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A five-week voter registration campaign under the 2013 exercise for nomination of arts interest representatives for the Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC) (the 2013 Nomination Exercise) will start tomorrow (June 14) and close on July 22.
The first phase of the Nomination Exercise - application for participation in the Nomination Exercise - ended on April 25. From applications received in the first phase, 730 arts organisations and 1,492 individual arts workers are eligible to participate in the 2013 Nomination Exercise and their names are published in the list of "Arts Organisations/Individual Arts Workers Eligible to Participate in the Nomination of Representatives of Arts Interests for the Hong Kong Arts Development Council in 2013" (the List), which is available on the website www.voteforhkadc2013.hk.
The second phase of the 2013 Nomination Exercise will begin tomorrow. A Home Affairs Bureau (HAB) spokesman said, "We call upon the arts organisations in the List (the eligible arts organisations) to take immediate action to help their members/employees register as voters. The registered voters may take part in the subsequent phases of the 2013 Nomination Exercise including nomination of candidates, electioneering and polling."
The eligible arts organisations may help their members/employees who fulfil one of the following criteria to register as voters:
(i) be a member who has joined the organisation for not less than one year; or
(ii) be an employee of the organisation and has been directly involved in arts creation, direction or performance in the organisation for not less than one year prior to March 15, 2013; or
(iii) be a full-time employee in the organisation and has been responsible for co-ordination or promotion of arts events or stage management (not including employees involved in general administration, finance, human resources and other technical support duties) in the organisation for not less than one year prior to March 15, 2013.
The eligible arts organisations should submit the Voter Registration Form and return it to the Nomination Agent by July 22. The Guidelines for Voter Registration and Voter Registration Form can be downloaded from the website www.voteforhkadc2013.hk. Those arts organisations that had submitted voter registration forms in the Nomination Exercise in 2010 or in a previous Nomination Exercise must also submit voter registration forms for their members/employees afresh this year.
PR Concepts Asia Limited has been commissioned by the HAB to be the Nomination Agent for this Nomination Exercise. Eligible arts organisations will soon receive letters from the Nomination Agent containing guidelines and application forms for voter registration and candidate nomination.
Individual arts workers on the list of "Arts Organisations/Individual Arts Workers Eligible to Participate in the Nomination of Representatives of Arts Interests for the Hong Kong Arts Development Council in 2013" will automatically become voters and further registration is not required. They will receive letters containing guidelines and application forms for candidate nomination.
Those who do not receive these letters by June 20 may contact the Nomination Agent at 2232 3932 or by email at mary@prconcept.com. They can also download the relevant guidelines and forms from the website www.voteforhkadc2013.hk.¡@
The HKADC is a statutory body set up to promote the development of the arts in Hong Kong. The Chief Executive may appoint up to 10 persons nominated by the specified arts interests. The 10 specified arts interests are Arts Administration, Arts Criticism, Arts Education, Chinese Opera (Xiqu), Dance, Drama, Film Arts, Literary Arts, Music and Visual Arts. The current term of office of the HKADC members will expire on December 31, 2013. An exercise is being conducted to nominate arts interests representatives for the Chief Executive's consideration of appointment as members of the HKADC for the next term.
The 2013 Nomination Exercise is being conducted in four phases as follows:
Phase 1: Application by arts organisations and individual arts workers for participation in the Nomination Exercise (March 15 to April 25)
Phase 2: Voter registration (June 14 to July 22)
Phase 3: Candidate nomination (early August to mid-August) (tentative)
Phase 4: Electioneering and polling (late August to September/October) (tentative)
Ends/Thursday, June 13, 2013
Issued at HKT 17:55
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