Creative Careers: Curating for the community

Students from the School for the Creative and Cultural Industries (SCCI) joined Veronica Wong for an interactive, online discussion, charting Veronica’s career path from a Master’s in Visual Culture at University of Westminster in London, to her current role as the Education and Public Programmes Curator at the Tai Kwun Contemporary in Hong Kong.

Following her Master’s, Veronica had several roles in the arts and cultural sectors, including at the British Council and the Guangdong Times Museum, before taking on her current role at Tai Kwun. Since then, Veronica has curated many public art exhibitions art festivals, cross-disciplinary projects, and symposiums, whilst demonstrating a commitment to community engagement, museum learning, and accessibility. 

This discussion centred around Veronica’s two most recent roles at Guangdong Times Museum and Tai Kwun Contemporary. 

Times Museum is a non-profit organisation funded by the private sector and set up in a residential building, which created a unique connection between everyday life, local communities, and the arts. Situated in a remote area away from the city, Veronica’s core focus was on building their audience reach and engagement through public programmes. 

She took an open approach, welcoming different institutional partners to use the museum spaces and inviting the public to engage with the  exhibitions in different ways. This included mapping alternative, illustrated routes through the museum, community events and film screenings, and inviting the public to stay overnight! As Veronica points out, museums are so often exclusive places where there are so many rules - opening up the museum to residents and communities enabled them to create a more safe and accessible space.  

In 2020, Veronica joined Tai Kwun in Hong Kong, a former historic site transformed into an accessible world-class centre for arts, culture and heritage. This marked an exciting time in Veronica’s career, joining a new institution in a vibrant cultural city. 

Since joining Tai Kwun Contemporary, Veronica has curated several public programmes. This includes Hi! & Seek, a dedicated corner for visitors to start new conservations with curators and artists, other visitors, and the museum; Artist Walk, where different artists invite participants to see their city anew through a creative lens; and Family Day, an initiative which aims to engage intergenerational family members to visit the space and explore new ways of communicating through art.
 

Veronica's top tips for a career in arts and heritage 

• Make good use of work placements, internships, and residencies – you will gain invaluable skills and connections.
• Build up your international network through joining events, career and sector-specific networks, and training programmes.
• Develop your knowledge of art ecology. Regardless of what type of role you want, it’s important to understand the whole art ecosystem
• Always be open to learning and exploring

Veronica Wong is the Education and Public Programmes Curator at Tai Kwun Contemporary. Her writings are included in several publications and journals, including New Museum Practice in Asia (edited by Caroline Lang and John Reeve), the first book to focus specifically on museum and heritage practice in Asia. 

This talk is part of our Creative Careers series, which aims to highlight different career pathways and employment options through talks and learning from inspiring speakers and leaders in the creative and cultural industries.