Respected actor, writer, broadcaster and industry leader Annette Shun Wah has been announced as the new Artistic Director of the 2021 OzAsia Festival, succeeding Joseph Mitchell. Since 2013, Shun Wah has served as Executive Producer of Contemporary Asian Australian Performance, a non-profit dedicated to providing a voice for modern Asian Australian experience through the performing arts. Although the Asia-focused South Australian arts festival will be unable to proceed as planned this October due to the COVID-19 crisis, Shun Wah will nevertheless oversee a series of online discussions and interviews devoted to Australia’s continued engagement with Asia and the arts.

Annette Shun Wah. Photo © Tony Lewis

“Having enjoyed a long association with OzAsia Festival over many years, I’m thrilled to be joining the team at this critical and dynamic moment in the relationship between Australia and Asia,” said Shun Wah.

“Although we cannot present a full program in 2020, our online series will be a platform to engage patrons, industry and leading thinkers on exciting and essential ways to explore the connections between Asia and Australia, especially through contemporary Asian Australian artists,” she said. “I’m looking forward to leading the next evolution of this...