How to be a vibrant culture hub? Free Hong Kong museums from civil service grip, do more to draw families, experts say
- Allowing more private and trustee-led museums will unleash creativity in hiring and curating, experts say
- With four new museums coming up, experts say they hope city will draw ideas from vibrant New York and London
Hong Kong can have a more vibrant cultural scene if more museums are run by boards of trustees or private outfits rather than the government, with multi-themed venues and efforts to draw children and families, experts have told the Post.
With the city preparing to add four new museums, they were not in favour of more single-themed venues run by bureaucrats who had to keep strictly to civil service rules and procedures.
Having more private and trustee-led museums would give directors room for creativity and flexibility in hiring, curating programmes and promoting research to support their collections, they said.
There are 15 museums under the Leisure and Cultural Services Department. Six are related to cultural heritage, five to history and the rest focus on science, space, art and film.
From April to September of last year, they drew 1.8 million people, and the Hong Kong Science Museum in East Tsim Sha Tsui was the most popular, with 624,000 visitors. The museums were closed from January to April in 2022 because of the pandemic.
There are also several well-regarded private ones, including the Maritime Museum, a non-profit establishment founded by members of the Hong Kong Shipowners Association.
Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu announced in October last year that the government would upgrade the city’s cultural facilities and add four public museums.
