CE visits Hong Kong Museum of Art and Hong Kong Cultural Centre (with photos)

     The Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, this afternoon (February 19) visited the Hong Kong Museum of Art (HKMoA) and the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, which reopened to the public today, to inspect their anti-epidemic measures. She also toured the thematic exhibitions currently held at the HKMoA and visited the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, which was rehearsing at the concert hall of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre.
      
     Accompanied by the Director of Leisure and Cultural Services, Mr Vincent Liu, Mrs Lam visited the HKMoA and the adjoining Hong Kong Cultural Centre, where some facilities reopened today. She inspected the anti-epidemic measures adopted at the venues, including the mandating of members of the public to scan the "LeaveHomeSafe" QR code with their mobile phones or register their contact details, stepping up cleaning and disinfection measures and more. As well, special opening hours and admission quotas have been implemented at exhibition venues, while at performance venues, special seating arrangements have been adopted and the size of audiences have been restricted to maintain social distancing. Mrs Lam watched a rehearsal of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra to give members encouragement and chatted with the conductor, Mr Lio Kuokman, and cellist Mr Trey Lee. Noting that the orchestra has made significant efforts for the forthcoming shows, she said she believed that the ensemble will resume performances at home and abroad gradually following the easing of the epidemic situation.
      
     Mrs Lam also toured two current exhibitions at the HKMoA, namely "Honouring Tradition and Heritage: Min Chiu Society at Sixty" which was launched today, featuring over 300 works of Chinese art, and "Botticelli and His Times – Masterworks from the Uffizi" exhibition jointly organised by the HKMoA and the Uffizi Galleries from Italy. During her visit, she chatted with the visitors and noted that they were excited about the reopening of the museum.
      
     Mrs Lam was pleased to note that during the closure of venues owing to the epidemic, various improvement works were conducted by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department to upgrade the facilities at some of the performance sites with the intention to bring a new experience to users and the public after the reopening of the venues. She said that the 49th Hong Kong Arts Festival will open next Saturday, which is a major event for both the local and international arts scenes, providing a dazzling range of performing arts programmes. She encouraged members of the public not to miss them.
      
     "In the next two years, two museums in the West Kowloon Cultural District (WKCD), i.e. the M+ Museum of modern and contemporary visual arts and the Hong Kong Palace Museum showcasing invaluable Chinese artefacts, will be launched, and new performance venues such as the East Kowloon Cultural Centre will also be commissioned. These new facilities, together with the reopened HKMoA, the Hong Kong Cultural Centre and the WKCD Xiqu Centre and more, will definitely turn a new page in the development of arts and culture in Hong Kong after the epidemic, offering a fruitful cultural journey to locals and visitors," Mrs Lam said.