Hong Kong has spent years asking whether the West Kowloon Cultural District’s ambition is justified. It now has a more confident answer. M+’s new cultural alliance with New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and Paris’ Centre Pompidou is not just about prestige; it brings tangible benefits.

It shows that a young Hong Kong museum is now regarded as a serious global partner. That is a remarkable achievement in such a short time. The agreement covers long-term loans, co-organized exhibitions, research and conservation, marking a shift in Hong Kong’s cultural position from host city to contributing institution.

The exchange will work both ways, and the benefits are already taking shape. MoMA plans a dedicated gallery for the M+ collection in New York in 2027, while M+ and the Centre Pompidou have announced a joint Kandinsky exhibition for 2028. Their broader partnership also includes an exhibition drawing on both collections to explore visual culture in France and the Chinese-speaking markets, opening at the Centre Pompidou after its reopening before traveling to Hong Kong.

The same case extends across the WestK district. The Hong Kong Palace Museum’s partnership with Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum has widened its own international network. Audiences provide another measure of success: the Hong Kong Palace Museum’s exhibition Ancient Egypt Unveiled: Treasures from Egyptian Museums attracted more than 670,000 visits, while M+’s Yayoi Kusama: 1945 to Now drew more than 280,000 before adapted presentations traveled to Europe.

Those exhibitions brought major cultural experiences to Hong Kong and took works developed here to audiences abroad. Yet exhibition attendance and international recognition tell only part of the story. Just as important is how WestK is changing the way people spend time in their own city.

In my experience, some of WestK’s strongest critics have spent little or no time there. As a result, they are not seeing the complete picture: They are missing a waterfront where people of different ages and backgrounds come together, whether or not they enter a museum or theater.

A visit reveals it is not simply a prestige project for a narrow cultural elite. It is a gathering place for people of different ages, backgrounds and incomes: joggers, dog walkers, tai chi practitioners, families enjoying the Art Park, friends meeting by the waterfront, and visitors from overseas. More than 17 million visits last year suggest that the district is already woven into everyday city life.

The breadth of WestK’s offer is just as important in the performing arts. The Xiqu Centre has commissioned original works, supported experimentation and given Chinese operatic traditions a contemporary platform through the Black Box Chinese Opera Festival and its own productions, including Farewell My Concubine and The Imperial Decree.

It has broadened its appeal through regular international jazz concerts, cabaret, musical theater, and comedy, with opportunities for local performers and free drop-in events.

The opening of the WestK Performing Arts Centre in 2027 will mark another major milestone, with the Hong Kong Ballet becoming its first resident company. The company’s Hong Kong-set production of Romeo + Juliet has already drawn a sold-out opening-night audience in New York, filled houses in Seoul, and earned critical praise in Beijing.

Its new home is expected to increase annual performance weeks by more than 40 percent — creating greater scope to develop new works, nurture local talent and bring original productions to Hong Kong audiences and the wider world.

Its opening season will include the world premiere of Bruce Lee: A Hong Kong Legend, planned to tour internationally after its Hong Kong debut. This is where investment in infrastructure becomes investment in civic life and artistic capacity: more performances here, and more Hong Kong works traveling abroad.

Collaboration is crucial for the district’s success. WestK already functions as a valuable cultural connector between the Chinese mainland, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Asia, and the wider world. The Association of Asia Pacific Performing Arts Centres 2026 Hong Kong Conference held at WestK last month brought together more than 350 performing arts leaders, practitioners and artists.

Across Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Performing Arts Expo gathered over 2,000 participants from 60 countries and regions, creating opportunities for touring, co-production and artistic exchange. It is explicitly designed to foster exchange and collaboration among professionals from Hong Kong, the mainland, Asia and beyond.

Meanwhile, Shenzhen is accelerating its own cultural build-out. Its opera house is expected to be completed by the end of 2028, with a 2,100-seat opera hall, a 1,800-seat concert hall, a 1,000-seat small opera hall, and a 500-seat multipurpose theater as part of a vast new cultural complex. Hong Kong should not try to match Shenzhen, but it cannot become complacent about its regional advantages.

Hong Kong need not match every new building, but it cannot be complacent. It needs to build on its international partnerships and local creative talent, while working with Shenzhen and other mainland cities on joint productions, touring and artistic exchange.

People matter as much as institutions. WestK Academy’s remit spans museum practice, curating and performing-arts production, with training designed for local and international practitioners. Alongside this, its inaugural residency brought five Czech and six Hong Kong artists together to work and exchange ideas. Developing artists, curators, producers and technical professionals matters as much as building venues: They are the people who turn cultural infrastructure into cultural life.

Financial accountability remains essential. Yet the museums and theaters began operating before much of the commercial development intended to support them.

They also had a difficult start. M+ opened in November 2021, then closed under COVID-19 restrictions from January to April 2022. The Hong Kong Palace Museum’s preparations faced pandemic-related installation delays, while district construction encountered worker shortages. These institutions were finding their feet during extraordinary disruption, not enjoying an uninterrupted run.

The principle is familiar in Hong Kong: The MTR’s “rail plus property” model uses proceeds from property development to help fund its railway. WestK has a different funding structure, but a similar rationale: Income from commercial and residential development is intended to support its cultural facilities.

Artist Square Towers, comprising three commercial office buildings, is expected to be completed in 2027 and provide recurring rental income. That will be a practical test of the funding model, though it will not fully address the deficit.

WestK’s operating revenue excluding interest rose 19 percent to HK$768 million ($98 million) in 2025-26, lifting cost recovery from 37 to 40 percent. The HK$998 million deficit remains, but the revenue base is growing as it continues to strengthen Hong Kong’s international profile.

Meanwhile, it is helping fulfill Hong Kong’s role as an East-meets-West center for international cultural exchange — a priority reinforced by both the national 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) and Hong Kong’s first five-year plan.

Financial discipline and sustained cultural investment must go hand in hand. The task now is to provide dependable support for the long-term artistic plans and partnerships already taking shape. With that commitment, WestK can become an even more powerful cultural ambassador for Hong Kong and the mainland — strengthening the city’s international appeal while making it a more rewarding place to call home.

The author is an international partner and member of the Global Advisory Board, MilleniumAssociates AG.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.