Spotlight on YAFies: Wendy Tsang

Wendy Tsang 
Director of Hong Kong Youth Arts Foundation

How did you enter the field of arts administration?
Before joining Hong Kong Youth Arts Foundation (HKYAF), I was an outreach social worker helping at-risk youngsters. I felt a bit frustrated at that time because the resources we were able to provide weren’t always exactly what the youngsters needed. One of my duties was to help teenagers join a street dance performance organised by the Hong Kong Youth Arts Festival (which would later become HKYAF). As they danced, I saw young people with low self-esteem and little self-confidence magically transform into stars. At that moment, I realised art is a great medium for helping young people to think for themselves, explore their strengths and resolve problems. Later, I joined HKYAF and continued to help youngsters from another perspective – the arts!

How did you come up with the Standard Chartered Youth Creative Industry Employment Scheme?
The COVID-19 crisis has turned the global arts community upside down and posed unprecedented challenges. To help young graduate artists transition from a school environment into the professional world, we implemented the Emerging Artist Mentorship Programme as part of Standard Chartered Arts in the Park 2020. This was the prototype. The response was amazing, and with the generous support of Standard Chartered Hong Kong we launched the more comprehensive programme – Standard Chartered Youth Creative Industry Employment Scheme – this year. The scheme, which benefits 100 graduates, recognises the importance of helping young people jumpstart their creative careers by providing them with opportunities to work alongside professional artists, learn valuable skills and build networks.

How does the scheme help graduates to enter the creative industry?
The scheme is presented in three parts: seed funding, creative apprenticeship and theatre and technical arts training. The Seed Funding provides up to HK$50,000 funding support for graduates to develop creative businesses and establish their brands. Many entrepreneurs face setbacks when they start new businesses, so the graduates receive advice from industry experts, who share their entrepreneurship experiences and offer guidance on important marketing skills, risk management, proposal writing and more.
Apprenticeship opportunities in the creative industry are rare in Hong Kong. The Creative Apprenticeship Programme covers a range of creative and art disciplines, including technical arts for theatre and performance, performing arts, visual arts and design, multidisciplinary arts, film and video production and publishing. It offers paid employment opportunities for graduates to work alongside independent artists and creative organisations, and also allows creative mentors to pass their expertise to the next generation – it’s a win-win situation.
Youngsters studying full-time on campus rarely have the chance to be involved in professional stage productions. The Theatre and Technical Arts part of the scheme, overseen by Lindsey McAlister – theatre director, scriptwriter and Founder of HKYAF – offers participating actors and technical artists the opportunity to develop and stage a theatrical piece and present it at 30 local schools – in turn offering high-quality theatrical experiences to younger students.

What is the biggest challenge with the scheme?
This is a brand new programme for HKYAF, so everything needs to be planned from scratch. Our team spent a lot of time on the preliminary work – examining similar overseas schemes, writing contract terms, finding suitable artists and creative organisations and inviting them to take part, and so on. After the application deadline, two of our main challenges will be reviewing seed funding proposals and matching mentors and graduates. But I have full confidence in our energetic HKYAF team. Nothing is impossible!

What are your expectations for the scheme?
We look forward to hearing from fresh graduates, learning about their creative concepts and making a change to the local creative industry. We also hope the programme will help enhance participants’ creativity, and that working with local professional artists will help them gain the skills they need to confidently establish sustainable careers in the arts.

In the post-pandemic era, how do you view the future for HKYAF?
In these exceptional times, the arts have become more vital than ever to help people heal and feel empowered. So we will adapt and redesign projects to continue inspiring young people to stay creatively connected. Fueled by our imagination and creativity, we don’t see challenges at HKYAF, just opportunities! 

What is your most memorable HKYAF project?
Standard Chartered Arts in the Park. Since joining HKYAF twenty years ago, I’ve been learning how to adapt and adjust to different challenges, like how to engage a large number of visitors – up to 190,000 people! But each time I saw the happy faces of the participants and visitors it was all worthwhile, and hugely rewarding.

What advice can you give to fresh graduates?
If you don’t understand, don’t be shy to ask! There are so many different ways to work things out, you need to be creative and put in 100% to get the best results. Don’t be quick to criticise someone else’s way of dealing with problems – see things from their perspective, understand their intentions and learn from experience. And always show your passion!

Who is your favourite artist? 
Frida Kahlo. I’m so impressed by her life story, her resilience and her stunning self-portrait work.