French May Arts Festival

Name

French May Arts Festival

Legal name

Association Culturelle France - Hong Kong Limited

Website

https://frenchmay.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1993

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Arts and Cultural Festival

NAICS

Promoters of Performing Arts, Sports, and Similar Events without Facilities (711320), Performing Arts Companies (7111), Other Performing Arts Companies (711190)

SIC

Services-Miscellaneous Amusement & Recreation (7990), Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)

akta.pro primary industry

Arts & Culture Community Festivals (Multidisciplinary Arts Weeks) (MPAGAEAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Film Festivals & Festival Organizers (MPADAKAD), Dance Festivals & Dance Series (MPAGADAJ), Virtual Community Festivals & Cultural Events (Online Celebrations) (MPAGAOAK), Food, Drink & Culinary Community Festivals (Community-Led) (MPAGAEAF)

Keywords

• Cultural arts festival
• Performing arts programming
• Visual arts exhibitions
• Music concerts and recitals
• French cultural exchange

Headquarters

HQ city

Central

HQ country

Hong Kong SAR China

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Marketing or Sales, Personnel, Others, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Ticket Sales: The festival generates revenue primarily through ticket sales for performances and select events via ticket platforms urbtix.hk and art-mate.net. Ticket prices range from HKD 250 to HKD 1,880 per event depending on the programme.
2. Sponsorship and Government Grants: The festival is a registered charity under Hong Kong's Section 88 of the Inland Revenue Ordinance and relies on title sponsors (e.g., Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust), government funding (Mega Arts and Cultural Events Fund), and corporate sponsorship to sustain operations and fund programming.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

The French May Arts Festival produces and presents an annual season of French and international arts programming in Hong Kong, running May through October each year. The festival curates ticketed live performances, concerts, dance productions, theatre, and free-admission immersive exhibitions across Hong Kong's major cultural venues, in collaboration with French institutions such as the Musée du Louvre, Grand Palais Immersif, and Alliance Française, alongside local partners including the LCSD, Hong Kong Heritage Museum, and HKU University Museum and Art Gallery.

Product overview

French May Arts Festival is a cultural event series in Hong Kong featuring diverse artistic programmes across multiple categories. The 2026 edition (33rd) themed 'Re/naissance' encompasses exhibitions like 'Meet Mona Lisa & Portraying the Renaissance' and 'The Little Prince and the Pilot'; dance performances including 'Dog Rising'; concerts featuring artists like Youn Sun Nah, Bojan Z, and Yekwon Sunwoo; theatre productions such as 'The Sutherland Test'; and music performances like 'Alliance Cosmique'. The festival also includes programmes across classical and multi-genre music, circus, cinema, gastronomy, and education. Ticketing is managed through Urbtix (citywide) and Art-mate (selected venues).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Meet Mona Lisa & Portraying the Renaissance (Exhibition) A major immersive digital and physical exhibition combining the Louvre's Meet Mona Lisa immersive experience with a curated Renaissance art gallery, presented free of admission to the Hong Kong public at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum.
• The Little Prince and the Pilot (Exhibition) A multigenerational heritage and culture exhibition celebrating the 80th anniversary of The Little Prince, featuring original artefacts exploring Saint-Exupéry's life across four thematic journeys, co-presented with Alliance Française de Hong Kong and IWC Schaffhausen.
• Dog Rising (Dance Performance) A contemporary dance piece by Clara Furey exploring life cycles through celestial metaphors with pulsating bodies and a hypnotic ritual atmosphere, performed at Freespace, West Kowloon Cultural District.
• Youn Sun Nah feat Bojan Z (Jazz Concert) A jazz concert pairing Korean vocalist Youn Sun Nah with French pianist Bojan Z for an East-meets-West jazz experience at Hong Kong City Hall.
• Yekwon Sunwoo & Quatuor Elmire (Classical Piano Concert) A classical piano concert featuring Van Cliburn-winning Korean pianist Yekwon Sunwoo performing with French string quartet Quatuor Elmire in an East-meets-West classical programme at Hong Kong City Hall.
• Alliance Cosmique (星海音航) (Multimedia Music Performance) A sensory multimedia music performance bridging the infinitely small and infinitely vast, using technology and new media to present nature through poetic liquid transformations at Tai Po Civic Centre Black Box Theatre.
• The Sutherland Test (Immersive Theatre Performance) An immersive theatre and digital arts experience at the crossroads of theatre and digital arts using diverted VR technology, co-produced with Artocrite Theater and laboratoires deletere at Cattle Depot Artist Village.

