong and celebrate the artistic talent coming out of the city’. Past material includes: the best art workshops, a monthly handpick of exhibitions to make time for, and ‘Artist opportunities’ — the latter, which offers a fascinating keyhole onto what it’s like to be an artist in today’s Hong Kong.

“We are a constantly expanding community and love what we do!” says Campbell, a trained photographer who still takes events assignments. Ross, meanwhile was an arts scholar at school and then went on to train and work as an architect.

The artist-led nature of HKARTS has fuelled them in their mission to ‘support the visual arts in Hong Kong’, powering them on, where the enthusiasm of others might have waned. It is a world, road bumps and all, with which Ross and Campbell are closely acquainted.

“As there are only two of us in the business, we end up wearing all the hats. We’re the CFO, CEO, COO, secretary, market manager, artist liaison, web designer, costumer service, etcetera.” She adds that the day-to-day running tends to be “quite full on”, and that they’ve been focusing on developing their blog and expanding their artist books.

“In Hong Kong, artists are very lucky to be exposed to so many different cultures, and a lot of our artists are inspired by the uniqueness of the city. More and more opportunities are coming to Hong Kong artists”, she says optimistically.

“A minus is the same as everywhere — it’s not easy being an artist in a business sense. Just understanding what you need to do to have a career as an artist can be challenging. Much like starting anything, it takes time and persistence,” Ross adds.

HKARTS works with landlords that have vacant properties, using their spaces for pop-up, travelling exhibitions. It’s a creative solution to the Hong Kong problem of extortionate rentals and allows them to advocate for their artists by ensuring their work is seen.

“We’ve found that having the property full of life helps landlords to rent it out. The last one we were in was for around six months,” adds Ross.

It’s been another busy month for HKARTS, and it’s not yet over with judging duties on the horizon for the upcoming Being Neighbourly ‘Transitions’ art exhibition, November 21-25 at the Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre. The duo will join fellow judges: veteran architect, Bert Bulthuis of STUDIO SITEC and Ingrid Chen of the FindArt app to select a recipient of ‘The Being Neighbourly Creativity Award’. The ten multi-media artists include: Andreas von Buddenbrock, Vivian Ho, Elsa Jeandedieu, Bharat Khemlani, Francesco Lietti, Carol Man, Louise Soloway Chan, Peter Sung and Andrew Tse.

Not an easy job.

HKARTS, www.hongkongartscollective.com