Howard Bilton

Yorkshire-born businessman Howard Bilton is the founder and chairman of the Sovereign Art Foundation, established in Hong Kong in 2003. The Foundation focuses on both recognising the abundance of artistic talent in Asia and bringing the benefits of art therapy and education to underprivileged children. In both endeavours, the Foundation is going from strength to strength. Bilton, a long-time personal collector of Asian art, hatched the idea for the Foundation after observing the disparity in the distribution of wealth within the art world. He was particularly disappointed by the fact that so little resources were being fed back into the local community. By establishing the Foundation and an annual prize for artists, Bilton has managed to align his philanthropic aspirations while celebrating the high caliber of art that Asia has to offer. Every year, the Sovereign Asian Art Prize invites entries from mid-career contemporary artists who have been nominated by a board of art experts. Entries are then judged by a small panel consisting of independent art experts and professionals—David Elliott, Song Dong, Asmudjo Irianto, Michael Lin and Alexandra Seno are on this year’s jury. They select the best 30 artworks which are then exhibited in Hong Kong and evaluated a final time, both by the judges and by the public. The winner of the prize receives US$30,000. With the exception of the winning entry, which then becomes the property of the Foundation and is used to further its charitable work, all artworks are auctioned to guests during a gala dinner, during which the winner of the art prize is also announced. The proceeds of the auction are split between the artist and the Foundation