The 2015 Arts & Museum Summit, which took place on November 19 and 20 at Asia Society Hong Kong Center, featured a diverse group of leaders engaged in discussions surrounding this theme: “The Past and Present Preserved: Assuring Our Cultural Legacy in the 21st Century.” Delegates included representatives from Afghanistan, Australia, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, and Turkey. Following opening remarks from Josette Sheeran and a video keynote from Irina Bokova (UNESCO), the program featured four keynote panels: Authenticity and Context, Threats and Risks, Sustaining Ephemerality, Alternate Philosophies. The summit also included case studies from both the museum and performing arts fields.

In addition to Bokova, summit speakers included Arahmaiani (artist), Bonnie Burnham (World Monuments Fund), Nicholas Chambers (Art Gallery of New South Wales), Leslie Lin-sheng Chang (Aurora Museum), Chen Kelun (Shanghai Museum), Anita Chung (Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundatiion), Cosmin Costinas (Para Site), Vishakha N. Desai (Asia Society; Columbia University), Sarah Kenderdine (Laboratory for Innovation in Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums), Hongnam Kim (Ewha Woman's University), Vasif Kortun (SALT), Restu Kusumaningrum (Bumi Purnati Indonesia), Wai Kit Lee (Western China Cultural Ecology Research Workshop), Hammad Nasar (Asia Art Archive), Bárbara Navarro (Google), Fairouz Nishanova (Aga Khan Music Initiative), Keng Sen Ong (Singapore International Arts Festival), Helen Philon (Deccan Heritage Foundation), Phloeun Prim (Cambodian Living Arts), Zeyba Rahman (Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Arts), Ahmad Sarmast (Afghanistan National Institute of Music), Rajeev Sethi (The Asian Heritage Foundation), Suresh Suras Shrestha (Department of Archaeology), Timothy P. Whalen (The Getty Conservation Institute), Winnie Yeung (Central Police Station Revitalisation Project), and Louis Yu (Performing Arts, West Kowloon Cultural District Authority).

The 2015 Summit agenda is available here.

This Summit also was the occasion for the launch of The Asia Arts and Museum Network, Asia Society’s signature initiative to foster collaboration between and among cultural institutions in the United States and Asia.

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