Sustainable Development: From Legacy to New Horizons
Art is life, and life is art, as the saying goes.
In practical terms, that means the performing arts are not simply a form of self-expression. They also unite society through collective participation. They can even address issues of global importance such as climate change.
HKAPA has incorporated the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into its management and curriculum. Academy Director Professor Anna CY Chan believes that responsible artists and cultural leaders should have the courage to blaze new trails rather than simply following the trodden path.
“We need to rethink how to promote the arts in a sustainable fashion,” she says. “Aside from raising public awareness, we need to adopt relevant measures in our artistic practices.”
The Academy aims to provoke a “green revolution” in the local arts industry while also staying committed to passing down its cultural legacy.
Through revitalisation, innovation, education, and community engagement, it strives to foster cultural preservation and artistic exchange, in the hope of creating a sustainable future where people and the environment coexist in harmony.
The ethos inspiring this drive stipulates that an artist’s mission should not be confined to aesthetic pursuits. At a time when climate change and sustainable development are issues of global concern, artists should also concern themselves with their own environmental responsibility as well as the sustainability of the performing arts industry.
The Academy is proactive in its promotion and implementation of sustainability concepts as a result. Building on Europe’s STAGES (Sustainable Theatre Alliance for a Green Environmental Shift) collaboration and the Theatre Green Book, Professor Chan incorporates tradition, innovation and sustainable development into education theory and practical training.
“We need to be aware of the interconnections between artistic creation and ecology, society and the economy,” Professor Chan maintains. “We should deploy technology to enhance cultural preservation, and we should strive to make a change in society and the environment.”
Through interdisciplinary collaboration, the Academy works with different sectors of society to build core ideas on cultural sharing and formulate an effective reform proposal for the cultivation of creative talent. “We need to ensure performing artists of the future and industry leaders are equipped with these social values, and a concern for global trends and topics,” she states. “This is our mission.”
The Imperative of Green Production
On how to turn ideas into action, Professor Chan indicates that the Academy will strive for breakthroughs in sustainable development at all stages of its efforts, from curriculum design, through production and operation, to venue construction. The aim is to redefine local contemporary theatre. Productions such as dance works will be scrutinised to assess their sustainability. “We must ponder how to convey the relevant messages onstage every step of the way, from design concept to backdrop, wardrobe and rehearsal,” Professor Chan indicates.
This new way of thinking will refresh old practices. For example, students will no longer make props just for a single production. They must be made with an eye on re-use.
Professor Chan admits this represents a significant challenge. “Cheap production materials are easily available online,” she concedes. “While they may simplify the props-and backdrop-making process, they exacerbate the problem of over-consumption. Change needs to start with the local industry. Only action can put a stop to high-speed consumption.” She adds that storage space is also a factor in implementing green theatre. “Space is required to keep production materials for the next production. It is another of our considerations.”
To gather views and suggestions, Professor Chan and stakeholders organised the first Hong Kong Culture and Sustainability Conference (CUSU) last November. CUSU is a platform for the pooling of ideas on how to implement sustainable development in Hong Kong, especially in the performing arts. The next CUSU conference, to be held at the Academy this coming October, will explore topics of culture and sustainability from an Asian point of view. The Academy will also share research and empirical data in sustainable performance productions and related areas accumulated over the past year.
Putting Green Living into Practice
Sustainable development may be zealously discussed in global climate conferences, but encouragingly, it is also practicable in almost every moment of daily living. Patrick Lee, Deputy Director (Administration) of the Academy, points out that creating a sustainable campus is a shared mission for the Academy as well as its teachers and students. As such, it requires the dutiful participation of everyone for its success.
“As a forest therapy guide and nature lover, when I see green, I don’t just see a forest, I see environmental protection,” Mr Lee says. “When I take a stroll on campus, I feel the care our members lavish on the environment, such as switching off lights and air conditioning after a lecture to save energy, bringing their own cups and eating utensils to reduce use of disposables, thereby honouring the commitment to zero waste. I see waste being sorted and used items being recycled to give resources a new life and maximise their value.” As these “little” habits build momentum, they contribute to a more sustainable earth.
Mr Lee believes that a sustainable campus is an organic ecosystem teeming with life where, in classrooms, teachers impart professional knowledge as well as concepts of environmental protection and sustainability; and in everyday life, students put theory into practice through green habits and a concern for nature.
“Looking ahead, infrastructure such as green buildings, a rainwater-harvesting system, and solar panels will also become teaching materials, enabling us to live in alignment with nature,” he indicates.
Mr Lee believes that a sustainable campus is only possible with everyone’s input. He calls upon HKAPA community to sow the seeds of sustainability and water them daily as a good start toward a greener future. “May eco-consciousness extend from the campus to the community, and take us to ever-broadening horizons, becoming a beacon of warmth and light for the world,” he insists.
The Search for Statues
HKAPA aims to be a trailblazer for sustainable development in the arts, from talent cultivation and technological innovation to cultural preservation. In 2003, the Academy was handed the reins for the management and restoration of the historic Béthanie sanatorium, built by Missions Étrangères de Paris (the French Mission).
