When Cissy Pao Watari returned from the US in 1992, she found her hometown wasn't a right environment for her to create freely. As one of the four daughters of the late tycoon Pao Yue-kong, she was not an unknown artist in Hong Kong as she used to be in New York.
It was then that she gave up making art and began to support the field as a patron. As honorary president of the Hong Kong Arts Centre and chairman emeritus of the Hong Kong Ballet, Pao has chaired both organisations' board of governors for six and 12 years respectively, during which time she was involved in their promotion and fundraising activities.
Pao's contribution to Hong Kong's visual and performing arts community earned her the distinguished achievement award of the Hong Kong Dance Awards in 2004, and the Bronze Bauhinia Star from the Hong Kong government in 2006. This month she will receive the Montblanc de la Culture Arts Patronage Award, which is also being given to 11 other people from different regions, including Pritzker Prize-winning architect Renzo Piano, US Grammy award-winning producer and composer Quincy Jones, and British composer Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Each recipient will get Euro15,000 (approximately HK$145,500) out of the prestigious annual award to donate to an arts programme of their choice.
The award is 'symbolically fantastic', says Pao - even though Euro15,000 is not a huge sum, she admits with a candid smile, sitting in a modest conference room at the Art Centre. The clerical atmosphere is a contrast to her smart casual look of a black-and-beige striped jacket, and a ring with a glittering scorpion.
But, 'even just a couple of hundred thousand dollars, to any NGO, it means a lot', Pao says. She will donate her prize to a local NGO called Public Art Hong Kong (PAHK) - and match the amount from her own pocket.