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Arts Development Council accused of ignoring views of artists in Hong Kong

Jennifer Ngo

The Arts Development Council has been accused of failing to canvass the views of the artists it represents before casting its vote in next Sunday's Legislative Council election.

The council, made up of 27 members, 10 of whom were elected by artists - said it did not have contact details for all registered artists and was therefore unable to get in touch with them to gather their views.

The Factory Artists Concern Group accused the council of disregarding the voice of the artistic community and dismissed its excuse.

The group launched a campaign earlier this year to oust Timothy Fok Tsun-ting - who later announced he was stepping down as the sector's representative in the sports, performing arts, culture and publication functional constituency.

"Elected members of the council failed to approach the artistic community - who voted them into the seat and whom they therefore represent - on their choice," the group said yesterday. "This is a complete democratic farce, which the council should be ashamed of."

The council holds one of 2,586 votes in a three-way battle to replace Fok.

They will choose between 32-year-old visual artist Chow Chun-fai, a member of the concern group; the Arts Development Council's former chairman Ma Fung-kwok; and solicitor Jimmy Siu See-kong.

The concern group had previously launched a letter-writing campaign to encourage artists to express views to the council, a statutory body set up by the government to support the community of artists in the city.

The group has also called on the council's 10 elected members to name their favoured candidate publicly as part of their responsibility to the more than 7,000 artists they represent.

They also want the council to name the candidate it will vote for after it makes its decision on Friday.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Council accused of ignoring the views of artists
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