The Canada Council Dance Section welcomes William Lau as Program Officer

William Lau was born in Hong Kong and raised in Montreal. A graduate from York University’s Master of Fine Arts program in dance in 1991, he was trained in Chinese traditional dance, Western classical ballet and the Peking Opera. William was the founder and the Artistic Director of the Montreal Society of Chinese Performing Arts (1979-1986) and the Little Pear Garden Collective (1994-2007). Under his leadership, he had developed and promoted the richness of Chinese dance and opera to a wide range of audiences nationally and internationally as well as training and mentoring of a new generation of Chinese-Canadian dance artists. William had also bridged Chinese performing arts to the mainstream professional communities for the past 25 years by conducting workshops, lectures and demonstrations at various academic institutions and artistic companies as well as museums and cultural organizations. He had also pushed the boundaries of traditional arts practices by collaborating with professional artists of different artistic disciplines and diverse cultural backgrounds.

William is a recognized artist who has a deep passion for the arts. He also has solid management and program development skills. His professional experience includes arts administration, production, scholarly research, advisory and advocacy work. His research papers have been presented at conferences in Canada, Mexico, Hong Kong, and England. William served on many Boards and Committees including the Canadian Conference of the Arts, the Toronto Arts Council, Dance Ontario, the Laidlaw Foundation and the Cultural Human Resources Council. He has worked at the Canada Council for the Arts, the Canadian Commission for UNESCO, Canadian Heritage, and the Arts Council of Great Britain.