Private sector funds could be used for the construction of cultural facilities in Hong Kong’s cash-strapped arts hub to ease its financial burden, the vice-chairman of its managing authority has said.
In an exclusive interview with the Post, Bernard Chan of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority said cost-cutting had created knock-on consequences as pay freezes led to high staff turnover, which in turn resulted in slow responses to venue-hire requests.
The district’s HK$21.6 billion (US$2.77 billion) endowment granted by the government in 2008 is set to dry up in June next year, with the authority previously warning that museums could be closed two days a week as a result, with a reduction in operational days of its Cantonese opera centre also possible.
Despite obtaining government approval to sell flats on part of its 40 hectares (99 acres) of prime harbourfront land to meet financial obligations over the next decade, Chan said the cultural hub still needed access to cash to address “immediate operational needs” as proceeds from residential sales would not come in until “a year or two later”.
He proposed that cultural venues that had yet to be constructed or were in the process of being built could be financed through commercial sponsorship.