Named customers1 record

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

16 partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core and historic.

• Hong Kong Heritage MuseumflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 May 2026The Hong Kong Heritage Museum co-organises the flagship exhibition 'The Hong Kong Jockey Club Series: Meet Mona Lisa & Portraying the Renaissance' with the festival. This exhibition combines 'Meet Mona Lisa', a digital immersive experience created by the Musée du Louvre and Grand Palais Immersif, with 'Portraying the Renaissance', a curated gallery of Renaissance masterpieces from Musée national de la Renaissance, Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, and GrandPalaisRMN. Running May 1 – July 27, 2026 at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum.
• Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD)flagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe LCSD co-presents the Meet Mona Lisa & Portraying the Renaissance exhibition with the festival and provides government venues (Hong Kong Heritage Museum, Hong Kong City Hall, Hong Kong Cultural Centre) for festival events. The department also supports through its venue network across Hong Kong.
• Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Musée du Louvre / Grand Palais Immersif)flagshipTechnology or IntegrationThe Musée du Louvre collaborated with Grand Palais Immersif to create 'Meet Mona Lisa', a digital immersive experience featured at the festival's 2026 flagship exhibition at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum. This partnership brings cutting-edge immersive exhibition technology to Hong Kong audiences.
• Musée national de la RenaissanceflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Musée national de la Renaissance (France) contributed curated Renaissance artworks for the 'Portraying the Renaissance' gallery portion of the 2026 flagship exhibition at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum.
• Pinacoteca Ambrosiana (Milan)flagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Pinacoteca Ambrosiana in Milan contributed curated Renaissance artworks for the 'Portraying the Renaissance' gallery portion of the 2026 flagship exhibition at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum.
• GrandPalaisRMN (Réunion des Musées Nationaux)flagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe GrandPalaisRMN contributed curated Renaissance artworks for the 'Portraying the Renaissance' gallery portion of the 2026 flagship exhibition.
• Université Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong KongcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe University Museum and Art Gallery (UMAG) at HKU co-presents 'The Little Prince and the Pilot' exhibition with Alliance Française de Hong Kong, celebrating the 80th anniversary of The Little Prince's publication. Main sponsor: IWC Schaffhausen. Open June 26 – October 18, 2026.
• Alliance Française de Hong KongcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAlliance Française de Hong Kong co-presents 'The Little Prince and the Pilot' exhibition with the University Museum and Art Gallery at HKU, celebrating the 80th anniversary of The Little Prince's publication with original artefacts across four thematic journeys.
• Occasions Digital & Events LimitedcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOccasions Digital & Events Limited is the event organiser for the opening DJ Snake flagship harbourfront show at Central Harbourfront Event Space on May 8, 2026, part of the festival's 33rd edition.
• Artocrite TheatercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerArtocrite Theater co-produces 'The Sutherland Test', an immersive theatre and digital arts performance at Cattle Depot Artist Village (May 22–25, 2026). Founded in 2010 by HKAPA drama graduates, the company runs as a nonprofit charity since 2020.
• deletere (laboratoires deletere)coreStrategic or Co-development Partnerdeletere is a Marseille-based multimedia production association founded by Adelin Schweitzer in 2013, which co-produces 'The Sutherland Test' with Artocrite Theater. The organisation operates labs with production offices, digital manufacturing workshops, and sound experimentation stages in Marseille's Belle de Mai district.
• ParbleuxcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerParbleux is the executive producer of Clara Furey's Dog Rising. Based in Montreal, Parbleux develops and produces contemporary dance and performance works, serving as an international production partner for the festival's dance programming.
• Super OrganiquecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSuper Organique is the production company behind 'Alliance Cosmique' (星海音航), a multimedia music performance at Tai Po Civic Centre Black Box Theatre (May 30–31, 2026). The company uses art and new technologies to present nature in innovative ways, aligning with the festival's theme.
• urbtix.hk (城市售票網)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributorurbtix.hk is the primary ticketing platform for the festival's events held at LCSD venues, including performances at Hong Kong City Hall, Hong Kong Cultural Centre, and other government cultural venues. Tickets went on sale March 19, 2026.
• art-mate.netcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributorart-mate.net is a ticketing partner for select festival performances including Dog Rising and The Sutherland Test. Tickets for these productions are sold exclusively through art-mate.net.
• M+ MuseumhistoricStrategic or Co-development PartnerM+ museum co-presented the 'Hong Kong Jockey Club Series: B&W — Photographic Storytelling' exhibition in 2024, the festival's first collaboration with M+. This marked the festival's debut partnership with the West Kowloon cultural institution.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Festival d'Avignon: France's largest annual performing arts festival. Comparable as a French cultural festival organiser with multi-decade brand legacy, but operates at significantly larger scale in performing arts rather than multi-disciplinary programming.
• West Kowloon Cultural District Authority: Operator of Hong Kong's flagship cultural venues including Freespace and Art Park. Functions both as a venue partner (hosting French May programmes) and a competing cultural programming entity with overlapping audience and sponsorship base.
• Le French Book / Festival de Cannes: Major international French cultural events with global brand recognition. Comparable as flagship French cultural festivals anchored on institutional and government backing, though materially larger in scale and focused on a single discipline (cinema).
• Edinburgh International Festival: Long-running global benchmark festival presenting opera, theatre, dance, and music. Comparable as an established, multi-decade, internationally-recognised curated arts festival with government and corporate backing.

