Dr. Tan It Koon – Art Advocate

 

                 

      Aside from the pleasure of hosting American-Chinese basso Tien Hou Jian and his wife Martha, at the 2^nd OperaViva Gala Dinner on 12 November 2010 at the Tanglin Club, the event brought me another surprise. It reconnected me to chemical pathologist-musician-painter Dr Tan It Koon, after 20 years! 

Dr Tan It Koon in Korea

“I would like to spread the message that study of visual and performing arts need not necessary be for the sole purpose of preparing for a life-long career in these areas.  One can be a part-time painter, musician, actor, dancer, writer, even up to the professional level throughout life while engaged in other professions.* Life will be richer, more interesting and more balanced.  One would have a better background to appreciate and enjoy the wide variety of cultural performances. One is also better prepared to be involved either professionally or as non-professional volunteers in the administration and promotion of cultural activities. There would not be the worry of having nothing to do when one retires from full-time work as this would be a good time to continue pursuit of ones interest in the cultural field.”….Dr Tan It Koon, Art Advocate

It Koon and I worked together in the ‘80s when he served on the Management Committee of the Singapore Cultural Foundation and the Steering and Planning Committees of the Singapore Arts Festival.  He was also the Deputy Chairman of the National Theatre Trust (NTT).

At my invitation, It Koon has contributed his insight into the Kallang Theatre art collection and shared his experiences as an artist and arts advocate.

On the Kallang Theatre Art Collection

“…As the Deputy Chairman of the National Theatre Trust who had the responsibility of overseeing all cultural activities of the Theatre, I was invited to be the Chairman of the Panel to select winning works from the well-publicized “Expressions” competition.  Artists Mr Choo Keng Kwang and Mr Ng Eng Teng as well as interior designer Mr David Tay (who had renovated our History Museum on Stamford Road with Ms Ruby Lai) served on my selection committee. As none of the schemes was found suitable for all three levels of the theatre, Mr Anthony Poon’s work on “Waves” was assigned to the Level 3 lobby, Mr Thomas Tan’s dramatic painted metal patch-work to Level 2 and Mr Lim Leong Seng sculptures of white face masks to Level 1… 

……(In addition to the $80,000 from Esso Singapore), I think a further $100,000 was received from the Loke Foundation to commission a sculpture (of dancers) by Singapore’s most well-known sculptor, Ms Han Sai Por for the interior of Kallang Theatre…I have the impression that the group of dancers required a total of  $100,000…that the fund for the art installation was donated by Lady McNiece, Chairperson of the Loke Foundation through National Theatre Chairman, Mr Thai Chee Ken who was on the Management Board of the Loke Foundation. The accuracy of the facts can be checked against the Annual Reports of the National Theatre Trust…

I think Han Sai Por’s work (a small table-top version in clay) was submitted for the “Expressions” Art Competition…. Subsequently, a smaller replica of the group of 3 dancers – one female and a male holding a female bronze ballet dancer – was presented to Lady McNiece. At that time, there were no facilities for bronze sculptures in Singapore. The nearest available facility was in Thailand. Ms Han was required to take 2 or 3 trips to Thailand to complete the works. This was her very first opportunity to work with bronze as she usually worked in with stones.  When completed, the sculpture was sited within the theatre next to the main spiral staircase leading to the level 2 lobby of the theatre’s stall. I am not sure where these ballet dancer sculptures have been moved to.”  

On his contribution to the arts in Singapore

“I spent more than 10 years in the administration and promotion of performing arts in three separate and distinct areas:

(1)     Administering the cultural performance aspects of the National Theatre which provided the main revenue for the Theatre as well as looking after four affiliated groups, supporting their regular public performances and activities: (a) National Symphonic Band, (b) National Dance Company, (c) Dance Circle, and Composers’ Circle; 

(2)     Administration of various grants and scholarships provided by the Singapore Cultural Foundation for various cultural projects and individuals pursuing studies or research in visual, literary and performing arts;

(3)     Sourcing and planning for performances for the Singapore Arts Festival.   

