1 Concerns over new arts hub head
Olga Wong, SCMP 27 March 2009

Artists and architects have expressed concerns that the city's first arts hub could be turned into a theme park after learning a former Disney planner will head the arts hub authority.

The South China Morning Post reported yesterday that the board of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority had endorsed the selection of a former Walt Disney Company development director, Angus Cheng Siu-chuen, as the authority's executive director.

The authority is still negotiating the job terms with Mr Cheng.

Responsible for planning Hong Kong Disneyland from 2001 to 2005, Mr Cheng also helped develop the Disneyland Resort Paris in the 1990s.

His experience in handling major projects at a French construction company, and property investment experience at the MTR Corporation also helped him get the top job at the authority.

The recruitment advertisement said the two-year interim executive director would be paid HK$1.5 million a year, and that exposure to arts and culture would be an asset.

But Tanya Chan, a Civic Party lawmaker who is monitoring the arts hub project, said Mr Cheng had no track record in arts-related projects.

"Apart from hardware development, people at the executive level have to handle cultural management as well," she said.

Authority consultation panel member Ada Wong Ying-kay said the first two years of development were crucial.

"It determines the scale and direction of the arts hub," she said. "It reflects the government's colonial style of thinking, treating the arts hub as a Disneyland."

Art critic Oscar Ho Hing-kay said the arts hub was not about globalised entertainment, and its head should have artistic judgment and be familiar with local culture. "It's not too much about this person. It's about the authority's whole mindset."

A source close to the authority's board said experts sitting on its committees would ensure that the arts hub's development was on the right track. The executive director would be responsible for monitoring daily operations.

Another source close to the authority's senior management said the executive director would be assisted by a museums director and a performing-arts director who would be recruited later.

The district's chief executive, who would replace the executive director in the long run, would be recruited after the authority's organisational structure was settled.

Freddie Hai Tuen-tai, a member of the Hong Kong Institute of Architects' West Kowloon Cultural District taskforce, said it was good to have an executive director with experience in managing large facilities.

"I hope he will not turn the arts hub into a theme park," Mr Hai said.

He said the arts hub should be a community that grew organically, while Disneyland was a predetermined, themed mode of living.