At our AGM in December, we announced that after four years of transformative leadership, Derek Chan will be stepping down from his role as Managing Artistic Director. He has given so much to the vAct community by building incubator programs like vActory and Springboard, forging new relationships through our mainstage co-productions, and creating a home for communal solidarity and connection through Voices for Freedom and Democracy. It has been a tremendous four years of expanding vAct’s vision, identity, and community, and while he will be deeply missed in his role, his foundational presence as an artist and leader will continue to be felt at vAct.
Here are some words from Derek on his departure:
Hi everyone,
This probably isn’t going to come as a surprise to some of you, but it’s all okay. After a period of reflecting this year, I have decided that I am stepping down from my role as managing artistic director of vAct. As many of you already noticed, Annie, Stephanie, Leslie, and Karen have been holding down the fort since I got back from the run of A Taste of Hong Kong in Toronto this past summer. I have not been well at all, physically and mentally.
But let’s roll back in time a little:
In January 2025, I suffered a pretty bad concussion. Unfortunately I did not carve out the time to allow my brain to heal. Instead, I went straight back to work, and kept working. Because I forgot to take care of myself. As such, my mental health deteriorated. I was suffering from severe anxiety, breakdowns, and panic attacks. Monthly, weekly, daily, by the end. My stamina and capacity had plummeted, to a point where I was not able to carry out the day-to-day administrative and operational tasks of an artistic director in a timely manner. In turn, I forgot who I am as an artist and as a person. This year, I have also lost folks who are important to me, here and back home in Hong Kong, and have not had the space to truly grieve and reflect.
My concussion symptoms lingered and my long-term mental health issues resurfaced to a point where my home, work, and social lives became unmanageable. While I’ll spare you the details, I would still like to take this opportunity to thank my partner Maria for their unrelenting love and care for my wellbeing. For everything. Everything.
I have always approached this job with the core idea of what’s best for the community and the company. I still love each and every one at the company. I still appreciate every person I came across during my time here, the things I’ve learned from our interactions. I will always be grateful to Joyce and Donna for paving the way forward for all of us, even before we knew it. I will always be grateful to current and previous vAct staff for being on this rewarding, terrifying, exciting, draining, fulfilling wild ride with me. Hand to heart, I would carry on if I could. But life goes on.
I still have full belief in the direction and vision I have guided vAct towards. That remains emphatically unchanged. But right now, I need to take some time to exist at a different pace and rhythm from before, and allow my brain to heal in its own time. The road is long, but I will still be around. As an artist, as an ally, and as a member of this wonderful community that I had the luck to be a part of. I’ll be around. I am doing this so I can continue to be around, so I can have the capacity to keep in touch with everybody and be a friend, ally, and colleague as my community needs me to be.
People who know me know that I don’t particularly love talking about myself, and I am terrible at goodbyes, so I’ll leave it here for now. I look forward to crossing paths with vAct again some day.
Bye for now, and with all my love,
Derek Chan 陳嘉昊
Managing Artistic Director
We wish Derek the best in this journey of rest, recovery, and healing – and hold this as a reminder of how important it is to take care of ourselves and each other in these difficult times. More information will come soon on the process of hiring our new Managing Artistic Director. But for now, as we navigate this time of transition, we are grateful to be in community with you all, and for your continued support of us here at vAct.