Besides those directly related to my role at the National Theatre Trust and the MCD, I also contacted individual or group of performers  and visual artists and organised special music, dance and theatrical performances as well as art exhibitions whenever I organized regional and international congresses, such as those for Clinical Biochemistry, Chemistry, Virology, and Forensic & Legal Medicine. Such performances and exhibitions which took place at Shangri-La and Mandarin Hotels, Victoria Theatre and Singapore Art Museum were greatly appreciated by conference participants and were well supported by sponsors and funds earned from the conferences.

My last responsibility at the closure of the National Theatre and at end of my commitment to the Cultural Foundation was to serve the National Committee to review the current situation concerning the arts prior to the establishment of a new National Arts Council and building of a new National Theatre and Concert Hall. The late Mr Ong Teng Cheong, President of Singapore was himself the Chairman of the first high-level National Committee for the Promotion and Development of Cultural Activities in Singapore.  I was requested to chair the Committee on Dance and provided a report on the current status of the various dance groups and dance schools as well as their needs for support, adequacy of opportunity for performance, facilities and venues for practices and performances.

I was also invited to serve on the Board of the Singapore Dance Theatre (SDT) when it was established as the first professional dance company in Singapore.  The late Mr Ong Teng Cheong was the Patron and prominent lawyer, the late Justice Lai Kew Chai the first Chairman of the Board. During my 10 years of involvement with SDT, there was significant progress in the standard, repertoire and stature of the company.”   

On It Koon, the musician

“After years of working for others, I reached a stage where I had to decline further invitations to serve on cultural-related committees whose work is administrative and promotional. There is a need for me to reserve time for myself so that I can continue with my own direct involvement with visual and performing arts. I studied music with well-known music teacher and critic, Mr Victor Doggett and have enjoyed playing the piano alone, or with other musicians in various formal or informal events. I also often served as a piano accompanist for candidates for music instrument and vocal examinations and performances; and was a pianist for ballet dance classes for many years. Therefore, there is a need to dedicate time for my own practice.”

                 

                        

 

 

 

 

“I also wanted to continue with my pursuit of painting and calligraphy which I greatly enjoyed since my school days when I was fortunate to have Singapore’s first generation of great artists, the late Dr Chen Wen Hsi and Mr Liu Kang as my art teachers. Even when I had a busy schedule working full time at the Singapore General Hospital as the Division Head for the Clinical Biochemistry Laboratories providing diagnostic testing for patients and screening for healthy individuals as well as my out-of-work commitments with various professional societies, I decided to set aside time so that I could resume serious practice on painting and calligraphy.

Winter Tale by Dr Tan It Koon

On It Koon, the painter

Mountain Village in Winter by Dr Tan It Koon

For a long time, I was looking for an artist who excels in the art of landscape painting using the Chinese brush technique to impart his skills and experience. It was not easy to find as such expertise is very scarce in Singapore. I was indeed fortunate and glad to have met a great master from Beijing, China, Mr Wu Molin who received formal training in tertiary art institutions in China and Japan, and excels in Chinese brush painting, calligraphy and stone seal carving. He was invited to Singapore where he initially taught at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Art and conducted art courses for a special program organised by the Ministry of Education for teachers of art from various schools.

