Arts Impact Fellowship 2021 — Awarded Fellow

West Kowloon Cultural District is pleased to announce the awardee of the 2021 Arts Impact Fellowship: drama educator, theatre actor and director, Hollis Ngai Ho-lun.

A sharing session will be held with Ngai after the completion of his project.
(Details to be announced in early 2022)

Bilingual actor, director, drama educator and Meisner Technique Teacher Hollis Ngai Ho-lun trained at the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain and The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (BFA in Acting), and holds a BA in English from the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). 

As an interdisciplinary artist, Ngai has performed, taught and collaborated with a number of international organisations. In 2013, he was selected by the KSF Foundation to perform a devised performance in New York based on the Richards Rampage Program. In 2016, he was invited by Back to Back Theatre company (Geelong, Australia) as a visiting artist for an international artist visiting week in Australia. He also studied at the Impulse Company (London), William Esper Studio (New York) and L’Ecole Phillippe Gaulier (Paris), established his own theatre company to experiment with devising theatre in relation to physical movement, multimedia, clowning and acting, and is certified as a Meisner Technique Teacher with the Meisner Institute (Los Angeles).

Ngai has worked as an English drama teacher in Hong Kong for more than ten years, and writes and designs educational curricula for primary and secondary schools and community centres. 

A recipient of the 2021 Yale-China Arts Fellowship (Arts Activator), Ngai is currently finishing his studies in MA Cultural Management at CUHK. In 2020 he was selected as a top ten finalist for the Federation for Asian Cultural Promotion (FACP) annual conference Pitch & Catch.

Project Outline
The Minority Linkage: Research on an Educational Drama Programme for Newly-arrived Children
 
Having witnessed the positive effects of early exposure to drama education on children’s growth, communication and confidence, drama educator Hollis Ngai Ho-lun believes drama education should be available to all children, including new-arrivals settling in Hong Kong. From his own experience of studying abroad, Ngai understands that living in a new environment can cause alienation, fear and lack of confidence. Drama education can help alleviate these issues and build a strong foundation for self-growth.

Through detailed research, class observation, trial workshops and interviews, the project aims to develop a rider component that can be attached to the induction programme for newly-arrived children currently offered in local community centres. By helping children develop their self-confidence, the programme will help them integrate with the Hong Kong community and provide support when social issues affect their learning and development.

Project Summary
The report summary of the project is available for download below.