Both Grace and Wealth｜MIRROR Report and the Performing Arts Industry

The Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau published the "Investigation Report on the Mirror Concert Accident at the Hong Kong Coliseum". The proposal is basically to create an additional layer of supervisory roles, the structural approval signed by the original engineer, and an additional layer of review. This review is actually not The root cause of the accident at the Mirror concert has not been eradicated.

The main reason for the Mirror accident is that the site lacks awareness of local supervision and accountability.

The Hung Hom Sports Center (Red Hall) used to belong to the Performing Arts Department of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department. I don’t know when it was transferred to the management of the library system.

The management of the Red House by the library itself is a very absurd thing.

It would be reasonable if the Red Hall is managed by the sports field department, but why is it managed by the library?

What experts does the library have to manage a venue like the Red Pavilion?

Therefore, the accident at the Coliseum was due to the change of the accountability structure of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, the transfer of the performing arts department to the library, and the abolition of the "resident technical manager" position at the Coliseum.

The accident happened this time because neither the organizer nor the venue did a good job of reviewing.

The Mirror accident report recommends that a third party be re-inspected. In fact, the third-party should be responsible for the venue. It should not be the case that after the organizer hires a structural engineer, another professional should be hired for a re-inspection. Stacked houses.

Of course, the purpose of this report is to make sure that the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau does not need to be held accountable, and the responsibility is entirely pushed to the organizer.

In fact, this is irresponsible, because the Red House has been directly managed by the government for many years. It has already been a concert venue with more than 10,000 performances. The Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau should not excuse it by saying that it is not a concert venue.

This survey report did not solve several problems: first, the professionalism of front-line technical staff; second, whether there is supervision on site; third, if Hong Kong wants to promote the development of performing arts, this report only achieves short-term benefits , the report states that a review will be conducted in one year, but within this year, will the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau conduct consultations with the industry?

This time it is not only the concert production companies that are affected, but even many small art groups are affected by it.

Renters of small and medium-sized venues of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department will all become innocent victims, and each small and medium-sized art group will spend an additional 10,000 to 20,000 yuan to hire more structural consultants and produce more documents.

The venues of the LCSD have to deal with more documents.

This bureaucratic model process does not solve the problem.

Therefore, the Bureau of Culture, Sports and Tourism should take the main responsibility and conduct systematic consultation with the industry.

First of all, it is necessary to transfer the Red Pavilion back to the management of the performing arts system and return to the original essence of the venue.

Second, under the technical director of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, re-establish the post of senior resident technical manager in the Red Pavilion, responsible for the overall technical verification work, and a team should be established to handle this matter, so that the audience and the performance can be truly and effectively guaranteed It can also promote the more professional development of the performing arts industry.

If Hong Kong wants to promote the cultural, sports and tourism industry and become a center for cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries, the performing arts industry is one of its strengths. However, if the government encounters problems every time, it will just shirk the responsibility that the government venue should have borne on the organizers. It will reduce the overall appetite for performing arts investment, and it will also prevent Hong Kong's performing arts production from being able to make innovations and breakthroughs.

The report mentions a core review within a year's time, which should involve longer-term measures.

I have five suggestions:

The first is the training of stage technicians. What is the long-term goal?

More standards for technical technicians should be introduced, for example following the assessment method of the Association of British Theater Technicians in the United Kingdom.

Second, the current site management policy and structure should be changed, and the possibility of upgrading the Red Pavilion into an all-round site should be studied.

Third, the feasibility of holding concerts after the establishment of the Kai Tak Sports Park should be explored.

London's Wimbledon Stadium often hosts concerts.

In Hong Kong, like the Queen Elizabeth Stadium, there is actually a demand.

How to move towards specialization in this area, how many large venues are needed in Hong Kong, etc., need to study specific indicators and goals.

The West Kowloon Cultural District was supposed to build a venue for 10,000 people, what will happen now?

Even if there are not ten thousand, can there be five thousand or three thousand?

Fourth, from the perspective of the development of the performing arts industry, how do you understand how Tokyo and Seoul promote it?

Tokyo is the performing arts metropolis in the world, and Hong Kong needs to learn from them.

Fifth, performing arts is a very important element in promoting tourism. How can it lead to the establishment of a theater district, like London's West End and New York's Broadway, to create a tourist district?

Shanghai has now undertaken these developments.

The Mirror concert accident investigation report, while unsatisfactory and bureaucratic, is at least a year away.

I hope that the Bureau of Culture, Sports and Tourism will use this year to lead and formulate some policies on performing arts venues that are conducive to the development of Hong Kong's arts and performing arts industry.

The author Hu Enwei is a member of the National Hong Kong and Macao Studies Association, a member of the Jiangsu Provincial CPPCC, and Zuni.

Joint Art Director and CEO of Icosahedron.

The article is only the opinion of the author and does not represent the position of Hong Kong 01.

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