I first exhibited my art works in the Chinese High School art exhibitions where I won top prizes. In the early 1970s, I participated in the National Day Art Exhibitions. I was thrilled when my paintings were purchased by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for presentation to visiting foreign VIP guests.  For the last 16 years, I have been exhibiting my paintings and calligraphic works from 1 to 3 times a year in local and overseas group art exhibitions.  I have been organizing art exhibitions for the South East Asia Art Association and had shown my works in the Palace Museum in Beijing and various museums in Shanghai, Suzhou, Luoyang, Hangzhou and Nanning.  At the invitation of Singapore’s High Commissioner for Sri Lanka, Mr Tan Kah Hoe I also co-organised a Singapore National Day Art Exhibition in conjunction with a grand dinner for VIPs and diplomatic personnel in Colombo, Sri Lanka…”

On It Koon, the art collector  & patron

“Some 20 years or so ago, several like-minded collectors of art works and I established a society “Forum of Fine Art” for those who appreciate and collect fine art. Members collected art works in all media. However, as very good paintings by top artists from China were quite affordable and often shown in exhibitions in Singapore during the mid-1970s and 1980s, members’ collections were but predominantly Chinese brush paintings.  

We have regular meetings to show old and new pieces of art works acquired by members for appreciation and comments.  A book on paintings collected in Singapore entitled “Joy of Art” was published and I was the editor for this publication. I had also served as the President of the Society in its early years, when I invited auction houses like Sotheby’s, Christies, Raffles, etc to give talks on their auctions, art galleries owners to hold private pre-exhibition viewing and meet the artists sessions, as well as talks by various artists and collectors.  Tours to visit specific exhibitions at the museums and Tyler Print Institute have also been organised. Talks in the last two years included appreciation of ceramics, Peranakan porcelain ware, Chinese pottery and porcelain works, Chinese snuff bottles, Chinese New Year couplets and woodblock paintings, Chinese festival customs, etc.

“Every year I have also been keeping up my attendance at arts festival events and other performances at the Esplanade Theatre and Concert Hall and the Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall.  I also attend performances and master classes at the University Cultural Centre, Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music Concert Hall and NAFA…”

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*Dr Tan It Koon, (LRSM(Performing), BSc (1st Class Hons), PhD, MCB, CChem FRSC, FSNIC, FACB, FRCPath, PPA, PBM

Professional Accolades (selected)

• Head, Clinical Biochemistry Laboratories, Department of Pathology, Singapore General Hospital
• Founding Head, National Reference Laboratory for the Investigation & Diagnosis of Inherited Metabolic Disorders
• Lecturer for Science and Medical Faculties and Examiner for MSc, PhD and MD candidates of the National University of Singapore
• Founding President of the Singapore Association of Clinical Biochemists
• Various Office Bearer positions in the Council, Singapore Society of Pathology
• Council Member, Royal Institute of Chemistry (Singapore Branch)
• Various Office Bearer positions in the Council, Singapore National Institute of Chemistry
• Chairman, Singapore Professional Centre 
• Member, Singapore Science Council
• Founder President, Asian & Pacific Federation of Clinical Biochemistry (APFCB)
• Founding Chief Editor, APFCB newsletter
• First Asian Member in the Executive Board of the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry   and Laboratory Medicine (IFCC)
• Member, World Health Organisation (WHO) Expert Advisory Panel on Health Laboratory Services     and Expert Committee on Biological Standardisation
• Member, Green Singapore National Committee on Public Health
• Becton Dickinson Asian Pacific Scientific Advisory Board and Editorial Committee for “Asia   Pacific Pre-Analytical Notes”
• Global Editorial Board Member for the international website, specimencare.com, an online resource  to identify, evaluate and promote the application of best practices in all aspects of the pre-analytical phase of clinical laboratory testing in order to improve the safety and efficiency of laboratory services to more effectively manage patient outcomes throughout the world.
• Invited plenary or symposium speaker for various national and international conferences on laboratory medicine.

