KUALA LUMPUR – Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil will be visiting the Penang House of Music (PhoM) on March 7 to discuss the way forward for the museum which is facing closure due to financial constraints.
This was disclosed by PHoM founder and director Paul Augustin whom the minister reached out to last week after the museum announced via social media on February 13, that it would be “shutting its doors for good”.
Fahmi’s office confirmed that the minister is scheduled to visit PHoM during a working trip to Penang.
Paul told Scoop he hopes to work out a long-term plan on how PHoM’s knowledge, resources and expertise can be a catalyst to build a national and regional music heritage centre that will benefit the nation.
“I can’t stress enough on the importance of preservation of our music culture and heritage,” said Paul, adding that preservation should also have a long term purpose.
“What do we do after we preserve something? We should not just keep it aside. Preserved material should be used to create awareness, to educate and serve as a catalyst to develop skills and knowledge. People should be able to make a living out of it,” he said.
Our long-term goal is to make the centre – wherever it may be in the future – a place for research, training and networking, Paul said, adding that there is a growing interest in research on the Nusantara and Nanyang (Southern Seas).
“Knowledge is important if you know how to use it. This is a potential area of growth, with the possibility of procuring international grants which can then be made accessible to local researchers via this preservation centre.”
Paul said there is a need to look at the long-term benefits to having a regional music culture hub, which can be monetised in many ways, including through franchising, merchandising and digitising services, among others.
“The potential may not be obvious now, but the ROI (return of investment) is something that future generations are likely to benefit from.”
PHoM announced its closure last week citing financial difficulties as the primary reason.
Paul said the museum has been struggling to keep up with the high rental rate of RM17,045 per month for its present premises in Komtar, since the prolonged closure of the venue during the Covid-19 pandemic and related movement control orders (MCO).
Set up in 2016 with RM3 million funding from the Penang Water Corporation, PhoM has been struggling to sustain its operations with limited and inconsistent funding from the Penang government.
The funds have been insufficient to sustain its overhead of up to RM50,000 per month which includes rental, staffing and utilities.
“We tried to sustain PHoM with supporting events and activities, in addition to the ticket collection,” Paul said, adding that a lot more could have been done if a more conducive space with better visibility and footfall had been made available to the museum.
There is currently no sight of what the future holds for this museum and its priceless collection. – February 22, 2024