In the Academy’s hands, the site has transformed into a heritage campus for training talent in film and television. When restoration began, Béthanie had been abandoned for many years. Some of the chapel’s components had been lost, including the statues of the Twelve Apostles. Four were subsequently uncovered. Over the years, the Academy searched high and low, appealing to the public for information on the remaining eight. Last year, what is potentially the fifth statue was discovered.
According to records, Béthanie’s 12 statues of the apostles were crafted in France. The four statues on the Béthanie campus are now replicas. The original statues of St Matthew, St Thomas and St Paul are kept by St. Clare’s Girls’ School, and a fourth is in the possession of a private collector in the US.
Early last year, a local archaeology team contacted the Academy, indicating that a statue of St Johannes at St. Clare’s looked uncannily similar to the three previously discovered at the same location. Willie Kua, Deputy Head of Campus Development, liaised with the team and consulted Philip Soden, who was project director of the Béthanie restoration while serving as Associate Director (Operations) at HKAPA. After extensive field work and comparison studies, they concluded that the statues could very likely belong to the same set.
Mr Soden had asked what’s now called the School of Theatre and Entertainment Arts (TEA) to reproduce the four statues with silicone moulding. Any new replicas should be more advanced. With advanced replication technology now at the School of TEA’s disposal, Mr Kua notes, “3D scanning saves time as it does away with the need for repeated moulding and testing, and allows replicas to be made with environmentally friendly materials.”
Marriage of Technology and Tradition
The person in charge of the replication, Adam Bain, Senior Lecturer in Property Making at the School of TEA, points out that the St Johannes statue has three damaged fingers but is otherwise in fairly good condition. “There were no old photos to use as reference,” he notes. “We could only infer from similar statues how the fingers looked and how they were positioned. This was the biggest challenge.”
However, other aspects of replication and restoration are simpler. In contrast to the moulding process in use 20 years ago, modern 3D scanning and printing incurs no risk of damage to the original. It is also easier to make adjustments and repairs such as reconstructing the fingers and fixing peeled paint.
Adam recruited the assistance of The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology to identify the statue’s material using X-ray fluorescence. That analysis detected the presence of volcanic ash. As there are no volcanoes in France, it was assumed the material had come from southern Italy.
“The result of the analysis was immensely helpful,” Adam says. “A replica needs to honour authenticity, a principle of relic preservation.”
Aside from accuracy, the team also has to ensure their methods are sustainable. “If we were to reproduce the statue using ceramic clay, procuring volcanic ash from southern Italy is not an ecofriendly option,” Adam continues. “Using volcanic ash from Chinese Mainland takes care of that aspect without affecting the results.” Adam says he has approached a local 3D printing service to acquire biodegradable materials that will contribute to a recyclable and degradable finished product that has minimal impact on the environment.
Technology has changed the way props are made. Computer-controlled procedures minimise carbon emissions and the production of solid waste. But Adam stresses that digital technology and Artificial Intelligence can never replace traditional craft. “We cannot jump from zero to 3D,” he says. “We need to understand traditional craft while also learning to use technology. Both approaches hold their own worth.”
The School of TEA is integrating know-how and experience gleaned from this project into its curriculum. Or Pui-yee, a fourth-year student in the Department of Theatre Design, sees this as a great learning opportunity.
“Projects in the past leaned heavily towards stage production,” Ms Or says. “This one, being about relic preservation, opens up a path for the application of production technology to other areas.” She will replicate the statue using materials that are as close to the original as possible, and her work will be displayed at the graduation exhibition in June and July.
Legacy and Development
St. Clare’s Girls’ School, around 1.5 kilometres west of the Béthanie campus, was founded in 1927. Principal Mrs Cherry Chan points out that St. Clare’s started out as a convent of the school’s sponsoring body, the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of the Angels from Canada. The nuns lived at the site for many years. Mrs Chan speculates that the French Mission, which sold the Béthanie site in 1974, passed the statues to the sisters to keep. The apostles have watched over generations of teachers and students at St. Clare’s as a result. Mrs Chan ascribes St. Clare’s connection with HKAPA, on the eve of the school’s centenary, to serendipity and “god’s will”. “HKAPA is an ideal manager for the Béthanie,” she says. “It has the resources, talent and professional knowledge to make replicas of the statues, which in turn offer students opportunities for research and hands-on learning. All this has been extremely meaningful.”
The Béthanie which opened as a sanatorium for missionaries in 1875, celebrated its 150th anniversary last year. This year, 2026, marks the 20th anniversary of the Academy’s official takeover of the site. To rediscover the likely statue of St Johannes at this time suggests the Academy is headed in the right direction, working on the sustainable and interdisciplinary preservation of relics, to safeguard history for future generations.St Johannes at this time suggests the Academy is headed in the right direction, working on the sustainable and interdisciplinary preservation of relics, to safeguard history for future generations.
