Henry Tang Ying-yen, chairman of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (WKCDA), warned of a looming financial crisis at the West Kowloon Cultural District (WKCD), and said he anticipates that the capital chain could break in 2025.

By then, facilities in the WKCD may no longer be able to host any events and exhibitions, he added. Tang said the WKCDA had submitted a plan to the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau, which would "make good use" of the land resources of West Kowloon to shore up its finances.

Why is the WKCD facing such a predicament? Did this happen because residents failed to "cultivate their artistic interests", so the WKCD couldn't find its target audience? Or was it because the management level of the WKCD is unrealistic? Are there inherent problems in the management model and development strategy?

In 2008, the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority Ordinance was enacted by the Legislative Council "to establish the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority to develop the land leased to the Authority into an integrated arts and cultural district".

LegCo approved a budget for the WKCDA, which was thus well-endowed with HK$21.6 billion ($2.76 billion) to promote the development of arts and culture.

Fifteen years later, the development of the WKCD seems to have deviated from the plan outlined in the passage of the original bill.

The outcome has failed to line up with the original aim.

So right now, the WKCD is confronted with major problems involving six aspects.

First, project management. The original plan was to have the first phase of the WKCD, including 12 performing arts venues, exhibition centers, public open space, commercial, catering and retail facilities, and other core arts and cultural facilities, up and running before 2015.

However, as of 2022, only four venues have been completed: the Xiqu Centre, The Box at Freespace, M+, and Hong Kong Palace Museum. There is no specific timetable for the completion of the remaining facilities listed in the proposal.

In addition to providing world-class performing arts venues, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government's aim in developing the WKCD was to provide offices and rehearsal space for local arts groups, "tailored to the long-term development needs" of various art forms in the performing arts sector.

These proposed office buildings have yet to be found. Such a delay poses questions about the development mode, and impacts the long-term development of local arts groups.

The WKCDA should review and explain the reasons behind the delay, and release a report to the public for the sake of transparency.

Second, cost control. In 2008, the WKCDA was provided with an upfront endowment of HK$21.6 billion. Norman Foster's design, which aimed to separate pedestrians and vehicles, required an underground parking lot with 1,500 spaces.

For its construction the WKCDA received another HK$23.6 billion, bringing the total funding to HK$45.2 billion.

Meanwhile, The Hong Kong Jockey Club donated HK$3.5 billion for the establishment of the Hong Kong Palace Museum. That brought the total funding to nearly HK$50 billion. From HK$21.6 billion to HK$50 billion: How did the project cost end up at more than double the original budget?

In July 2013, the government and the WKCDA said that "rigorous cost containment of individual facilities" would be put forward and their costs would be kept to a level "as close to the Consultative Committee case as possible".

However, the costs of the Xiqu Centre skyrocketed from the budgeted HK$1.3 billion to HK$2.7 billion, an increase of over 100 percent, while the building cost of M+ soared from the proposed HK$3 billion to HK$5 billion, a 67 percent increase.

What mechanisms does the WKCDA have for cost control? Who should be held accountable for such budget overruns?

Third, positioning of arts sector. With reference to the recommendation report of the Consultative Committee on the Core Arts and Cultural Facilities of the WKCD released in 2008, the WKCD recommended that "all of the Core Arts and
Cultural Facilities (CACF) would be managed and operated with new modes of governance with institutional autonomy outside the government structure. Different types of CACF will possibly be operated in different approaches."

The WKCDA should not only assist in the capacity building of professional arts groups, but also work to promote arts in the district and the diversification of operating models and development approach.

The current mode of governance and management strategies of the WKCDA is no different from that of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department with the official, centralized approach. Arts groups remain as tenants. But there is no way that arts groups, filled with their own unique characters, can operate and develop appropriately without the backing of the authority.

Fourth, business plan. The proposal projected that the income from the commercial, catering and retail facilities would cover the operation and management costs of various facilities. They were expected to generate HK$550 million in revenue starting from 2014 with an increase each year. However, because of delays in completion of the commercial, catering and retail facilities, revenue of approximately HK$2.5 billion was lost between 2014 and 2018.

The WKCD recorded a deficit of HK$490 million in 2020, and another of HK$780 million in 2021, or a 30 percent increase. Postponing the opening of the commercial, catering and retail facilities, and reducing the scale of its construction project was an ill-advised move. Without business revenue, how could the WKCD fund its operations and development?

Fifth, development of local culture. M+ was envisaged as Hong Kong's first groundbreaking, global museum of visual culture. Its mission was taking in both local and international perspectives, then centering its works around 21st-century visual cultures covering art forms from design, motion pictures to popular culture as well as visual art, including calligraphy, and ink wash painting or literati painting. Despite its proposition from the outset, M+'s works have now been generalized to include art, design, architecture and video images. M+ could have taken pride in Hong Kong's popular culture, which is very dear to people's hearts. Why are local visual cultures marginalized?

The WKCDA's procurement of the Tokyo-based Kiyotomo Sushi Bar, which bears little relevance or significance to Hong Kong, at the cost of HK$15 million, has always been a controversy. Swiss collector Uli Sigg donated 1,463 pieces of his collection to M+, while the WKCDA spent HK$170 million to acquire another 47 pieces from his collection. These acquisitions show little consideration for Hong Kong's local culture, but rather manifest the fact that current curatorial policy is dominated by British and American cultures. What are the benchmarks for acquisitions at M+? For the industry and the public to understand the rationale behind its curation, the director should disclose the acquisition policy.

The exhibitions displayed in M+ also reveal a lack of standards. For example, the Yayoi Kusama exhibition was essentially a promotion of brands and their merchandise. M+ barely holds exhibitions for local artists such as Frog King (Kwok Mang-ho), Wucius Wong, Kan Tai-keung and many others. With plenty of resources from local film directors, graphics design masters and designers perfectly fit for curation, why is M+ yet to organize thematic exhibitions for them?

Sixth, human resources plan. The goal of the WKCD is to promote and enhance various art forms. Local artistic talent can thus be cultivated. Yet many key positions in the WKCDA are held by foreigners. Taking the director of M+ as an example, Suhanya Raffel, an Australian who has a natural affinity with Western culture, has little understanding of Asian languages, cultures and academia. In fact, Hong Kong has many art professionals who possess extensive cross-cultural exchange experience, locally and internationally. Together with their networks, they have a better grasp of the local arts ecosystem. Why should the WKCD not be a platform for local talent to practice their arts and crafts? Why has the WKCDA yet to devise a plan to discover and nurture talent to become leaders from the local arts sector?

As the capital chain for the WKCD could well snap in 2025, the WKCDA should act immediately to reform its approach, policy and mode of governance before exhausting its funding. This is the only way it can alter the status quo and tackle its financial difficulties.

The author is a member of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies and artistic director of the experimental theater company Zuni Icosahedron.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.