Four Local Arts Administrators Awarded Overseas Training Opportunities

To foster professional growth of local arts administrators and facilitate long-term development of arts and culture in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC) collaborates with different world acclaimed arts and cultural organisations to offer internship and training programmes. The programmes provide overseas internship and exchange opportunities for promising local arts administrators to develop their professional skills and international network.

Recently, HKADC has collaborated with Adelaide Festival Centre (AFC) of Australia, Tate Modern of the UK, and the British Council and Summerhall of the UK to launch “Professional Attachment at OzAsia Festival 2017”,  “Hong Kong Scholarship on Curatorial Attachment to Public Programmes at Tate Modern 2017” and “Professional Attachment at Summerhall, Edinburgh (Pilot Scheme)” respectively. Four outstanding local arts administrators have been awarded.

(1)   “Professional Attachment at OzAsia Festival 2017”

The awardee is Ms Mimi Lam. She is going to have an attachment for about 22 weeks from late-July to December 2017 in the AFC. She will mainly participate in coordination, media marketing and promotion of the OzAsia Festival 2017, post-festival administration and early programming work of the OzAsia Festival 2018.

Ms Lam was the Programme Coordinator at Hong Kong Arts Festival Society Limited, responsible for programme coordination and artist liaison, and involved in the planning and operation of festival PLUS activities and educational programmes. Ms Lam has also worked in other arts and cultural organisations, such as Culture Cross Limited for book editing and publishing.

(2)   “Hong Kong Scholarship on Curatorial Attachment to Public Programmes at Tate Modern 2017”

The awardee is Ms Winnie Lai. She is going to have a 22-week attachment from mid-September 2017 to mid-February 2018 at Tate Modern. She will mainly participate in the development, planning, delivery and evaluation of the public programmes of the Tate Exchange.

Ms Lai is currently the Assistant Curator, Learning and Interpretation, at M+, the museum for visual culture at West Kowloon Cultural District. She is responsible for developing the learning and interpretation plan and programme. She and her team were involved in the Hong Kong participation at the Venice Biennale, namely “You (you).” (2013) and “Tsang Kin-Wah: The Infinite Nothing” (2015), solo exhibitions of Lee Kit and Tsang Kin-Wah respectively. Ms Lai was also responsible for other Learning and Interpretation initiatives, among which are school and community projects such as the travelling creative studio, “M+ Rover”. Prior to joining M+, she was the Museum Trainee at Hong Kong Heritage Museum.

(3)   “Professional Attachment at Summerhall, Edinburgh (Pilot Scheme)＂

The attachment is awarded to Mr Lam Kam-kwan and Mr Sit Ming-kay. They are going to have the attachment for six weeks from late-July to September 2017 at Summerhall. They will actively participate in the areas of programme management, scheduling, production, artist liaison and marketing of performances and activities at Summerhall during the 2017 Edinburgh Festival Fringe under the supervision of senior members.

Mr Lam is currently the Assistant Programme Manager of Hong Kong Arts Festival Society Limited, responsible for programme curation and production, and international liaison of the Festival. He was the Outreach Coordinator and Project Coordinator of the Festival. Before joining Hong Kong Arts Festival Society Limited, Mr Lam worked in various performing arts and visual arts organisations, and initiated and curated the visually-impaired photography project Luminance Touched.

Mr Sit is currently an Assistant Manager of the Ticketing Office of Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD), responsible for assisting presenters to utilise URBTIX ticketing system effectively and related management. Prior to this post, he also served in various positions at LCSD, for example, the Assistant Manager and Assistant Programme Officer at Festivals Office, etc.

With the funding support from the Home Affairs Bureau, the aforementioned programmes aim to strengthen the training of local arts administrators, to nurture more arts and cultural leaders and respond to the demand for such in our community.

About OzAsia Festival
Since 2007, Adelaide Festival Centre has held the two-week OzAsia Festival every September, which features various programmes from Asian countries, including India, Korea, China, Japan and Malaysia etc. The Festival attracts Australian and Asian performers and tourists to gather at Adelaide. The OzAsia Festival 2017 will be held from 26 September to 8 October this year. HKADC will support Hong Kong arts programmes to participate in the Festival.

The activities of the Festival are in a wide spectrum. For example, in 2016, it featured 49 major events, including 35 Australian premieres. There were more than 120 professional performances, as well over 100 performances by community groups, seven exhibitions, 16 film screenings, 59 workshop events and more. More than 360 professional artists performed in Adelaide, along with over 400 community artists. For more information about the OzAsia Festival, please visit: www.ozasiafestival.com.au.

About Tate Modern
Tate Modern is one of four Tate galleries around the UK, and part of a wider network of partner institutions – the Plus Tate network – which champion the visual arts in the UK. Tate manages a growing national collection of over 70,000 works of art, acquired and cared for on behalf of the public and shown in venues throughout the UK and across the world. Tate Modern is the world’s most popular museum of modern and contemporary art, attracting around 5 million visitors each year. Located in the former Bankside Power Station of the United Kingdom, it opened to the public in May 2000. In June 2016 the new Switch House building added 60% more display space to Tate Modern. For more information about Tate Modern, please visit: www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-modern.

About Summerhall
Summerhall is open to the public all year round and hosts events in all Edinburgh’s major festivals. But it is far more than Edinburgh’s newest and biggest arts venue. Visitors will find theatre and gallery spaces, libraries and small museums, educational and research programmes, studios and workshops. It is a new kind of community: a cross cultural village where arts and sciences talk to each other, where high tech rubs shoulders with all the arts including film and television. Most importantly, Summerhall is a work in progress – as more space is developed more ideas emerge. Here the possibilities are endless, “everyone is an artist”. For more information about Summerhall, please visit: www.summerhall.co.uk.

About the British Council
The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We create friendly knowledge and understanding between the people of the UK and other countries. Using the UK’s cultural resources we make a positive contribution to the countries we work with – changing lives by creating opportunities, building connections and engendering trust.