Asia Society Announces Speakers for Second Arts & Museum Summit in Hong Kong, November 19-20, 2015

HONG KONG, CHINA--(Marketwired - October 20, 2015) - Arts and cultural leaders from across Asia, the United States, and Europe will gather in Hong Kong for Asia Society's second Arts & Museum Summit on November 19 and 20, 2015. The Summit will be held at Asia Society Hong Kong Center, which opened its new cultural and exhibition space in 2012 and has become an important hub for the arts in Hong Kong.

The two-day event will address challenges in the preservation of cultural heritage and the responsibilities of institutions and individuals as stewards of culture. The Summit brings together museum directors, curators, art conservators, performing arts presenters, preservationists, foundation leaders, scholars, artists, and technologists to examine the issues in cultural heritage preservation in the twenty-first century. Topics to be discussed include the key ethical questions facing preservation and the technologies, methods, and practices used to keep these traditions intact and relevant into the future. Asia Society will publish a summary report of the program's findings.

The Summit will also serve to launch Transfuze: The Asia Arts and Museum Network, Asia Society's initiative to cultivate collaboration between leaders and institutions in the cultural sector.

"The Arts & Museum Summit is the world's premier gathering of arts and cultural leaders across the field of Asian Arts," says Asia Society President and CEO Josette Sheeran, who will make the opening remarks at the Summit. "This year we will explore the challenges, develop the connections, and form strategies to ensure the world's heritage is protected and preserved and our cultural legacies are strengthened."

Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, will give a special address to the Summit's participants. Additional speakers include:

• Arahmaiani, artist, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
• Bonnie Burnham, President, World Monuments Fund, New York, United States
• Chang Lin-sheng, Director, Aurora Museum, Shanghai, China
• Chen Kelun, Deputy Director, Shanghai Museum, China
• Cosmin Costinas, Executive Director/Curator, Para Site, Hong Kong
• Vishakha N. Desai, Special Advisor for Global Affairs to the President and Professor of Practice, School of International Affairs, Columbia University, New York, United States
• Laurent Gaveau, Director, Google Cultural Institute Lab, Paris, France
• Sarah Kenderdine, Director, Laboratory for Innovation in Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums, University of New South Wales, Sydney
• Hongnam Kim, former Director, National Museums of Korea, Seoul, South Korea
• Vasif Kortun, Director of Research and Programs, SALT, Istanbul and Ankara, Turkey
• Wai Kit Lee, Founder, Western China Cultural Ecology Research Workshop, Hong Kong
• Hammad Nasar, Head of Research and Programmes, Asia Art Archive, Hong Kong
• Fairouz Nishanova, Aga Khan Music Initiative, Aga Khan Trust for Culture, Geneva, Switzerland
• Ong Keng Sen, Director, Singapore International Festival of Arts
• Helen Philon, Cofounder, Deccan Heritage Foundation, Mumbai, India
• Phloeun Prim, Executive Director, Cambodian Living Arts, Phnom Penh
• Zeyba Rahman, Senior Program Officer, Building Bridges Program, Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Arts, New York, United States
• Ahmad Sarmast, Music Advisor & Project Director, Afghanistan National Institute of Music, Kabul
• Rajeev Sethi, Chairman and Trustee, The Asian Heritage Foundation, New Delhi, India
• Suresh Suras Shrestha, Under Secretary, Department of Archaeology, Kathmandu, Nepal
• Timothy P. Whalen, Director, The Getty Conservation Institute, Los Angles, United States
• Winnie Yeung, Head of Heritage, Central Police Station Revitalisation Project, Jockey Club CPS Limited, Hong Kong
• Louis Yu, Executive Director, Performing Arts, West Kowloon Cultural District Authority, Hong Kong

Preregistration is required and may be completed online at ArtsandMuseumSummit.org. Members of the media interested in attending should contact Elaine Merguerian at emerguerian@asiasociety.org or +1-212-327-9313. For Chinese-language media, please contact Christy Ko at cko@asiasociety.org or +852-2103-9513.

Highlights of the 2013 Summit -- including videos of keynote addresses from Glenn Lowry, Director, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, and Hiroshi Sugimoto, renowned Japanese artist -- are available at http://asiasociety.org/makingamuseum, and discussions among arts and museums leaders in New York in 2015 at http://asiasociety.org/new-york/events/art-talk-making-museum-21st-century-0.

The 2015 Arts & Museum Summit is made possible through support from The Getty Foundation. Google is an Official Summit Partner. Additional support to the Summit has been provided by the Julis Family Art Initiative, H2 Foundation for Arts and Education Limited, Hallam Chow, and Fanzhi Foundation for Arts and Education Limited.

About the Arts & Museum Summit

The Arts & Museum Summit brings together museum and arts and cultural leaders from across Asia, the United States, and Europe, to explore challenges, share new models, and develop deeper connections across the field. The Summit provides a forum to exchange ideas, strategies, and cultural issues relating to the arts of Asia. It presents the opportunity for the arts community to take part in important discourse on the most pressing topics with luminaries in the field of Asian arts and culture.

About Transfuze: The Asia Arts and Museum Network

Transfuze: The Asia Arts and Museum Network is Asia Society's initiative to foster collaboration among arts institutions and professionals. Through bilateral and multilateral conversations, capacity-building projects, and empowering resources, Transfuze seeks to strengthen the cultural sector and advance global appreciation of the arts of Asia.

About Asia Society Museum and Arts and Cultural Programs at Asia Society

Asia Society Museum has earned international acclaim for groundbreaking exhibitions that showcase new discoveries in traditional art and introduce exciting new work on the cutting edge of Asian and Asian American contemporary arts. The Asia Society Museum Collection includes the masterpiece-quality Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection, bequeathed to Asia Society in 1979, and a growing contemporary collection of significant works in video and photography. Through exhibitions and related talks, performances, symposia, and film, Asia Society provides a forum for unique issues and viewpoints reflected in Asian arts and culture.