Tisa’s Arts Diary (1986/87)

1987 – With Support from the Straits Times

 

 

1986 – With Support from Standard Chartered Bank

arts projects kick-started / sponsored by Singapore Cultural Foundation

• Annual Play-writing Competition
• Arts Resource Centre, National Library Reference Section  (now the Performing Arts Library, The Esplanade)
• Chinese Instrumental Music Festival (14-22 Mar 81)
• Emily of Emerald Hill at Edinburgh Festival (Jul /Aug 87)
• National Day Art Fair
• Playwriting Competition
• Royal Danish Ballet Performances (23-25 April 1985)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Short-Story Writing Competition
• Singapore International Jazz Festival (12-30 Sep 82)

• Visit of Gothenburg Orchestra (Feb 87)
• Words into Print Scheme
• ……
• ……

 

 

 

catapulting Singapore Arts Festival to international stature

The year 1982 was a landmark year for an annual arts festival that is now deeply entrenched in our arts calendar.  It was in that year that a humble school arts festival was catapulted to international stature.

The impetus for this significant arts development did not come from within the civil service.  It came from the enlightened forward-looking Public Affairs team of Mobil Oil Singapore led by Public Affairs Manager Gareth Steen and Public Affairs Adviser Arun Mahizhnan.  A cultured and scholastic gentleman who had  worked previously as a broadcaster,  Arun had a special insight  into the arts landscape.  It is to him, Gareth and Mobil corporate chief, Mr Dorsey Dunn  that Singapore art lovers owe a huge debt of gratitude.  I did not know Mr Dunn well but it was evident that his own love of the arts emboldened his team’s aspiration to make a difference to the Singapore arts scene. 

Not only did Mobil contribute a staggering half a million dollars to raise the profile of the festival, it also engaged Australian festival director Anthony Steel to become our first-ever Arts Festival Artistic Director.   A Steering Committee was also set up for the first time, under the Chairmanship of Deputy Secretary Lee Wai Kok.  He was  supported by Deputy Director Michael Loke who headed the first-ever Festival Secretariat.  Mobil’s Public Affairs team also took a proactive role in the organization of the festival. Mobil’s Public Affairs Manager Gareth Steen and his deputy Arun Mahizhnan sat on the Steering Committee and chaired the Marketing Sub-Committee. 

The 1982 Singapore International of Arts Productions ran ten days from 10 to 20 December 1982 and featured 18 productions executed by 700 artists, including the Agbegijo Masqueraders, Beijing Opera, Daniel Stein, Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, Kalan Sandhya, King’s Singers, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Puncak, Sasono Mulyo Gamelan & Dancers, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Suitcase Circus, Takarazuka Revue, The Samseng & the Chettiar’s Daughter,  Washington Ballet, Zagreb Soloists.

It was only my second year in the Ministry of Culture and I felt truly privileged to be a part of the team that helped make the new arts festival happen, as a member of the Marketing Sub-Committee.  While I cannot fully remember everything about the Festival,  these memories of my involvement are etched in my mind: 

