Highlight of the third Consultation Panel Meeting

At the third Consultation Panel Meeting held on 3rd December 2009, Professor Stephen Cheung, Chairman of the Consultation Panel of the WKCDA reported on the latest progress of the Stage 1 Public Engagement Exercise.

Attending members expressed their views on the development of the WKCD as well as the content and format of the Public Engagement Exercise at the meeting. A member remarked that the public forums and stakeholder group discussion sessions organized during the Public Engagement Exercise were effective vehicles to collect views from members of the public as well as the various stakeholders. It also demonstrated the Authority’s sincerity in reaching out to “listen” to the views of the community.

The Authority has appointed the Public Policy Research Institute of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University to analyze the collected views. Many panel members expressed interest in learning how the analysis will be conducted. In response, Polytechnic representative said that they would analyze the qualitative and quantitative content with scientific methodology. Moreover, for views concerning different policy matters collected at the public engagement activities, the Authority will communicate and relate to respective government departments. The analysis report will be published in around March 2010.
    
The three Conceptual Plan consultants will each prepare a conceptual plan option, taking into account expectations from the public as well as views of the specific views on the Core Arts and Cultural Facilities from the various stakeholders. These conceptual plan options will then be put forward for public comments in the Stage 2 Public Engagement Exercise which will be launched in the summer of next year.

Recruitment for the Chief Executive Officer
and Executive Directors of the WKCDA

The WKCDA went through an intensive interview period in December 2009 to assess candidates for the posts of Chief Executive Officer, Executive Directors for Museum policy and management services, Performing arts policy and management services, Project delivery, Finance, Marketing communications and programming, Human resources, General Counsel and Internal Auditor. The Authority expects to finalise the interviews within January 2010 and have the Chief Executive Officers and his/her key staff on board as soon as possible.