NHB seeks proposals for running of private museums
Posted by luxuryasiahome on October 16, 2008
Heritage board will make 3 state properties in prime locations available
THE National Heritage Board (NHB) and Singapore Land Authority are seeking proposals from the public to develop, operate and manage Integrated Museum and Art Facilities.
Three state properties in prime locations will be made available through a request-for-interest exercise.
But potential ’boutique museum’ owner Woffles Wu says the lower rents set for these buildings are not attractive enough to encourage people like him to set up museums there.
The three properties are the former Catholic High Secondary School in Queen Street, 27A/30B/30C Loewen Road and 27B Loewen Cluster at Tanglin Village. The proposed rents are $42,516 a month (75 cents psf per month), $12,337 a month ($1.10 psf per month) and $5,159 a month ($1.18 psf per month) respectively.
Dr Wu, a well-known plastic surgeon, reckons these rents are only 20-30 per cent lower than market rates. ‘If NHB really wants people to set up these museums, they will need to give a lot more incentives,’ he added.
In January, it was reported that Dr Wu and prominent businessman Oei Hong Leong were in talks with NHB to set up private museums.
Dr Wu says funding or subsidies should be closer or equal to those for state-run museums. ‘They are, after all, asking people to display their private collections to the public, and this runs high risks,’ he said.
Revenue for these museums will come mainly from ticket sales, he noted. ‘At between $5 and $10, how many tickets will I have to sell to cover my costs?’
Dr Wu’s art collection is now housed in a warehouse at Ubi.
In response, an NHB spokesman said the scheme offers space at a fixed rent pegged to Civic and Community Institution rate.
‘The idea behind this is to evaluate proposals based on their concept, business model, programming and other strategies as opposed to price alone,’ he said. ‘This makes it more accessible to private collectors keen to start their own museums or Integrated Museum and Art Facilities.’
Separately, NHB has another scheme that supports up to 50 per cent or $100,000 of development costs for private heritage and museum projects.
Piloted in April 2007 with a seed fund of $500,000, the scheme has approved 14 heritage projects so far.
Source : Business Times – 16 Oct 2008
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