Social Warrior Women

LINDSEY MCALISTER OBE, JP is the founder of Hong Kong Youth Arts Foundation.

- REBECCA SIMPSON

Opening Up Opportunity

LINDSEY MCALISTER OBE, JP is the founder of Hong Kong Youth Arts Foundation. She’s an effervescent creative force who has impacted the lives of an entire generation of Hong Kong youths.

What brought you here?

I arrived in Hong Kong over 30 years ago with a background in the arts and lots of energy and enthusiasm. From the moment I put my foot on Hong Kong soil (and had the “angel choir” moment), I knew I’d been brought here to make magic.

I’d been travelling in Southeast Asia for a year. The plan was to spend a week or two in Hong Kong and then head back to the UK where I had a job waiting for me with the Arts Council. But, after hearing those angels sing, I knew I had to stay. So, I rang the UK and resigned! I felt so strongly that I was supposed to be in Hong Kong. It’s a good thing that I acknowledged my intuition and stayed, otherwise Hong Kong would have been deprived of all these amazing opportunities for young people.

What has been the highlight of your expat experience?

Turning Hong Kong Youth Arts Foundation (HKYAF) from an idea into a reality has been the highlight of my life!

The idea for the foundation began as a youth arts festival. I’d been trying to get it off the ground for several months, doing very un-strategic things like cold-calling companies from the yellow pages. I’d met Po Chung, the co-founder of DHL Asia Pacific and Chairman Emeritus of DHL Express, at an arts event, and I was invited to his office to make a presentation about the festival. I’d never done anything like that before. But I went in and did my one-woman show anyway.