1. Setting up the first-ever “Festival Hotel” at Oberoi Imperial, chosen from among four shortlisted hotel. The Hotel offered preferential rates for artists and Festival Secretariat facilities.
2. Dressing up a Mobil (e) van in “It’s Your Show Be in It!” festival colours to cruise around Singapore from Nov to Dec 82.  The van visited Fringe Festival locations and 22 community centres playing a commentary, distributing festival flyers and balloons and selling Festival tee-shirts and souvenir programmes.  Hundreds of people dropped by the van at some locations and some ordered tickets which were delivered subsequently.  Ticket sales was not practical as the van could only carry a limited number and range of tickets.
3. Writing papers on whether to sell about 80,000 tickets manually at one or several venues.  It was decided that tickets would first be sold at two venues – the National Theatre box office for tickets to shows at the 3,400 seat National Theatre and, the Central Box Office at Victoria Theatre (and its two ticketing agents CK Tang and Cold Storage) for all other tickets.   As ticket sales ebbed, sales were centralized at Victoria Theatre.  70,000 tickets were sold that year.
4. Being happily stunned by the longest-ever queue of arts patrons snaking around the Victoria Theatre and Victoria Concert Hall complex, as soon as ticket sales started.  It was a happy problem but hard to solve as eager arts patrons vacillated over the number of shows and tickets to buy and fuss’ed over the choice of seats.   
5. Reassuring ticketing staff too scared of the financial accountability of releasing tickets for sales until they had leafed through every single ticket to make sure none was missing.
6. Feeling helpless over misreports that a show had sold out when in fact only the tickets at a ticketing agent were sold out.
7. Facing public displeasure over rows of empty choice seats allotted to absentee sponsors when the public was clamouring to buy tickets for the “sold out” show.
8. The staging of the first ever multi-lingual Singapore musical “The Samseng and the Chettiar’s Daughter” (adapted from Three Penny opera) reinterpreted my dear friend Max la Blond and featuring a younger Leow Siak Fah as the samseng and father & daughter team Alex and Jacintha Abishegenaden as the chettiar and his daughter;
9. High-level intervention by an enlightened lady, to allow the Agbegijo Dancers to perform topless when this had been prohibited by the censors.
10. Upsetting my Minister of State Major Fong Sip Chee when I refused his grassroot leaders extra tickets to avoid upsetting the relativities among constituencies.  Thankfully, he did not take this to heart but he never stopped ribbing me for “refusing her own Minister tickets to the arts festival”. 
11. Ushering Ministers, Members of Parliament and diplomats to the opening show by the renowned Takarazuka Revue at the 3,400 seat National Theatre.   This was a heady and surreal experience with so many faces to recognize and seat locations to remember. We were amply rewarded however, by our guests’ eagerness to watch the shows.
12. Helping to manage several “double-booked” situations (when a complimentary seat was erroneously sold) as graciously as possibly.

 

I was also involved with the 1984 Festival in two ways.  I was instrumental in bringing on board classical guitarist Dr Robert Liew as Festival Director.  Robert was my university classmate but we lost touch when he went on to study in the USA.  When he returned in 1983,  I introduced him to Mr Lee Wai Kok who interviewed him and found him suitable for appointment.   I also continued to help with ticketing logistics. Thankfully, it was decided to introduce a computerized ticketing system to overcome the limitations of manual ticket sales such as the lack of on-line information about ticket sales status and fragmentation of seats sales.   We also looked at the sales of season tickets, mail order and credit card sales.   

My role in subsequent arts festivals declined when I gave up my programming role to start up the Cultural Services Division to focus on the back-end art developmental work, just after MCD was formed. 

Notable individuals who advanced the arts festival in subsequent years include the colourful Jessieca Leo who spearheaded the first few Fringe Festivals and Tisa Ho.  Current arts managers tend to prefer to forget past contributors so  I hope these ladies will share their stories and “sing their songs” one day, of their role in Singapore arts management history at a time when the arts was low priority and money and staffing scarce.

Corporate Art Competitions

In the early 80s, corporate art competitions among local companies were unheard of, although banks like UOB had already started to build a serious art collection. 

SIA took the lead when in 1981; they approached the Ministry for assistance in organizing their first and one-off contemporary art competition.   The Ministry’s support was extended in the forms of: conceptualizing the format, rules and prize structure for the competition, receiving and processing the entries, sourcing the panel of adjudicators and finally staging the art exhibition.

Launched in May ’81, the “Singapore Innovations in Art” (SIA) attracted a total of 157 entries – 124 paints and 33 sculptures.  The 153 entries vied for the first prize of a 21-day Europe Roundtrip holiday plus $1000 cash and the second prize a USA Roundtrip Holiday with $700 cash.  Other prizes took winners around the ASEAN region – Manila, Bangkok and Lake Toba, all reflective of early SIA routes.

The Competition was judged by a six-member panel comprising artists drawn Singapore (Museum Art Curator Choy Weng Yang and sculptor Ng Eng Teng) and the ASEAN countries whom we had met through the ASEAN art projects.  They were:  Prof Dr Ahmad Sadali (Indonesia),  Prof Syed Ahmad Jamal who was both a painter and Director of the University of Malaysia Cultural Centre, Prof Napoleon Abeuva, Dean of College of the Arts, University of Philippines who created the concrete “Ship” sculpture (I wonder where is it now) in our ASEAN Sculpture Park on Fort Canning Hill and Panom Suwannath, Artist Lecturer, Silpakron University Faculty of Graphic Arts. 

