68th Board Meeting of West Kowloon Cultural District Authority Held Today

The Board of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (WKCDA) held its 68th meeting today.
 

WKCDA’s Chief Executive Officer Duncan Pescod reported that the Xiqu Centre project is substantially completed and now proceeding full speed ahead for completion and opening by the end of 2018. The external lighting gives a wonderful artistic shadow effect flowing all over the unique curving façade and the fins of the building at night. The M+ building continues to rise out of the ground, with the installation of the pre-cast tiled panels around the podium and tower structures, in addition to other architectural finishes.
 

The Art Park project has seen around 750 trees and thousands of bushes and shrubs planted in the Phase 1 area, and the promenade within this area will be open soon. The Freespace building is substantially completed with focus now skewed to the internal fit-out works, ready for occupation early next year.
 

Mr Pescod was pleased to announce that funding for third stage construction works for the integrated basement for West Kowloon Cultural District has been approved by the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council on 5 January 2018. WKCDA will now focus on putting the superstructure stage of the Lyric Theatre Complex out to tender in the next few weeks.
 

On the artistic side, The Weight of Lightness: Ink Art at M+ exhibition was successfully completed on 14 January 2018, and attracted a cumulative attendance of over 13,000. The next exhibition Samson Young: Songs for Disaster Relief World Tour will start on 9 February.
 

Members also noted that WKCDA has launched a series of artist development workshops under Creation for Freespace in the lead-up to the opening of the Freespace venue. Teaming up with internationally acclaimed French independent artist Xavier Le Roy, WKCDA presented Dance in Alternative Space, the first dance and movement programme in the series, in January 2018. In association with Theatre du Pif, WKCDA kick started The Foundations of Performance in July 2017. From late January to early February 2018, Russell Delman, one of the first people in the world certified to lead the Feldenkrais training programmes, and Tim Crouch, renowned theatre playwright, director and performer in the United Kingdom, have been invited to Hong Kong to share their studies and systems of practice in intensive practical and theoretical workshops. Similar programmes will be organised in future as part of our efforts to support the performing arts in Hong Kong.
 

Freespace Happening on 14 January attracted an attendance of around 6,000. The next Freespace Happening will be held on 11 February at the Nursery Park with music, M+ Rover 2018 and handicraft stalls, as well as a marathon 10-hour performance of WE Dance Finale.
 

Apart from the artistic front, WKCDA is staging a showcase exhibition for the Hong Kong Young Architects and Designers Competition 2017 at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. The exhibition displays detailed plans and models of the three shortlisted entries as well as images of all the 320 entries received for an iconic Temporary Pavilion in West Kowloon Nursery Park. WKCDA will have a careers information booth at the forthcoming Education and Careers Expo organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. The Expo runs from 1 to 4 February at Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.
 

Remarks                                                                                                         

About West Kowloon Cultural District
Located on Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour, West Kowloon Cultural District is one of the largest cultural projects in the world. The vision of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority is to create a vibrant new cultural quarter for Hong Kong. With a complex of theatres, performance spaces and M+, West Kowloon Cultural District will produce and host world-class exhibitions, performances and cultural events, as well as provide 23 hectares of public open space, including a two-kilometre waterfront promenade.