The government’s Cultural Development Fund (known by its Portuguese initials FDC) allocated more than 95 million patacas (US$11.7 million) to a total of 1,140 cultural and artistic projects in the first half of 2025.
That’s almost the same number of projects that received public funding in 2024 as a whole, and represents a 15.8 percent increase in financial support compared to the same period last year, the Macau Daily Times reports.
Official figures show that 24 million patacas (US$2.9 million) were distributed across 790 projects in the first quarter of 2025, while the second quarter saw 71.5 million patacas (US$8.8 million) fund 350 projects. Selected projects spanned a wide range of disciplines, including photography and painting exhibitions, opera and dance performances, literary initiatives, film festivals, and intangible cultural heritage programmes.
[See more: A dozen new items are poised for inclusion in Macao’s intangible cultural heritage list]
Recipients receiving more than 1 million patacas (US$123,000) each included the art gallery Ox Warehouse, the Center for Architecture and Urbanism (CURB), and the Art For All Society Macau.
Other beneficiaries included D’As Entranhas Macau Cultural; Somos! — Association for Communication in Portuguese Language; the Audio-Visual Cut Association; 10 Marias Cultural Association; and the Institute of European Studies of Macau; and Casa de Portugal.
The FDC’s mandate is to support artistic and cultural development, promote creative industries and preserve cultural heritage. In 2024, it approved a total of 1,148 projects with total funding of 186 million patacas (US$23 million).
