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KB (Chan Kin Bun) devoted 41 years to the arts development of Hong Kong as a prominent, capable and influential art administrator. He worked in the government from 1977 to 2001; and thereafter in the capacity of Executive Director for the biggest drama group, Hong Kong Repertory Theatre till he stepped down this year, 2019.
No job was too small. Tackling dozens of jobs a day, KB was seen hopping from meeting to meeting, show to show and event to event. “I lead by sharing with people a passion, as well as a mission, for great art ideas,” KB recalled, “I would like to encourage the young art administrators: nothing is impossible. There is a will, there is a way. Art administrators should be seen as a locomotive, exerting your strength to the utmost and inspiring your artists to rumble and roar.”
“Hong Kong artists and art administrators should treasure where we are today. To continue the past, they must endeavor to do even better. The arts development in Hong Kong for the past 50 years has been a long and winding road. In 1960s, Hong Kong was denounced as a ‘Cultural Desert’ as art was not a money-making business and nobody cared. In the 60s and 70s, Hong Kong was lucky to have 3 key-men who, against all odds, insisted, persisted and won. They advocated the importance of art and culture for a city like Hong Kong and managed to procure resources to build the art infrastructures such as City Hall, Tsuen Wan Town Hall and Hong Kong Cultural Centre for Hong Kong. They are The Lord Crawford Murray MacLehose, the Governor, Mr Arnaldo de Oliveira Sales, the Chairman of the former Urban Council and Dr Darwin Chen, Director of Cultural Services under the Urban Services Department. The Governor dictated the arts development policies, the Chairman lobbied for actions and Darwin successfully executed. Hong Kong is grateful to 3 of them for their intended contributions to our city,” KB looked back.
“The 70s are a period of art incubation for Hong Kong and 1980s are a time to grow. Merely having a ‘hardware’ is not good enough and so in the 80s, government started to establish a performing art school namely The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts with the objective of producing talents and formed professional art groups such as Hong Kong Dance Company, Chung Ying Theatre Company, Zuni Icosahedron in addition to the Hong Kong Repertory Theatre and the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra already existing in 70s. They produced and supplied great art programs to the venues and arts in Hong Kong then slowly thrived. I am glad to witness the 90s during which arts was finally regarded as a government ‘main stream’ policy and institutionalized in the government systems by establishing the Arts Development Council in 1995. More than 10 arts forms were represented in the Council and arts development opportunities were explored and collaborated with the various sectors in Hong Kong,” KB elaborated.
I asked KB what could be the future arts development directions in Hong Kong. KB replied, “No doubt that we should get out of our comfort zone and develop a greater art market beyond the four walls of Hong Kong such as the mainland China and other Asian countries. Hong Kong is too small with only a population of 7 million residents. If we desire more resources and powers to do better, sheer reliance on the government for art funding will not take us too far. Artists in Hong Kong must learn to be less dependent and with the government’s present facilitation, we shall ship our contents to the overseas cities and make ‘Hong Kong Art’ a brand.”
I joked about the topic of art export with KB, “You are not old and more youthful than a teenager. KB, always being our spiritual leader, why don’t you switch your profession for the 4th time in your life (he was firstly a high school teacher, then a government servant and later a professional arts manager) and set up your Art Agency business in Hong Kong helping the art groups to find outbound jobs?” KB was as quick-witted as me and snapped, “Why don’t quit your legal profession and support my work?”―KB, you are forever unbeatable! Do wish you a merry retirement lifestyle in the years to come.
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