Three Local Arts Administrators Awarded Training Opportunities at Overseas Arts & Cultural Organisations

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 and the Clore Leadership Programme of the United Kingdom to launch “OzAsia Festival Internship 2016” and “Hong Kong Scholarship on the Clore Leadership Programme 2016/17” respectively. Three local arts administrators have been awarded.

(1) “OzAsia Festival Internship 2016”

It is awarded to Ms Jamie Wu. She is going to have a 12-week internship on a full-time basis from August to October 2016 at the AFC. She will mainly participate in festival coordination, programming, media marketing and promotion of the OzAsia Festival 2016.

Ms Wu is currently the Company Manager of Theatre du Pif, responsible for programme planning, marketing and promotion, international cultural exchange and development of the company, etc. She is also an independent producer who has collaborated with different arts and cultural organisations, such as orleanlaisproject, Asia Art Archive etc., in various arts projects. Ms Wu has also worked in organisations of different art forms and participated in overseas arts and cultural activities and training programmes.

(2) “Hong Kong Scholarship on the Clore Leadership Programme 2016/17”

It is awarded to Ms Susanna Chung and Mr Victor Fung. They will take part in two customised intensive leadership training workshop series in September 2016 and June 2017. They will also undertake a secondment for a period of about eight weeks in cultural institution(s) during their stay, where they will have the opportunities to meet a wide range of cultural leaders and participate in a range of training in the UK.

Ms Susanna Chung is Head of Learning and Participation at Asia Art Archive (AAA). She has worked at AAA in various roles since 2005, initiating the Learning and Participation Department and has just been appointed Programme Manager to oversee programmes across the entire organisation. Ms Chung was awarded the Starr Foundation Fellowship by the Asian Cultural Council and a recent recipient of the Hong Kong Arts Development Council’s Arts Administration Scholarship. She has been a speaker and moderator in a number of arts education forums in Hong Kong and internationally.

Mr Victor Fung is currently pursuing his Doctorate in Dance at Middlesex University in the UK. He has established Victor Fung Dance in 2011 and is currently the Artistic Director and Choreographer of the organisation. The organisation aims to provide a development platform to foster international collaborations between artists of various disciplines. Mr Fung was the recipient of the Award for Young Artist (Dance) of the Hong Kong Arts Development Award 2013. He has created works for a number of companies internationally and has twice choreographed for City Contemporary Dance Company, including Fighter in Strip Teaser 2012 and If These Walls Could Talk in Eureka.

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.