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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
The question of admission charges was carefully considered and debated by the Council before it decided to introduce the nominal charges for the new museum facilities in December 1990. This was done in the realization that the new museum services would cost considerably more than the small museums then available and that it was only right and proper for the community to contribute in a small way towards these increased costs, in the same way that they contribute towards the costs for the performing arts and use of Council's recreational and leisure facilities.
Nominal charges encourage purposeful visits, and discourage casual visitors for the wrong reasons (e.g. for those to enjoy the air-conditioning). However, realizing that admission charges might discourage some from visiting the museum and in order to promote use of the new museum facilities, the Council decided at an early stage to host a number of special previews, on different days for different sectors of the community, and agreed to ad hoc incentive schemes such as the Rodin Pass to stimulate attendance. Other types of incentive schemes are currently under consideration by the department and will, I understand, be submitted to the Museums Select Committee for consideration as soon as they are finalized.
To be meaningful, if one free day in the week is to be introduced, this would have to be at the weekend or on a public holiday, times when the museum is already busy. The implications of this will need to be carefully considered in the context of other alternative incentive schemes and will certainly be considered by the Museums Select Committee with an open mind.
THE HON. MAN SAI-CHEONG (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, as we well know for the Hong Kong Arts Centre, no admission charges are imposed on the participants and in the past for the Museum of Arts located in the City Hall and for the British Museum in the U.K. and also the Washington Museum in the USA, once again there is no admission charge. I wonder if more opportunities can be provided to the public in order to arouse their interests in arts? For the elderly or students, in every week there should at least be one free day so that we can promote education of arts. Exhibitions like the Rodin exhibition are few and exceptional. For the ordinary public, we should make efforts to let them visit our museums.
MR. JASON YUEN KING-YUK (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, for the admission charges, concessionary rates have already been offered to the elderly and children. As regards choosing a certain day in every week for free admission, I think the Select Committee can indeed consider that. In general, I would like also to make a point that the admission fee is not a major obstacle to people's visiting the museums. We have quite a number of museums run by the UC. The admission fee for the Science Museum is HK$25 while for the others is only HK$10 but the Space Museum and the Science Museum are the most heavily patronized. So it shows that the admission fee is not the decisive factor although Mr. Man's suggestion of benefitting certain sectors of the community is still worth considering.
MR. MOK YING-FAN (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, I have a question for Mr. YUEN. With regard to arts education or culture education, we should start when people are receiving their schooling. I wonder if the Museums Select Committee can consider contacting certain schools so that the students will visit our museums or exhibition organised by the Council free of charge so as to arouse the interest of young people in the area of the arts.
MR. JASON YUEN KING-YUK (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, I believe something has already been done but of course we need to back it up. For example, we already have the Rodin programme. That is indeed targeted at group visits. If we have group visits from schools, we will have guides taking them on tours. For this Docent Programme, we have already made use of the service of arts teachers from many schools and we also have the Friends of the Museum Scheme and once again we have a large number of student members and also arts-teacher members. So for the museum, the staff are already in close liaison with the schools. As to whether we can be further step up the liaison work, well, indeed, that can be reviewed and be further strengthened. Otherwise the number of visitors would not be increasing all the time.
THE HON. MAN SAI-CHEONG (in Cantonese):—I would like to ask a follow-up question. Admission fee was initially imposed on Space Museum. Subsequently no admission fee was imposed except when we have special exhibition or special programmes being organized. But then for the Museum of Arts, can people be admitted free of charge except on special events just like the Rodin Exhibition?
MR. JASON YUEN KING-YUK (in Cantonese): This involves the matter of policy. With regard to policy framing, we cannot, without good justification, reverse the established practice, otherwise our established policies would be easily changed every day. This should be seriously considered by the whole Council carefully.
DR. THE HON. ELSIE TU (in English):—Mr. Chairman, in paragraph 7, it says 'If one free day in the week is to be introduced, this would have to be at the weekend or on a public holiday'. I wonder why it would have to be at the weekend. Can Mr. YUEN explain further, because if we are going to encourage elderly people and children, I would say weekdays would be better.
MR. JASON YUEN KING-YUK (in English):—I am sorry, I just miss your question. Can I have it again?
DR. THE HON. ELSIE TU (in English):—Mr. Chairman, I am asking why we have in paragraph 7 that the free day would have to be at the weekend or on public holidays, because if we want to bring along children and elderly people, because they are the ones who probably cannot afford to pay. Wouldn't the weekdays be better?