A total of 104 entries were exhibited from 20 to 25 November 1981 at the National Museum Art Gallery.  Tay Chee Toh won the first prize in the Painting section with his surrealistic painting “Rising” while Chong Fah Chong won the Sculpture category with a wood sculpture “Tried”.  I believe that the competition helped launch the careers of both artists who continue to be active and prominent today. 

 

 

After SIA, UOB approached the Ministry to organize its first “Painting of the Year” Competition carrying the largest cash prize in Singapore ever, a princely sum of S$10,000 for the Open Section!  Entries were invited in March 1982 and the competition attracted works from well-known artists and young artists.  The Competition was judged by a five-judge panel comprising Choy, Syed Ahmad Jamal as well as Mr Ho Kok Hoe and the late Dr Earl Lu who was had both chaired the Ministry’s Visual Arts Advisory Committee; and Jose Joya, Dean of the University Of Philippines College Of Fine Arts. 

The Competition was won by Goh Beng Kwan (S$10,000) with his abstract expressionist work “Dune”.  Tay Chee Toh who had won the SIA competition the previous year, clinched 2nd prize (S$3000) with an equally surreal piece “Dream” while Teo Eng Seng won 3rd Prize ($2000) with “Busy Birds).  All three artists are formidable artists who have carved a niche for themselves in the art landscape.  The Ministry continued to extend a helping hand for the 2nd and 3rd “Painting of the Year” Competitions after which UOB carried on independently even until today. 

Aside from making new friends among curators and artists, the competitions gave me a crash course into an already vibrant Singapore visual art landscape.  I was very privileged to observe the judging process which sensitized me to good and bad art.   This equipped me to publish the first-ever coffee table book on Singapore artists titled, Singapore Artists and to start a modest contemporary art collection of my own in the ensuing years.

Singapore International Jazz Festival (1982 to 1984)

Singapore jazz musicians anchor Singapore International Jazz Festival

After my stint in the People’s Association, I was posted to the Ministry of Culture in April 1981, as Assistant Director / Music & Visual Arts).  In my second year on the job, in early 1982, our Permanent Secretary Mr Cheng Tong Fatt, popped us a surprising challenge – to organise an international jazz festival!

Between Organiser (Music) Lim Mee Lian and myself, our hands were already quite full with festivals galore.  In addition to organizing annual festivals of Choirs, Chinese Instrumental Music, the National Music Competition, opera workshops and ASEAN Youth Orchestra concerts. we had our parts to play in the 1982 Singapore Festival of Arts whch was escalated to international stature with the appointment of Australian artistic director Anthony Steele.   

As we were unfamiliar with jazz music, we forged a partnership with the Singapore Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) with funding from the Singapore Cultural Foundation. 

SBC’s Raymon Huang and Chua Foo Yong played significant roles in realising the festival, with Mdm Foo Yong chairing the all-important Programme Sub-committee.  We roped in veteran broadcaster Mildred Appaduray and jazz luminaries like Louis Soliano-Tan, Roy Vanderberg Jazz Convenor /Hollandse Club,  jazz musician Colin Stuart who was then working in the British High Commission, Iskander Ismail, Rufino Soliano and John Lee.  We sought and secured assistance from the foreign embassies which agreed to sponsor bands from their respective countries.

All in all, I organized three festivals.  The first Singapore International Jazz Festival ran for three weeks from 12 to 30 September 1982 at the Victoria Conference Hall.  Each evening’s programme consisted of three segments, performances by two bands climaxing in a jam session by musicians of both bands.  The inaugural festival was opened by the SBC Orchestra, SBC Sextet and the Louis Tan Quartet.  Two other evenings were dedicated to Singapore jazz musicians including Tony Castillo & the Castillians and the Dutch Club Combo, Louis Tan & Iskander Ismail.  Four countries sent bands – Australia (Errol Buddle Band), Japan (Takeshi Inomata & His Force), Korea (Khil Ok Yoon & Jazz-All Stars) and USA (Joe Lee Wilson-Mickey Tucker).

