Charlie Wu immigrated to California, USA at fifteen years old. He has a Marketing degree and MBA from the University of San Francisco. In 1999, Charlie was introduced to the Taiwan-Canada Cultural Association through a senior and assisted in fundraising for TAIWANfest. He joined the planning team in 2000 and took over as Managing Director in 2001. After that, he quit his financial job and devoted himself to the cultural exchange between Taiwan and Canada full-time. 

In the past 20 years, he led the team to establish the second branded event LunarFest and implemented large-scale transformations to TAIWANfest. The two events span the east and west coasts of Canada, held in the Greater Toronto and Greater Vancouver areas, and have worked with mainstream Canadian art for many years. This includes collaborations with NXNE Music Festival, PuSh Festival, Toronto Harbourfront Centre, Vancouver Civic Theatres etc. He is committed to using arts and culture as a means to engage and understand immigrant society, and to find Taiwan’s place as a solution in the problems of the world.

As a member of the “Vancouver Music City” project, Charlie is working with Creative BC, a cultural and creative industry organization affiliated with the BC government (like TAICCA) to expand Chinese-language music across Canada through organized events. In addition, he aims to bridge various industries and promote the development of a diverse market. 

Charlie has been a current affairs commentator for Chinese-language media in Canada for more than 20 years. He is familiar with mainstream media in both English and Chinese in Canada, including Georgia Straight, Vancouver’s largest arts and culture weekly, Stir, an independent electronic media for arts and culture, and Next, a trend magazine spanning the east and west coasts. He has organized numerous events, invited many artists, and has appeared multiple times on the cover of Georgia Straight.

• 2021: Awarded the Outstanding Taiwanese-Canadian of the Year Award by the Taiwanese Association of Canada
• 2021: BC Multicultural Individual Contribution Award Nominee
• 2019: Invited by South Korea as a curator to select a music performance group to perform in Canada 
• 2018-2020: Vancouver Music City Project Planning Committee
• 2018: Invited by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs to visit Japan as a friend of Japan from Canada
• 2013: Awarded the Community Lifetime Contribution Award by Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association
• 2012: Presented the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal, symbolizing Canada’s highest honour, by Minister of International Trade of Canada, Ed Fast
• 2011-2014: Appointed as Arts and Culture Policy Committee member by City of Vancouver
• 2009-2010: Vancouver Winter Olympics Cultural Olympiad Advisory and Planning Committee
• 2006: Named as one of the 100 most influential Asians in BC by the Vancouver Sun
• 2005: Special consultant to the former Mayor of Vancouver Larry Campbell’s visit to Taiwan