Editorial | Hong Kong Palace Museum doors must remain open to all
- Hong Kong’s loss-making Palace Museum may have to rethink admission prices, but it cannot afford to shut out anyone from the young to the elderly
One year after it opened, the Hong Kong Palace Museum faces a fundamental question for such institutions if they are to meet their educational and cultural goals: how much should they rely on public funding or on admission pricing, among other revenue streams, such as sponsorship of free admission for deserving groups? The Palace Museum’s finances have come under scrutiny following the West Kowloon Cultural District’s net losses of HK$1.56 billion last year. Officials say it costs HK$600 million a year to run the facility and the contemporary art museum M+.
Palace Museum director Louis Ng Chi-wa has revealed it will consider raising admission prices and diversifying income streams to improve its financial sustainability. The museum earlier announced that it would stop offering free admission every Wednesday to seven of its exhibitions because of low attendance.
About 1.3 million people have visited 12 exhibitions showcasing Chinese art and culture in the past year. Nearly half came from the mainland, and 10 per cent from overseas. Is that a satisfying response in terms of the high cost of organising quality displays from around the world, including Beijing, featuring precious and rare artefacts?
Without sustained support from the government, the museum relies on entrance fees for half its revenue. The adult admission fee of HK$50, with a HK$25 concession rate, can hardly be considered a disincentive. Ng says rightly that key factors, apart from operating costs, are affordability and the museum’s public appeal.
As a centrepiece of one of the city’s biggest public projects, the museum must be seen as accessible. It should justify any increase in entrance fees by opening its books to show what is needed to maintain sustainable operations in the long term. The goal of self-financing has to be reconciled with affordable opportunities for everyone, from the young to the elderly, to enjoy what the city has to offer. If Hong Kong wants to encourage lifelong learning of Chinese history and love of culture, accessibility is the key. Pricing must take account of sustainability, but not to the point it discourages people from attending, especially students. An attractive concession rate should, therefore, remain a core element of a balanced approach.
