The 104th Board Meeting of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority

The Board of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (WKCDA or the Authority) held its 104th meeting today. At the meeting, Mrs Betty Fung, Chief Executive Officer of WKCDA, reported on the latest progress in various areas of the West Kowloon Cultural District (West Kowloon or the District).

M+, Asia’s first global museum of contemporary visual culture, has been well received by the community since its official opening on 12 November 2021 and attracted a total of 383,000 visitors as of 4 January 2022. In light of the severe pandemic situation, M+ has been closed since 5 January this year and will remain closed until 23 February in compliance with the Government’s extension of the social distancing measures. During the museum’s closure, M+ continued to offer exquisite journeys of visual culture through the social media campaign #MplusFromHome and a series of virtual programmes, which provided the public with an alternative way to immerse themselves in visual culture without leaving home.

To support the Hong Kong New Year Countdown Celebrations organised by the Hong Kong Tourism Board, the Authority’s strategic partner, the Authority made use of the LED facade of M+ and displayed a countdown clock on it for the first time on New Year’s Eve for all citizens of Hong Kong to ring in 2022 together. The Hong Kong New Year Countdown Concert organised by the Hong Kong Tourism Board was also held on the Great Lawn in the District on the same evening. The two events were broadcast worldwide, reaching an audience of over 2.4 billion.

Construction works of the Hong Kong Palace Museum had been completed, and fitting-out of the exhibition galleries and production of exhibitions are in progress. In response to the severe local pandemic situation, the Hong Kong Palace Museum has formulated anti-pandemic contingency measures. This ensures that the relevant work will be completed by mid-April on time to tie in with the arrival of more than 900 pieces of valuable artefacts from the Palace Museum in mid-May to proceed with curation, and the Hong Kong Palace Museum can open to the public in July this year as scheduled. In addition, the Museum is formulating policies and strategies for priority areas, including collection, exhibitions, publication, learning, public engagement, fundraising, souvenir sales and marketing. The Volunteer Programme launched by the Museum last December was also well-received by the public as revealed by the response of over 2,100 applications. The selection exercise will commence, and training will be provided to prepare the volunteers to help with different tasks in July when the Museum is opened.

As for other construction works in the District, our target completion date remains unchanged that the remaining works under the L1 Contract of the Lyric Theatre Complex (comprising public infrastructure works at Austin Road West and the construction of ventilation building structures) will be completed in the first quarter of this year.

The Artist Square Bridge connecting the developments above MTR Kowloon Station and the Artist Square in the District was opened to the public on 21 December last year to provide visitors with convenient and quick access to the District.

As for performing arts, Mrs Fung reported that in compliance with the social distancing measures announced by the Government, all performances and programmes scheduled to be held at the District’s performing arts venues from 7 January to 23 February this year have been rescheduled, cancelled or transformed to online programmes. The Authority will continue to review arrangements of programmes and activities in response to the pandemic development.

Amid the social distancing measures, the Authority proactively explored other means to sustain the promotion of arts. The online version of the West Kowloon Tea House Student Matinees at the Xiqu Centre is now available for students to gain access to Cantonese opera performances and culture regardless of their physical location. The 30-minute online programme includes an online guided tour of the Xiqu Centre, a Cantonese opera excerpt performance, a Cantonese operatic singing performance and a Cantonese music ensemble performance.

Two accessible versions are provided for the programmes: One offers audio description; the other offers sign language, theatrical interpretation and accessible subtitles. The online Student Matinees also provides house programmes and learning packs to support participating schools’ learning and teaching activities.

In view of the severe epidemic situation, and to minimise the attendance of working staff in the Board Meeting, special arrangements had been made. CEO’s Report made by Mrs Fung was pre-recorded and has been made available online to the public as usual. Most attendees, except the WKCDA Board Secretariat, joined the meeting by dialling in, including the WKCDA Board Chairman, Members, CEO. The Authority believed that these arrangements would best protect the safety of all participants while allowing the meeting to be conducted in compliance with statutory requirements and remain transparent. Mrs Fung expressed the hope that it would shortly be possible to return to the more normal meeting and reporting arrangements.

Remarks

About the West Kowloon Cultural District
The West Kowloon Cultural District is one of the largest and most ambitious cultural projects in the world. Its vision is to create a vibrant new cultural quarter for Hong Kong on forty hectares of reclaimed land located alongside Victoria Harbour. With a varied mix of theatres, performance spaces, and museums, the West Kowloon Cultural District will produce and host world-class exhibitions, performances and cultural events, providing twenty-three hectares of public open space, including a two-kilometre waterfront promenade.