Honouring a life of humble artistic achievements
Former official Darwin Chen earned accolade by changing the arts landscape of our city
Since 2009, the Arts Development Council has included a Life Achievement Award in its annual list of awards for outstanding achievement in the arts.
The recipients so far have been Professor Jao Tsung-I, Louis Cha Leung-yung and Joseph Koo Ka-fai, all legendary figures and household names in the arts. This year, the accolade has been bestowed on Darwin Chen. Chen is, of course, well known in our arts community as the founding manager (or father) of City Hall.
In the 1970s, as director of cultural services, he was the driving force behind the formation of the Philharmonic Orchestra, the Academy of Ballet, the Chinese Orchestra, the Dance Company and the Repertory Theatre.
It is fair to say that, by being an instigator of all these professional performing groups and venues, Chen changed the arts landscape of our city, making arts and culture much more accessible to the public.
I first worked with Chen 15 years ago while serving on the Culture and Heritage Commission chaired by Professor Chang Hsin-kang. Chen was then representing the Arts Development Council.
In order to fulfil its mandate of developing a cultural policy for Hong Kong, the commission conducted numerous consultation sessions involving a wide variety of groups and artists.