Joe Sidek is best known as director of the George Town Festival, and has established himself as one of Malaysia's strong advocates for the arts. Joe took on the role of festival director of the inaugural 2010 George Town Festival which is held to celebrate and preserve the local arts, culture, and heritage. The festival has since grown into a "major Asian arts event" [New York Times 2014]. Before taking up the position of festival director, Joe 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 Joe is that he still runs his family-owned textile chemical factory. With his industrialist background, entrepreneurial nature and his visionary passion for the arts, he has also presented the Rainforest Fringe Festival in Kuching from 2017 to 2019, this time harvesting mainly the huge talent available there. Elsewhere, he has been invited to speak at and attend events in Chiengmai, Cebu, Yogyakarta, Phnom Penh, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taipei, Seoul, Yokohama, Beijing, New York and in cities across Australia, like Adelaide, Melbourne, and Brisbane.