Inside Soho House Hong Kong: the artsy members club is hosting street art festival HKwalls 2023 – again – and helping nurture a new generation of creatives along the way

Hong Kong’s creative community has never been without a fighting spirit, and in recent years, it has needed one – pandemic-related restrictions kept creatives apart, making collaborations all the more difficult. “Collaboration is key when it comes to what we do,” reiterates Maria Wong, managing director of street art festival HKwalls. “It’s important to identify the right partners to spark ideas with.” Wong is a curator and arts producer who has brought the city’s streets to life. Each instalment of the HKwalls festival has splashed colour across a different district, and this year, the festival sets its sights on Central and Sheung Wan, an area that is home to its festival partner, Soho House Hong Kong. The organisations first partnered in 2021, with Soho House hosting the “Tools of the Trade” show. The members’ club again lends its support this year by serving as the festival hub, creating room for a wide range of accessible art experiences. This includes hosting an exhibition of past and present HKwalls artists, throughout the event’s weeklong run, and staging the closing art battle on Sunday. “They really value creativity and they do not shy away from ideas that are unconventional,” Wong explains. This year, HKwalls will welcome a wave of international street artists for the first time since 2019, with Innerfields from Germany, Koga One from France, Lauren YS and Jurne from the US, and Zed 1 from Italy among those signed up. Branching out from street art, the festival also hosts two activations in Tsim Sha Tsui, including a digital animation from Spanish artist J. Demsky inspired by Ghost in the Shell. “We are so excited we are able to welcome international artists back to Hong Kong,” says Wong. Beyond Art Basel: 11 best cultural events in Hong Kong this month It’s a fitting partnership – Soho House offers not only an opportunity for members of the public to enjoy the artwork on display and take home a piece of work from one of the festival’s participating artists, but also for the artists themselves to spend time. Lending itself as a space for creatives to build a community – from its musicians to its artists and filmmakers – is one of Soho House’s most important tenets. Its infrastructure supports this, with a cinema offering film screenings, lounges that offer live music and spaces to host art exhibitions. 10 most inspiring travel destinations to book in 2023 – from Japan to France Not only have the city’s creative talents found a space to call their own, they’ve also found connections that have led to new projects. Coba Cheng – one of its members and a rising filmmaker in Hong Kong – was introduced to Sandra Ng and Peter Chan at a dinner in Soho House. As a result of this meeting, Ng later went on to star in Cheng’s breakout film, Chilli Laugh Story. The impact of this meeting isn’t one that Cheng downplays. “Before Soho House, I was a creative director and a brand owner,” he says. “After [the meeting with Ng] I am a film director.” Not just that – his farcical romcom became the highest-grossing Hong Kong film during of summer 2022. Cheng says that the initial allure of Soho House was its stylish interiors and atmosphere, but the community-focused nature quickly became apparent to him. “Collaboration brings people together to share ideas, resources and support one another in achieving common goals. In a city like Hong Kong, where there is a diverse population with different backgrounds, cultures and experiences, collaboration can create a more inclusive and sustainable society,” he says. While Cheng benefited from the mentorship of more seasoned members, younger creatives have the opportunity to do so through more formal pathways, too, as the Soho House community does not just support the promotion of arts to wider audiences, it also helps foster creative communities among the younger generations. “Mentorship is very important for young creatives, especially in Asia, where the creative industry is not a highly supported one because parents often think that it is unsustainable and impractical. Having mentors that have braved the path and have broken the ceiling is so important for young creatives because it’s important to see who has done it before, who you can follow in the footsteps of,” explains Natalie Chan of Own Academy, an education platform that promotes real-world learning. How a new generation of art spaces rebuilt Hong Kong’s cultural landscape Chan’s collaboration with Soho House came as something of a surprise to her when they approached her in search of an education partner in Hong Kong and Mumbai for their Soho Mentorship programme. The partnership is now in its third year. “We take pride in being able to connect young people, especially underserved creatives, to experienced professionals who can inspire and coach them. It’s a programme with a lot of heart,” says Chan. Chan looks back on the successes of the programme and gives one such example: Seneng Utami, a foreign domestic worker and passionate photographer. “We connected her to an experienced photographer, Michael Kistler. She dedicated her Sundays, her days off from her job, to take photos and refine her craft. She got to present her final project during the Soho House exhibition and even sold her prints to raise funds for refugees in Indonesia, which she had never done before,” says Chan. “It was such a heartwarming and beautiful experience that really built her confidence as a creative. She moved back to Indonesia to pursue photography, and now she’s based in Nepal doing programming.” Beyond sharing creative approaches and first-hand experiences, Chan says that mentorship provides connections that prove particularly valuable in a city such as Hong Kong. “An experienced individual comes with a network. To be successful in today’s world, it comes down to who you know and how you can get yourself through the door. Experienced individuals can also instil in mentees the confidence they need to go out there and discover new ways of doing things, to be comfortable with trying and failing, to make mistakes and learn from them,” Chan explains. From inspiring its own members to instilling the new generation of Hong Kong’s culture vultures to take flight, one thing is clear – the city’s creative industries are alive and well, with much left to share. Want more stories like this? Follow STYLE on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter.