HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
127
Council to promote arts on a full scale. But it appears to me that the Council is not aware of such change in the society. After the Museum of Art was commissioned in 1990, many local artists had high expectations on this Museum. But after several years, they are now very disappointed because the holding of contemporary art exhibitions are only limited and the exhibitions are lacking in systems, objectives and continuity. The Museum of Art should have a comprehensive policy in nurturing local contemporary talents, in providing venues for exhibitions and opportunities for talents to organize exhibitions, in promoting their work overseas and acquisition of museum pieces. We fail to have such a comprehensive policy. We have only been criticized for having layman to lead professionals. Our advisory system seems to be problematic. For example, an advisory panel of 4 has recommended to purchase a painting to the Museums Select Committee. But the Committee turned down the advisors' recommendation on the grounds that the picture was too dark. Another example was that an advisor has told me that he raised strong objections to purchasing a picture but the Museum management turned to seek the advice of other advisors and did not inform the Council of his objection. Subsequently Councillors endorsed the advice of other advisors to purchase the picture. The Council is now facing the above internal problems. These involve the Department's management framework, the relationship between the Council/Department and the art groups, the division of labour between the Council and the Department and the role played by advisors.
Mr. Chairman, the Council possesses a substantial amount of resources and is the main manager of venues for cultural activities. What is the spirit behind pushing us to organize so many activities? What is our specific direction? We spend hundreds of millions of dollars every year and in five years' time, our spending will accumulate to a total of thousands of millions of dollars. How can we fully utilize our resources? What criteria are used to allocate our resources? Should we devise policy and a work plan before we decide to organize activities to complement the work plan?
I have just talked about the internal problems. If we look outside this Chambers, what do we see? We have to face the change in 1997, and the technological development. To a certain extent, artistic creation has been turned from a single medium production to a multi-media production.
The Hong Kong Arts Development Council has also acknowledged this development and has included film productions and video shows as items in 'art'.
We have to face demographic and social changes. Following the rapid economic development, Hong Kong has become a diversified, international metropolitan city and an important cultural centre in Asian Pacific Region. Similar to its economic role, Hong Kong serves as a channel and a cultural arena between China and other countries.
We have to face competitions from other organisations. The Council is not the sole organisation for the promotion of art, other bodies include the
Page 151 of 485
Page 151 of 485
Page 151 of 485
Page 151 of 485
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
127
Council to promote arts on a full scale. But it appears to me that the Council is not aware of such change in the society. After the Museum of Art was commissioned in 1990, many local artists had high expectations on this Muscum. But after several years, they are now very disappointed because the holding of contemporary art exhibitions are only limited and the exhibitions are lacking in systems, objectives and continuity. The Museum of Art should have a comprehensive policy in nurturing local contemporary talents, in providing venues for exhibitions and opportunities for talents to organize exhibitions, in promoting their work overseas and acquisition of museum pieces. We fail to have such a comprehensive policy. We have only been criticized for having layman to lead professionals. Our advisory system seems to be problematic. For example, an advisory panel of 4 has recommended to purchase a painting to the Museums Select Committee. But the Committee turned down the advisors' recommendation on the grounds that the picture was too dark. Another example was that an advisor has told me that he raised strong objections to purchasing a picture but the Museum management turned to seek the advice of other advisors and did not inform the Council of his objection. Subsequently Councillors endorsed the advice of other advisors to purchase the picture. The Council is now facing the above internal problems. These involve the Department's management framework, the relationship between the Council/ Department and the art groups, the division of labour between the Council and the Department and the role played by advisors.
Mr. Chairman, the Council possesses a substantial amount of resources and is the main manager of venues for cultural activities. What is the spirit behind pushing us to organize so many activities? What is our specific direction? We spend hundreds of millions of dollars every year and in five years' time, our spending will accumulate to a total of thousands of millions of dollars. How can we fully utilize our resources? What criteria are used to allocate our resources? Should we devise policy and a work plan before we decide to organize activities to complement the work plan?
I have just talked about the internal problems. If we look outside this Chambers, what do we see? We have to face the change in 1997, and the technological development. To a certain extent, artistic creation has been turned from a single medium production to a multi-media production.
The Hong Kong Arts Development Council has also acknowledged this development and has included film productions and video shows as items in
'art'.
We have to face demographic and social changes. Following the rapid economic development, Hong Kong has become a diversified, international metropolitan city and an important cultural centre in Asian Pacific Region. Similar to its economic role, Hong Kong serves as a channel and a cultural arena between China and other countries.
We have to face competitions from other organisations. The Council is not the sole organisation for the promotion of art, other bodies include the
Page 151 of 485
Page 151 of 485
Page 151 of 485,
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.