Milton is pleasantly calm about the funding cuts. “Oh, that comes and goes,” he says. “There is a lot of good art being done in our schools that doesn’t necessarily need to be government funded. I think that it’s helpful that they participate, but I think the private sector also has to be there. What do you think, Mum?” he asks, looking to Fei. “Well, you see, I see the letters that people are supposed to send to their MP,” says Fei, who herself has been influential in the development of the Goh Ballet Society, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and the Vancouver Art Gallery’s Collector’s Circle. “I think the artists will find a way to carry on. And hopefully the economy picks up. It’s tough, you know, because people aren’t buying art and attending concerts. It’s difficult,” she says. Milton goes on, “Generally speaking, the governments do recognize the importance of cultural development for social stability—for creativeness in all sectors of the economy.” But at a time when government officials are penny-pinching and cutting arts grants $10,000 at a time, Milton and Fei Wong have donated an enormously generous $3 million to see the experimental theatre off the ground. In terms of their role as arts patrons, the couple sees plenty of purpose for themselves.
“Generally, community leaders in the arts are looked upon to provide money, but I think it’s more in-depth than that,” says Milton. “I look at the leadership at the Vancouver Art Gallery, and the past Chair George Killy—just a great human being—and Mike Audain, who is now the Chairman of the National Art Gallery, and he’s a prince of a guy. You know, he gives money, but he enjoys visual art—he really enjoys the arts,” says Milton.
“This kind of leadership,” says Milton, “It’s not just sitting back, giving money. They really are engaged with it. And I think that is what’s going to make Vancouver so different from many other centres—participatory leadership. They’re not just sitting on a board, they’re not just giving money, but they really are emotionally engaged.”
Vancouver-based home builder Michael Audain, President of the Audain Foundation, has given more money to the Vancouver Art Gallery than any other person—an impressive $6,467,890 to support visual art and emerging artists in B.C. While money can accomplish a lot, Milton presses that leadership in the arts from the business sector should involve more than a cheque.
“This kind of leadership,” says Milton, “It’s not just sitting back, giving money. They really are engaged with it. And I think that is what’s going to make Vancouver so different from many other centres—participatory leadership. They’re not just sitting on a board, they’re not just giving money, but they really are emotionally engaged.” Milton and Fei charge their leadership with a special commitment to the strength of community. Especially since the Woodward’s project is executed in East Vancouver, near to where Chinese pioneers built their businesses and raised families in a first wave of immigration, the success and representation of Asian cultures is a key motivation for the couple.
“Culture in Western Canada had long been very European-centric,” says Milton. “And there’s nothing wrong with that, because immigrants came from there. But in the last twenty years, beginning in about ’67, we’ve begun to have waves, and now a steady 250,000 immigrants every year coming to this country, of which probably 11 or 12 percent land in Vancouver. And this is annual. And it goes on for two decades or more. We posed the question, should we begin to develop institutions based on our heritage—on Asian heritage?” Fei and Milton support the Centre A, Vancouver’s Contemporary Asian Art museum, mere blocks from the Woodward’s development. Their hope is that the experimental theatre will encourage a kind of cultural sharing that’s more intercultural than multicultural. “Intercultural,” says Milton, “meaning that they’re sharing and working together.”
This isn’t to say that the couple has any intention of involving themselves in every aspect of the new theatre’s direction. They’ll be happy to see the students, the artists, and the surrounding community take up the theatre and make it their own. They’re happy to see history write itself. “It’s a brand new page, like you’ve got there,” Milton says as I tear a new page for scratching notes. “No one knows how it’s going to be…right, Mum?” Fei smiles, nodding. “A brand new page,” Milton says again, his face crumpling into a deep smile—a look that suggests the best is yet to come.