The second festival was held over ten days from 16 to 25 September 1983 at the Singapore Conference Hall.  It was opened by the SBC Orchestra and the Richard Ortega Quintet.  Singapore bands led by Tony Castillo, Sydney Tan (Stardust), Louis Tan & Iskander Ismail also had their own showing.  That year, eight countries sent bands – Australia (Judy Bailey-Ron Philpott Duo), Belgium (Johan & Peter Vandendriessche), India (Gary Lawyer & Friends), Indonesia (Ireng Maulana All-Stars), Japan (Sakurako Ogyu Trio & Toshio Oida), Philippines (The Sticky Band), Sweden (Fredrik Noren Band) and USA (Ronald Shannon Jackson & Decoding Society.  A ninth guest band Asia beat from Malaysia cancelled at the last minute, causing us much anxiety. 

The third festival from 12 to 17 October 1984 was compacted into a week.  The SBC Orchestra opened the festival as in previous years and six countries sent representatives – Belgium (Erik Vermuelen-Peter Hertmans Quartet), France (Oliver Hutman Trio), Indonesia (Bubi Chen -Marono Duo), Japan (Hidehiko Matsumoto), New Zealand (Space Case) and  USA (Pepper Adams Quartet).  A very impressive Singapore All-Stars programme coordinated by a young Iskander Ismail, rocked the hall with an encyclopaedic range of jazz music covering 1920s Jazz, Dixieland, Swing & Gillespie; Jazz Fusion and Progressive Sounds. The A to Z of local jazz greats played their hearts out including Benji Kleinman (piano), Billy Martinez (bass), Colin Stuart (clarinet ) who was then working in the British High Commission David Ng (piano), Henry Pereira (sax), Jant Johary (guitar),Jeremy Monteiro (keyboard) who was then leader of Jeramzee, Jimmy Lee (drums), John Lee (guitar), Julai Tan (violin), Louis Soliano-Tan (drums), Reynaldo Lachica (sax), Richard Ortega (sax), Hollandse Club jazz convenor Roy Vanderberg (guitar) and his jazz singer wife Luisa, Ramli Shariff (bass), Rufino Soliano (vibes), Shah Tahir (guitar) and Terry Undag (trumpet). Iskander himself anchored the segment on Progressive Jazz.

The fourth festival was spearheaded in 1985 by a well-known jazz musician with funding support from the Ministry,  in an early attempt to empower the arts community to self-run some of the events.   Unfortunately, the challenge of sustaining an annual festival in conditions of limited funding and organisational support proved to be insurmountable and so,  the fourth festival became the last.   It was a great pity I felt, as the festival had become rather popular with good houses and intensity of audience applause that excelled what we heard at classical music concerts. 

A few years ago, I read that jazz doyen Jeremy Monteiro had organised a jazz festival with sponsorship from Singapore Airlines.  It was welcome news and I hope that he or someone else equally passionate manages to resurrect the festival in one form or another, to showcase the best of our jazz to the community and the world at large.

Nanyang Artists : Retrospectives

Catalogue of Liu Kang Retrospective

Catalogue of Cheong Soo Pieng Retrospetive

Catalogue of Georgette Chen Retrospective

Catalogue of Chen Chong Swee Retrospective

blueprint for the arts

Every decade or so, there is a new blueprint for the arts. It’s not always clear whether the blueprint is the initiative of the current arts administration or the politicians in charge, whether it is a genuine attempt to improve things, an electioneering ploy or simply an expression of the current administration’s vanity. Some people will view blueprints with cynicism but for art enthusiasts hungry to propel arts into the mainstream, it is always a welcome platform to talk about the arts and inject a fresh impetus and resolve to advance arts development further.

