UAS Arts Symposium
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Transforming Arts Education: Our Collective Mission
Building on the legacies and strengths of its two constituent colleges, LASALLE College of the Arts and Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, UAS is committed to collaborating with artists, educators and partners — and developing new talents - across institutions, communities and industries.The work of transforming arts education is enabled by a collective mission, with each of us playing a special role in shaping lifelong vocations and contributing to the public good. In the face of epochal changes — environmental, technological, economic, and societal - how do we respond to the new challenges?
Date: DD MM 2025
Time: 9am – 4.30pm
Venue: Lee Foundation Theatre, NAFA Campus 3, 151 Bencoolen Street, Singapore 189656
Enquiries: [email protected]
Programme
| 11.00am | Award-winning film showcase from LASALLE’s Puttnam School of Film & Animation Watch three award-winning films produced by the students of the Puttnam School of Film & Animation.
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Keynote: Thinking Through Arts Education in Our Time
Kwok Kian Woon, Vice-Chancellor, University of the Arts Singapore
What does it mean to be educated as we move into the second quarter of the 21st century? There are diverse ways to address this central question as we define our collective mission in transforming arts education. Grappling with the challenges of the present entails both interpreting our past and imagining the future. In doing so, we begin by reflecting on three areas of concern encapsulated in the name of our new university: first, the very idea of a university; second, the arts as a sphere of human life and contemporary society; and third, the location of Singapore in Southeast Asia and the world. Our reflections are not meant to arrive at fixed principles or detailed policies but to develop insightful perspectives and working propositions – to be further questioned and deepened as we build an inclusive and vibrant community of practice with our peers from everywhere.
Panel 1: Core Priorities in Arts Education Today
In these complex times, it is worth contemplating what is at stake in arts education. What are the longstanding assumptions that are now called into question? What is our thinking about the requisite skills and desired attributes of our graduates? In a crisis-ridden era of climate change, pandemics, and polarisation, how do we define our educational mission and our public purpose? How does the speed, scope, and scale of technological change impact society and community, economy and industry, and cultural life and personal development, and in turn our policies, pedagogies, and programmes?In this panel, senior institutional leaders reflect on the many demands that call out for attention and share what they see as mission-critical priorities. What is our capacity for translating these priorities into strategies and action plans? In the process, how do we work more effectively within and across disciplinary, institutional, and national lines to advance our shared mission?
Panellists:
Rustom Bharucha, Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy; former Professor of Theatre and Performance Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University
Steve Dixon, President, LASALLE College of the Arts, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, University of the Arts Singapore
Mary Seah, Principal, School of the Arts Singapore
Tan-Soh Wai Lan, President, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, University of the Arts Singapore
Peter Tornquist, Dean, Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, National University of Singapore
Moderator: Kwok Kian Woon, Vice-Chancellor, University of the Arts Singapore
| 11.00am – 11.30am Gallery, Level 1 | Spatial and Product Design Speaker: |
