The evidence is broad, global, and encouraging: art in shared space lifts wellbeing, brings people together, and returns more than it costs. Here is the case — and the opportunity ahead for Hong Kong.
When people encounter art in the spaces they already move through, good things follow — for mood, for connection, for health. This isn't a hunch. It's one of the most thoroughly studied findings in modern wellbeing research.
The World Health Organization synthesised over 3,000 studies and 900+ publications, finding a major role for the arts in helping people stay well, get well, and live well — across mental health, child development, chronic illness and beyond.
Across tens of thousands of participants, going to the theatre, dance or a concert ranks as the single happiest everyday activity — ahead of socialising, eating out, or listening to music. Museums and galleries rank highly too.
Public art delivers these benefits with no ticket and no barrier — reaching whole communities in the streets, stations and squares they already share. It's wellbeing you can walk past on the way home.
A decade-long study found the effect compounds: the benefit grows with sustained, repeated engagement rather than fading after a single event. That's the happiest kind of finding — because it means the right move is to make art permanent and everyday, not occasional.
Tracking 3,188 adults over ten years, UCL researchers found sustained arts engagement linked to higher life satisfaction, happiness and self-realisation. This is exactly why QPP builds a permanent Public Canvas — a steady, shared dose the whole city keeps returning to.
Look at the hard, objective measures and Hong Kong shines. It's free, safe, financially sound, and a magnet for talent — every foundation a great city needs is already in place. The one layer still to be painted in is the everyday cultural life of its streets.
Ranked first of 165 jurisdictions for economic freedom — an open, low-friction home for ideas, enterprise, and the artists who bring them to life.
Capital, connectivity and confidence in abundance. The means to fund ambitious, lasting public art are right here at home.
Fourth globally for developing and attracting talent, and first in the world for its share of science graduates. The creative energy is here to draw on.
Violent crime fell nearly 16% in 2025, with overall crime down too — the everyday safety that lets public life, and public art, flourish out in the open.
So here's the opportunity. The hard foundations are world-class — and the layer with the most room to grow is the shared, everyday culture of Hong Kong's streets. With just 3% of Hongkongers turning to formal therapy, the biggest wellbeing gains lie in accessible, everyday settings, exactly where public art lives. Hong Kong has built the canvas. QPP is here to help paint it.
Public art isn't a cost to be justified. It's an investment that returns — in jobs, in tax revenue, and in how proud people feel of where they live.
A proven mechanism has channelled public money into art for over sixty years, and the returns are measured in billions. Best of all, the public is already on board.
Setting aside a small slice of public capital budgets for art — first pioneered in the late 1950s and now running in hundreds of programmes, with national schemes dedicating around 1% of budgets for decades. Funding public art is a solved problem.
In the largest study of its kind, the non-profit arts sector generated $151.7bn in economic activity, supported 2.6 million jobs, and returned $29.1bn in government tax revenue — proof that arts spending comes back around.
89% of attendees say arts venues inspire pride in their neighbourhood, and 86% say the arts are important to their community's quality of life. This is one investment the public genuinely wants.
Safe, free, prosperous, full of talent — the foundations are world-class. The evidence is just as clear: sustained art in shared space makes cities happier and healthier, and more than pays for itself. Every ingredient is here. QPP is building the Public Canvas to match, one artist and one project at a time.
See how the Public Canvas works →