Leading the Way: 3 Local Female Creatives on Women in the Arts

Women have come a long way since the 19th century, when they were perceived as “the weaker sex” whose rightful place was in the home. Today, women are running companies and leading countries – how about in the arts? We speak to three female arts personalities in Hong Kong to get their views on the progress and challenges around gender parity, and how they envision a more equitable art world.  

Anna CY Chan on Performing Arts
Dean of the School of Dance at The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and performer, producer and curator

“Women have an important voice. In training female artists of the future, the most important thing we want to impart is that they can influence society through their artistic talent. 

In everyday training, we might overlook our true identities in favour of technique, but we want them to all have a unique voice for themselves. Dancers are very resilient by nature. So our programme provides more training in areas such as industry understanding and knowledge; you need to understand your rights as a female performer/artist and how to protect yourself in this competitive industry. This has been even more in focus after the #metoo movement. 

In the performing arts, you’ll often see men in leadership roles: choreographers, producers, directors, curators. What’s keeping female artists from furthering into these roles is that when women are at different stages in their lives, they have to juggle multiple roles – as a mother, wife, artist. So maybe they need more support in other areas of life to focus on their career.  

I’m fortunate to have had many inspiring female role models throughout my life. My first ballet teacher, Jean Wong, taught me persistence for artistic excellence. Susan Street, my predecessor here at the Academy, showed me what an impact education can make on society. As women, we need to find mentorship in one another, too. And as the world becomes more receptive to individual voices, one of the key things to being a great female leader in the arts, I think, is to be someone who can always listen.”

Sharon Cheung on Fine Art
Columnist, author and artist who, after 20 years in journalism, enrolled to study fine art at RMIT University in Melbourne

“In the past, women mainly acted as supporters, helping male peers achieve successful careers while they cheered for them; women were seen as subjects, or some would even say, a ‘vase’. 
But art heroines such as Louise Bourgeois, Frida Kahlo, Barbara Hepworth, and Yayoi Kusama became significant critical and commercial successes, raising the profile of female artists around the world. This is important, as it improves the gender balance and equality in a male-dominated society. 

Female art curators like myself have to have quite different sentiments and subject interests; championing diversity and inclusion, and always pushing to give a platform for challenging art. 

While Hong Kong is already quite supportive of female talents, I do think women are still challenged by certain stereotypical mindsets, such as age and appearance. I would love to see more brave, young women in the arts industry, expressing their points of view and challenging what they feel should be changed. 

I don’t really think about gender when it comes to work. What’s most important to me is to be determined, believe in myself and produce work with class and flair. So I always keep in mind this quote by Coco Chanel: ‘In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different.’”

What else is trending in the arts? Here are three trends that you should follow in 2021.