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Nominations from nine specified arts interests invited
The Hong Kong Arts Development Council Ordinance enacted by the Legislative Council on May 3 this year comes into effect today (Thursday).
Under the ordinance, the Council shall consist of a chairman, a vice-chairman, 16 other non-official members each of whom shall be appointed by the Governor, and four ex-officio members.
The 16 non-official members may include up to nine persons nominated by arts organisations for consideration for appointment by the Governor.
The ordinance also enables the Governor to specify, by notice in the Gazette, up to nine organisations or groups of organisations each of which shall be representative of nine specified categories of arts interests, namely: literary arts, music, dance, drama, visual arts, film arts, arts administration, arts education and arts criticism.
A spokesman for the Recreation and Culture Branch noted that the arts community would take some time to organise themselves and to complete the entire specification and nomination process. The Government will also need time to evaluate and process the results.
"It has therefore been decided that for the first term of office of the Council, the Chairman, Vice-Chairman and the 16 other members should all be appointed directly by the Governor for a period of seven months with effect from June 1.
"The Council's second term of office will be for two years commencing from January 1, 1996. At that time, it is intended to include up to nine members who will have been nominated by each of the up to nine specified organisations," he added.
Applications are now invited for consideration for specification by the Governor as one of the nine specified organisations or groups of organisations.
Applications should include those documents and evidence which are relevant to the criteria as set out in paragraph 5 of the "Guidelines for Representative Arts Organisations and for their nominees for membership of the Council" issued by the Recreation and Culture Branch early last month.