Alice Kok
Local artist Alice Kok was appointed president of the Art for All Society (AFA) last year, when the association faced major challenges when coping with private rental increases. One year on, Ms Kok acknowledges that the AFA has had to rent out its gallery space to other organizations, in order to meet these growing costs. In an email interview with the Times, she stressed that partnerships with the government are crucial, as Macau’s administration has the necessary resources to organise big events such as art biennials.
Macau Daily Times (MDT) – AFA faced great challenges last year, particularly due to rent increases. How’s AFA’s situation now?
Alice Kok (AK) – The same situation continues; the rent is still very high. Since less than half of our annual exhibition projects were accepted by the Cultural Affairs Bureau for subsidies, we have fewer exhibitions this year, so we rent out our gallery space to other organizations when required so that we can share the rent.
MDT – How do you look back on this past year as AFA president?
AK – This past year has been a transition year. We are trying to solve previous difficulties and achieve stability with our financial situation (which is not yet the case). It is not easy but I am not alone in dealing with it. The previous president of the AFA, James Chu is still very much involved in giving us advice based on his experiences. We are a team of nine people, making decisions together concerning AFA. Even though the difficulties are still there, it is obvious that the team spirit is much stronger this year than in previous ones.
MDT – What kind of projects has AFA been prioritizing?
AK – Our priority this year has been establishing the balance in our financial situation, so we are trying to encourage more sales and to promote artworks in exhibitions and art fairs. The sales record is improving steadily with our efforts to promote artists who already had a good sales record, as well as in promoting new ones.
MDT – Are there any projects you would like to highlight and that will be soon run by AFA?
AK – This year we have launched the AFA art school but the initial response hasn’t been very good yet. We hope that we will be able to push this project forward and allow more young people who are interested in art to benefit from the professional experiences our artists can provide. So starting from September, when the academic year starts, we will launch a new series of art courses again.
MDT – You said in an interview before that since Macau has a limited number of artists the association is not able to put on many exhibitions. Why doesn’t Macau have more artists and what could be done to change the art scene here?
AK – This is relative. Macau has 600,000 inhabitants which is a relatively smaller population size when compared to other big cities. And I think the situation is changing too, because previously Macau citizens were not so aware of arts and culture, but nowadays with the development of Macau’s cultural art scene, we can see that there are a growing number of emerging young artists.
The AFA has been putting in an effort to encourage young students to study art as well as creating exhibition opportunities for young artists to show and sell their artworks, and that can change the art scene in Macau. The upcoming annual Autumn Salon event, in collaboration with the Orient Foundation, is among those efforts. All Macau artists can apply for the Autumn Salon, by sending their artworks to us. We’ll make a selection and curate an exhibition aiming at selling the artworks. It is one of the most important art events now in Macau, especially with the Orient Foundation art prize that is given to a promising young artist every year. The prize features the opportunity to be featured in a solo exhibition in Portugal.
MDT – What are AFA’s plans to further art education in town?
AK – We hope that our AFA art course will be able to create a collaborative artistic atmosphere. That is why we have launched the Summer AFA classes, where an integrated series of art classes are designed for teenagers to take on drawing, art history, photography, and so on. Right now we don’t have a sufficient number of students but we will keep pushing the program forward and in time we hope that there will be more students registering.
MDT – Many local artists have cooperated with projects run by casinos or the government. Are you concerned that with the downturn in the gaming industry, these partnerships might be cut?
AK – Well, we are still working closely with the MGM to create exhibitions in their hotel spaces. And this year we also have launched the art booths on Broadway Macau to sell artworks and products. So we hope the collaboration will continue.
MDT – What other kind of partnerships do you think would benefit the art industry here?
AK – I think the partnership with the government will benefit from it. We are not necessarily talking about subsidies here, but to work together. The government can lead art events such as biennials where the local associations can help to curate and provide professional services in curating exhibitions and so on. Because only with the government’s resources can major events be held, and at the same time we can invite guests from the international art scene to engage in meaningful dialogue with us.
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