Art Media Agency — Hong Kong arts budget crisis

Hong Kong\u2019s West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (WKCDA) is in the midst of a budgetary emergency according to WKCDA chairman Henry Tang. In an interview on i-Cable News on 18 May, Tang warned that if the situation is not addressed quickly, the district\u2019s art museums and performance centres will either have to close or substantially reduce services as early as August 2024.<\/p>\n

The WKCDA is home to Hong Kong Palace Museum, the M+ art museum, and the Xiqu Centre for performing arts, as well as numerous fine food establishments, shops, and recreational facilities. It also houses the WKCDA Tower, the district management\u2019s corporate headquarters.<\/p>\n

The roots of the current crisis can be traced to the COVID pandemic. In 2021, the district suffered losses of HKD 869 million (\u20ac102.5 million). Those losses nearly doubled in 2022. Despite a 40 percent recovery post-pandemic, revenues are still lagging behind budgetary needs. Tang meanwhile points out that any solution needs to account for the fact that the WKCDA is not a commercial venture, but one dedicated to the public good.<\/p>”,”html_fr”:”

L\u2019autorit\u00e9 du West Kowloon Cultural District (WKCDA) de Hong Kong est au milieu d\u2019une urgence budg\u00e9taire, selon le pr\u00e9sident de la WKCDA, Henry Tang. Dans une interview accord\u00e9e \u00e0 i-Cable News le 18 mai, Henry Tang a averti que si la situation n\u2019est pas rapidement r\u00e9solue, les mus\u00e9es d\u2019art et les centres de spectacles du district devront soit fermer, soit r\u00e9duire consid\u00e9rablement leurs services \u00e0 partir d\u2019ao\u00fbt 2024.<\/p>\n

Le WKCDA abrite le Hong Kong Palace Museum, le mus\u00e9e d\u2019art M+ et le Xiqu Centre pour les arts du spectacle, ainsi que de nombreux \u00e9tablissements de restauration, magasins et installations de loisirs. Il comprend \u00e9galement la WKCDA Tower, le si\u00e8ge social de la direction du district.<\/p>\n

Les racines de la crise actuelle remontent \u00e0 la pand\u00e9mie de COVID-19. En 2021, le district a subi des pertes de 869 millions HKD (102,5 millions d\u2019euros). Ces pertes ont presque doubl\u00e9 en 2022. Malgr\u00e9 une reprise de 40 % apr\u00e8s la pand\u00e9mie, les revenus sont encore en de\u00e7\u00e0 des co\u00fbts d\u2019entretien et d\u2019exploitation. Henry Tang souligne que toute solution doit tenir compte du fait que la WKCDA n\u2019est pas une entreprise commerciale, mais une organisation d\u00e9di\u00e9e au bien public.<\/p>”,”html_zh”:null,”html_hk”:null,”authors”:[{“id”:”69ff13357fc0762228e418321287d834″,”name_en”:”Phillip Barcio”,”name_fr”:”Phillip Barcio”,”name_zh”:null,”name_hk”:null}],”type_en”:”News”,”type_fr”:”News”,”type_zh”:null,”type_hk”:null,”type_id”:”70402dfefe971f43cddd748fbd7db514″,”city_en”:”Hong Kong”,”city_fr”:”Hong Kong”,”city_zh”:null,”city_hk”:null,”country_code”:”cn”,”tags”:[{“id”:”9a04fb097bb6c576d7ca702a15d1b982″,”name_en”:”budget”,”name_fr”:”budget”,”name_zh”:null,”name_hk”:null},{“id”:”c8325afcd4fc49823aadf4f00965bafa”,”name_en”:”financial crisis”,”name_fr”:”crise \u00e9conomique”,”name_zh”:null,”name_hk”:null},{“id”:”1581bf6bc0890af6c0615e5d4ed814fa”,”name_en”:”cultural policy”,”name_fr”:”politique culturelle”,”name_zh”:null,”name_hk”:null},{“id”:”d538017c890135549938de42f2e879d1″,”name_en”:”Hong Kong”,”name_fr”:”Hong Kong”,”name_zh”:null,”name_hk”:null},{“id”:”3a1a6b8d7c65372999ec1d2a90721bea”,”name_en”:”WKCDA”,”name_fr”:”WKCDA”,”name_zh”:null,”name_hk”:null},{“id”:”28b77531e3e7749e73eae6bfe024958d”,”name_en”:”M+”,”name_fr”:”M+”,”name_zh”:null,”name_hk”:null}],”issues”:[],”publication”:”2024-05-21 14:40:00″,”edition”:null,”notification”:null,”removal”:null,”social”:null,”factiva”:null,”creation”:”2024-05-22 00:33:22″,”images”:[{“id”:”71fcaf98d3155a7a43352600f996415d”,”description_en”:”West Kowloon Cultural District”,”description_fr”:”Quartier culturel de Kowloon Ouest”,”description_zh”:null,”description_hk”:null,”copyrights_en”:”Photo Johnny Wong”,”copyrights_fr”:”Photo Johnny Wong”,”copyrights_zh”:null,”copyrights_hk”:null,”tags”:[{“id”:”8b165feaf218bd7a1e9e991c89f5f2a0″,”name_en”:”Hong Kong”,”name_fr”:”Hong Kong”,”name_zh”:null,”name_hk”:null},{“id”:”6f6c2635e0cc102e9e4678eb4b6e21d7″,”name_en”:”sky”,”name_fr”:”ciel”,”name_zh”:null,”name_hk”:null}]}],”country_en”:”China”,”country_fr”:”Chine”,”country_zh”:null,”country_hk”:null}” loading=”false” lang=”en”>