2009 AWARD    

Two recipients received the inaugural AAPAF internship Award, and have already or will performed internships at two AAPAF member festivals.

Natalie Chong Pei Wen (Malaysia) interned at the 2009 Hong Kong Arts Festival from 19 Jan to 13 Feb 2009. Natalie is a media manager at the Gardner & Wife Theatre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
For her internship, she was tasked to coordinate and run Festival-related projects including an art exhibition and symposium, and work with the Festival’s customer service department.

This is an excerpt of her learning experience:

“While I was working as an intern at the Hong Kong Art Festival, one of my tasks was to coordinate the symposium which involved communications with the several different groups involved in the symposium. Coming from Malaysia to work in Hong Kong for the first time, I found it very interesting to deal with the very different types of people involved. I also found it quite a challenge to adapt to Hong Kong working culture which is very fast and spontaneous. As an intern, I was also able to observe the operation of the art festival as it involved the different departments and started to understand how they worked and the integration between the different festival departments. My internship at the Hong Kong Art Festival was a great introduction to the professional planning & coordination of a big arts festival.”

Carol So (Hong Kong) will intern at the 2009 OzAsia Festival in Adelaide, Australia, from 21 Sep to 18 Oct 2009. She is an arts administrator at the Leisure, Cultural Services Department, Hong Kong. For her internship, she will support the marketing and delivery of the Festival, including the Moon Lantern Festival, Symposium and Dance events.

The inaugural term for the hosting of AAPAF interns was 1 Jan - 31 Dec 2009. Applications were accepted between 20 Jun and 31 Aug 2008.