Benny Chia () is an author, festival director, curator, and an active member in the Hong Kong arts scene. He founded the Hong Kong Fringe Club in 1984, modelled after the Adelaide Festival Fringe, and turned a disused ice depot on Lower Albert Road in Central Hong Kong into a vibrant arts venue: the Fringe Club. The history of Fringe Club is covered in Benny Chia's memoir Life on the Fringe â The Almost Naked Memoir, published by Hong Kong University Press and MCCM Creations in November 2024.
Raised in a single-parent and deprived family, Chia turned his life around through his innate love for arts and education, and became the first non-British in charge of a fly-by-night arts outfit during the days of colonial Hong Kong in the 1980s. Born in Singapore and educated in Hong Kong, Paris and Louvain,àBenny Chia è¬Âä¿Âè launched the Hong Kong Fringe Festival in 1983, founded the Fringe Club in 1984 and steered the Fringe Club as General Manager and Artistic Director through to 2022 â almost forty years.àHe created artistic concepts and wrote scripts for the theatre, and wrote articles for theàSouth China Morning Postàand other publications. Chia is a founding member of Hong Kong Arts Development Council, Hong Kong International Film Festival, and the Hong Kong Arts Administrators Association. Honours awarded include the Bronze Bauhinia Star from the HKSAR Government, the Badge of Honour from the former Hong Kong Government, Best Arts Promoter from the Hong Kong Artists Guild, andàHero of Hong Kong from Time Out Magazine.
Chia curated multiple arts exhibitions, notably, frogtopia â hongkornucopia, as part of the Venice Art Biennale 2011, featuring Hong Kong artist Frog King; Ac.cul.tur.at.ion; Shirt Art; Dare to Dream; Almost Blue; and others.
Benny Chia retired from the Fringe Club in 2022 and started his career as an author with his first book Life on the Fringe â The Almost Naked Memoir, published in 2024 by Hong Kong University Press and MCCM Creations.