果冻影院

Building international connections

The British Council works to support peace and prosperity between the UK and countries worldwide through building connections, skills, understanding and trust. They support a wide global network, working in over 200 countries and territories around the world.

Tim Wong was Head of the Arts and Creative Industries team for the British Council in Hong Kong, working on the ground with local arts organisations and facilitating creative exchange and partnerships between Hong Kong, the UK and global British Council networks. This included planning and delivering on a range of听programmes听and events across music, theatre,听dance, architecture, design, fashion, and the visual arts.听

For example, Tim worked on the third edition of 鈥楽park鈥�, the British Council Hong Kong鈥檚 annual international festival of ideas. He also led a regular delegation of Hong Kong arts practitioners to meet their UK counterparts, where they swap skills and learn from each other about the latest practice and sector trends.听听

Beyond 鈥榖usiness鈥�: Hong Kong as a Cultural Hub

In recent years, the Hong Kong government has committed to an arts and culture strategy that aims to position Hong Kong as an East-meets-West centre for international cultural exchange, and challenge global perceptions of Hong Kong solely as a business and finance hub.

A major output of this strategy was the development of the West Kowloon Cultural District, which Tim calls a 鈥済ame changer鈥� for the Hong Kong arts scene. Like the vibrant East Bank in Strafford that听SCCI and 果冻影院 East call home, West Kowloon is an impressive open space with remarkable infrastructure and world-class cultural institutions.听Other major cultural events like The Hong Kong Arts Festival and Art Basel, launched in Hong Kong in 2013, now place Hong Kong as one of the major art trading outposts in Asia and the rest of the world.

An unexpected career journey

Tim鈥檚 first passion was music, but he was keen to experiment with different career paths. Following a BA in History and MSc in International Relations at the University of Bristol, Tim tried his hand at journalism but quickly decided it wasn鈥檛 for him.

He then worked at the London Symphony Orchestra for 5 years, before jumping into the unknown and moving to Hong Kong to work with the Hong Kong Arts Festival, and then the British Council. Within these 3 organisations Tim continued to move up into more senior roles, until ultimately being appointed as Head of Arts for the British Council.听

Tim credits this with a mixture of good timing, luck, ambition, observing and listening to his colleagues, and taking on as many roles as possible! For example, he started off in marketing at the London Symphony Orchestra before moving into a fundraising role. This wasn鈥檛 exactly his first choice.听Tim says:

鈥淚 didn't think I had the people skills,听I was shy and a bit introverted. But with hindsight I'm so grateful to have done this role. Anyone who wants to work in a leadership role in the arts needs to have some kind of fundraising perspective because the challenge is always 鈥渨here's the money coming from?鈥�. Even if it鈥檚 not ultimately what you want to end up doing, gaining experience in different areas and observing how people work in these roles is absolutely crucial鈥�.

Consequently, Tim has built up a range of skills over his career, from business development, project management and international relations to copywriting and editing.

Tim鈥檚 top tips for an international arts career

• Don鈥檛 be afraid to fail. It鈥檚 all about trying things. If they don鈥檛 work out it鈥檚 not necessarily a failure but you will learn. Failures are often more useful than successes!听
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• Take a decision-making approach. As you progress in your career, there are going to be more people competing for your time. So, wherever possible, you need to make quick decisions. Some people talk about it as an 80-20% divide. 80% of your choices in the workplace aren鈥檛 really important 鈥� they won鈥檛 have a lasting impact and should be quick decisions. The, there are the other 20% that will听require more thought and time, and consultation with others. Finding this balance has been an important lesson for me.
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• Prioritise. This is very personal听and different for everyone. Are your personal relationships and professional life equally important to you, or do you want to focus solely on your career? Neither outlook is right or wrong, but you need to figure out what is best for you and prioritise accordingly (and these might听change over time).
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• Seek out mentoring opportunities. If you can find access to mentoring or coaching opportunities, I鈥檇 highly recommend it. Some of the best advice I鈥檝e ever received was from a coach. I was concerned about how other people perceive me and my work. The coach helped me to flip my thinking to instead focus on the things I knew for sure, asking 鈥淒o you actually know what this person thinks of you or your work? Have you asked them?鈥� I realised I didn鈥檛听and I decided to focus on the things that I could control. This simple conversation was life-changing for me.听
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• Empower those around you. If you're managing people or working with less experienced colleagues, it鈥檚 important to try and听 make sure they have a platform to grow, share their opinions, and make their own decisions. If you're emboldening those around you then they are happier, more independent and self-sufficient 鈥� and this in turn means you have more time and support.

Tim is now taking a short career break, and he stresses the importance of prioritising what鈥檚 important to you, no matter what stage of your career you鈥檙e at: 鈥淗ealth, wellbeing and personal development is really important and, especially post-pandemic, I鈥檓 not just focused on the next professional move鈥�.

was previously Head of Arts and Creative Industries at the . He delivered this talk as part of our Creative Careers series with听果冻影院 Careers, which aims to highlight different career pathways and employment options through talks and learning from inspiring leaders in the creative and cultural industries.听