West Kowloon art hub’s deficit widens to HK$998 million amid rising operating costs

Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (WKCDA) has recorded a growing deficit of HK$998 million in the last financial year, as rising revenue failed to keep up with increased operating costs.

The WKCDA announced its latest financial figures in a document uploaded on the Legislative Council website on Tuesday, ahead of the council’s Panel on Home Affairs, Culture and Sports meeting next Monday.

Part of the increased operating expenditure was due to rising staff costs, which the cash-strapped arts hub attributed to factors including the commissioning of the WestK Performing Arts Centre.

The centre is set to open next year, housing facilities including three theatres and a dedicated dance venue.

A statutory body established by the government in 2008, the WKCDA aims to promote arts and creative industries in Hong Kong. It manages M+ and the Hong Kong Palace Museum, as well as the Xiqu Centre and outdoor event spaces.

The WKCDA has struggled financially in recent years, with the latest 2025-26 financial year being its seventh in the red.

In February, it finalised a HK$3 billion bank loan arrangement with Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Asia), a partially state-owned bank.

It is also venturing into residential development projects for additional income. Its Artist Square Towers (AST) Project, comprising three commercial office buildings, is set to be completed next year and will “provide a steady stream of rental income,” according to the Legislative Council paper.

Financial services firm JPMorgan Chase has committed to leasing parts of the space.

The planned tendering of residential and hotel projects, set to begin in the 2027-28 financial year, is also anticipated to bring “a substantial improvement in its future revenue streams,” the paper stated.

In July, Rosanna Law, the permanent secretary for culture, sports and tourism, told lawmakers that seven executives of M+ Museum and Hong Kong Palace Museum earned a total of HK$20.9 million in the past financial year.

This means each executive earned an average of more than HK$260,000 per month.

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Hillary Leung is a journalist at Hong Kong Free Press, where she reports on local politics and social issues, and assists with editing. Since joining in late 2021, she has covered the Covid-19 pandemic, political court cases including the 47 democrats national security trial, and challenges faced by minority communities.

Born and raised in Hong Kong, Hillary completed her undergraduate degree in journalism and sociology at the University of Hong Kong. She worked at TIME Magazine in 2019, where she wrote about Asia and overnight US news before turning her focus to the protests that began that summer. At Coconuts Hong Kong, she covered general news and wrote features, including about a Black Lives Matter march that drew controversy amid the local pro-democracy movement and two sisters who were born to a domestic worker and lived undocumented for 30 years in Hong Kong.