A shift is badly needed in our museum culture
Last financial year, Hong Kong's Museum of Art spent more on electricity, cleaning and security than it did on staging exhibitions. And the salary budget was nearly three times the amount set aside for buying and displaying art.
This is a fairly typical division of resources for all our government-run museums, from the Film Archive to the Heritage Museum. Acquisitions are an afterthought, and putting on displays that will attract crowds is not the highest priority at these venues, which are run by civil servants. Not surprisingly, the museums lose money year after year.
Perhaps the close attention that the arts sector is receiving because of the debate over West Kowloon will lead to some positive changes in how museums are funded and run, regardless of the outcome of the proposed cultural district. We need nothing less than a complete shift in the culture of these institutions.
Private philanthropy plays a significant, sometimes primary, role elsewhere. But in Hong Kong, tycoons are more likely to donate new classrooms to a technical college than underwrite a major exhibition of art. Leading lights of the business and showbiz worlds are followed by the media to fashion launches, not the Maritime Museum.
Especially in view of budget cuts and the government's continuing reluctance to invest in museum holdings, private donations may well hold the key. But they will not begin flowing by themselves. Matching grants, tax breaks, room for creative input and other incentives are among ideas that can be considered.
More funding is no guarantee that exhibitions will succeed, but it will certainly contribute to a higher quality of curation. Properly planned and well promoted exhibitions should have little problem attracting fee-paying crowds. Printed programmes, bound volumes of art criticisms and merchandise based on major exhibitions or museum collections could be other sources of revenue.
A chance to put some new concepts to the test could be found in the museum the government plans to build at Shek Kip Mei housing estate. Fifty years ago, a devastating fire in nearby squatter camps gave rise to the city's first public housing. Good exhibitions there will bring to life what a tumultuous period this was in Hong Kong's history and explain the role the Housing Authority has played since. Let us make sure that more funding goes into developing museums than into paying for electricity, cleaning and security.
For at least the next decade or so the government will be running all of Hong Kong's museums. But we can start laying the groundwork for a time when this will not be so. Acquisitions and exhibitions are the heart and soul of museums anywhere. As we talk about how to stimulate arts development in Hong Kong, we have to consider how to raise the bar in all of these areas. It is not simply a matter of more money, but that would not hurt.
