Museum of Art staff joins pilot training scheme in London

A senior government museum employee has been picked to join a pilot training scheme in London intended to raise the profile and international exposure of government arts administrators.

Ng Ka-lun, the Museum of Art's modern art curator, will next month work alongside experts at the 227-year-old Royal Academy of Arts on the latest ideas in buildings and estate management and exhibition installation.

The programme, according to the academy's secretary and chief executive Charles Saumarez Smith, was developed after a meeting with Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor in London last November.

"She came to a lunch … talking about developing cultural links," he said. The academy was working on cultivating a relationship with Asia, he said, and some of its trustees - such as collectors Richard Chang and David Tang - had a strong commitment to Hong Kong's cultural development, so it was natural to launch the programme in the city.

Ng said he hoped to learn more about installing exhibitions and managing a historic building. The latter would come in especially handy as the Museum of Art would be closed for a major revamp after securing funding from the Legislative Council.

Ng said he had high expectations of the programme, as it would expose him to a different approach on curating.