ROLE PLAYERS 2017 - Joe Sidek


Joe Sidek

Festival Director
George Town Festival

Best known as director of the George Town Festival (GTF), Joe Sidek has established himself as one of Malaysia's strong advocates for the arts. GTF is an annual month-long festival that turns the town into a brilliant canvas for local and international performances, visual arts, culture and community-infused activities.

Before taking up the position of festival director, Joe Sidek played major roles in various forms of art expression - from event management, art curatorship, restaurant ownership and even costume design. A lesser known fact about Mr Sidek is that he still runs his family-owned textile chemical factory. With his industrialist background, entrepreneurial nature and his visionary passion for the arts, it is no surprise that 8 years after his appointment as Festival Director of GTF in 2010, the festival has grown incrementally ever since.

Other than GTF, Mr Sidek is also running the Rainforest Fringe Festival in Sarawak. He was also the Managing Director of Tropfest South East Asia in 2014 and 2015. Elsewhere, he has been invited to speak regionally and in countries like Brisbane, Taipei, Seoul and Yokohama about his role in the creation and continued growth of GTF. He recently received the Leadership Award for Outstanding Contribution towards Building Smart Cities at the World CSR Day 2017 in Mumbai, India.