Direct peers

• Singapore International Festival of Arts: Singapore's premier annual multi-disciplinary arts festival featuring international theatre, music, dance, and visual arts. Comparable as a regionally significant curated arts festival with a similar GTM motion and institutional/government backing model.
• Hong Kong Arts Festival: Hong Kong's flagship annual multi-disciplinary arts festival presenting international and local programming across music, theatre, dance, and opera. Closest direct peer in scale, geography, and audience, though with a different (non-French) cultural anchor.

Others

• Alliance Française (Hong Kong / global network): Global French cultural and language promotion network with a Hong Kong chapter co-presenting French May's 'Little Prince and the Pilot' exhibition. Comparable as a French cultural diplomacy vehicle with overlapping institutional relationships but a fundamentally different mission focus.

Emerging players

• M+ Museum (West Kowloon Cultural District): Hong Kong's contemporary visual culture museum and a past French May co-presenter (2024 'B&W — Photographic Storytelling'). Comparable as an institutional cultural programming partner rather than a direct competitor, with overlapping audience and sponsorship pools.

Regional players

• Taipei Music Festival / Taipei Arts Festival: Greater China regional arts festival presenting international and local multidisciplinary programming. Comparable as a regionally curated festival with similar institutional partnership structures, but in a different Greater China market.
• Le French Festival (Singapore): Singapore-based annual French cultural festival presenting French cinema, music, gastronomy, and visual arts. Directly comparable as a French cultural diplomacy vehicle in Asia, but operates in a different city-state market with a smaller scale.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/lefrenchmay
• Facebookfacebook.com/FrenchMayArtsFestival
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/french-may-arts-festival

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about French May Arts Festival