MR. JASON YUEN KING-YUK (in English):—I think Dr. the Hon. Elsie Tu asks why it has to be in the weekend or on the public holiday. I personally gather
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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
The question of admission charges was carefully considered and debated by the Council before it decided to introduce the nominal charges for the new museum facilities in December 1990. This was done in the realization that the new museum services would cost considerably more than the small museums then available and that it was only right and proper for the community to contribute in a small way towards these increased costs, in the same way that they contribute towards the costs for the performing arts and use of Council's recreational and leisure facilities.
Nominal charges encourage purposeful visits, and discourage casual visitors for the wrong reasons (e.g. for those to enjoy the air-conditioning). However, realizing that admission charges might discourage some from visiting the museum and in order to promote use of the new museum facilities, the Council decided at an early stage to host a number of special previews, on different days for different sectors of the community, and agreed to ad hoc incentive schemes such as the Rodin Pass to stimulate attendance. Other types of incentive schemes are currently under consideration by the department and will, I understand, be submitted to the Museums Select Committee for consideration as soon as they are finalized.
To be meaningful, if one free day in the week is to be introduced, this would have to be at the weekend or on a public holiday, times when the museum is already busy. The implications of this will need to be carefully considered in the context of other alternative incentive schemes and will certainly be considered by the Museums Select Committee with an open mind.
THE HON. MAN SAI-CHEONG (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, as we well know for the Hong Kong Arts Centre, no admission charges are imposed on the participants and in the past for the Museum of Arts located in the City Hall and for the British Museum in the U.K. and also the Washington Museum in the USA, once again there is no admission charge. I wonder if more opportunities can be provided to the public in order to arouse their interests in arts? For the elderly or students, in every week there should at least be one free day so that we can promote education of arts. Exhibitions like the Rodin exhibition are few and exceptional. For the ordinary public, we should make efforts to let them visit our museums.
MR. JASON YUEN KING-YUK (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, for the admission charges, concessionary rates have already been offered to the elderly and children. As regards choosing a certain day in every week for free admission, I think the Select Committee can indeed consider that. In general, I would like also to make a point that the admission fee is not a major obstacle to people's visiting the museums. We have quite a number of museums run by the UC. The admission fee for the Science Museum is HK$25 while for the others is only HK$10 but the Space Museum and the Science Museum are the most heavily patronized. So it shows that the admission fee is not the decisive factor although Mr. Man's suggestion of benefitting certain sectors of the community is still worth considering.
Page 33 of 132
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MR. MOK YING-FAN (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, I have a question for Mr. YUEN. With regard to arts education or culture education, we should start when people are receiving their schooling. I wonder if the Museums Select Committee can consider contacting certain schools so that the students will visit our museums or exhibition organised by the Council free of charge so as to arouse the interest of young people in the area of the arts.
MR. JASON YUEN KING-YUK (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, I believe something has already been done but of course we need to back it up. For example, we already have the Rodin programme. That is indeed targeted at group visits. If we have group visits from schools, we will have guides taking them on tours. For this Docent Programme, we have already made use of the service of arts teachers from many schools and we also have the Friends of the Museum Scheme and once again we have a large number of student members and also arts-teacher members. So for the museum, the staff are already in close liaison with the schools. As to whether we can be further step up the liaison work, well, indeed, that can be reviewed and be further strengthened. Otherwise the number of visitors would not be increasing all the time.
THE HON. MAN SAI-CHEONG (in Cantonese):—I would like to ask a follow-up question. Admission fee was initially imposed on Space Museum. Subsequently no admission fee was imposed except when we have special exhibition or special programmes being organized. But then for the Museum of Arts, can people be admitted free of charge except on special events just like the Rodin Exhibition?
MR. JASON YUEN KING-YUK (in Cantonese): This involves the matter of policy. With regard to policy framing, we cannot, without good justification, reverse the established practice, otherwise our established policies would be easily changed every day. This should be seriously considered by the whole Council carefully.
DR. THE HON. ELSIE TU (in English):—Mr. Chairman, in paragraph 7, it says If one free day in the week is to be introduced, this would have to be at the weekend or on a public holiday'. I wonder why it would have to be at the weekend. Can Mr. YUEN explain further, because if we are going to encourage elderly people and children, I would say weekdays would be better.
MR. JASON YUEN KING-YAK (in English):—I am sorry, I just miss your question. Can I have it again?
DR. THE HON. ELSIE TU (in English):--Mr. Chairman, I am asking why we have in paragraph 7 that the free day would have to be at the weekend or on public holidays, because if we want to bring along children and elderly people, because they are the ones who probably cannot afford to pay. Wouldn't the weekdays be better?
MR. JASON YUEN KING-YUK (in English):-I think Dr. the Hon. Elsie Tu asks why it has to be in the weekend or on the public holiday. I personally gather
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