The 1980s blueprint for the arts was enshrined in the 1989 “Report of the Advisory Council for Culture & the Arts”.  The ACCA Report was literally a “blueprint”. We chose blue for its cover.

ACCA Report: a literal "blueprint" for the arts

In Feb 87, the Singapore Government announced its Green Paper & “Agenda for Action” outlining the course for Singapore as we moved towards 1999.  ACCA was set up on 9 Apr 88, to “review the current state of the arts and culture, and to recommend measures that will make Singapore a culturally vibrant society by the turn of the century”.  It was one of six Advisory Committees coordinated by the office of the 1st Deputy Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, reviewing various aspects of Singapore life including the arts, education, health, heritage and social services.

2nd Deputy Prime Minister DPM Ong Teng Cheong chaired the ACCA and its members were Arun Mahiznan, Chia Kee Koon (Ministry of Finance), Er Kwong Wah (Education), Hawazi Daipi (Berita Harian), Ho Kwong Ping, Koh Cher Siang (Permanent Secretary (MCD), Leslie Fong (Straits Times), Loy Teck Juan (Lianhe Zaobao), Prof Edwin Thumboo, Robert Iau, Haji Suhaimi Jais (SBC), Tay Kheng Soon, Mrs Wong-Lee Siok Tin (GM/Singapore Broadcasting Corporation), Yeo Seng Teck (Trade Development Board) and Vincent Yip (ED/Science Council). ACCA members chaired its Committees on Heritage (Tay Kheng Soon), Literary Arts (Prof Thumboo), Performing Arts (Robert Iau), Visual Arts (Yeo Seng Teck) and a Working Group on a “New Cultural Development Agency” (Arun Mahiznan). Ministry of Community Development manned the Secretariat for ACCA with Ng Yew Kang and me as Secretary and Assistant Secretary respectively.

The ACCA met eleven times between Apr 88 and Apr 89 while its committees, 25 subcommittees and working groups met 129 times. Over 200 people including artists, art promoters and historians were involved while 150 written submissions were received from the public. 

The key ACCA recommendations that have materialised include the establishment of the “[Singapore] National Arts Council”, the [Singapore] National Heritage Board [Trust]”, the construction of a new performing art centre at Marina Centre, a modern National Library building on Queen’s Street, and a Fine Arts Gallery in St Joseph’s Institution. The recommendation to allow students to offer Dance, Creative Writing and Theatre Studies has found fruition with the recent set-up of the School of the Arts (SOTA). ACCA also validated the initiatives we introduced earlier including the Theatre Residency Scheme, the Arts Housing Scheme and the conversion of SJI into an art museum.

The recommendations that have not materialised are the establishment of a Children’s Museum (Tao Nan School has been used for the Asian Civilisations Museum), a Literature Board, a Southeast Asian / Natural History / Ethnology Museum, a sculpture park on the Bras Basah Park on which now stands the Singapore Management University. I am not sure about the History of Singapore Museum. There are components of Singapore history in the new “National Museum” but it has become better known for European fashion design exhibitions, art films and touristy events like the Night Festival. I wonder where we can find galleries on important personages like the late S Rajaratnam and EW Barker. I saw an excellent (I’m told “temporary”) exhibition on the late David Marshall in the National Library a few months ago and hope such informative exhibitions will find it way into a full-fledged History Museum eventually.

ACCA gave me the privilege of working once again with DPM Ong. I worked with him in 1975 as a young Administrative Officer in the Ministry of Communications to which he was first posted as Minister. I worked with him again when I became the General Manager of the Singapore Arts Centre Company Limited from 1992 to 97. Mr Ong’s passion for the arts was manifest through his various appointments.  I can’t help thinking of him as the most significant prime mover for the arts in Singapore, having put into place all the essential building blocks - festivals, foundation, awards, the NTUC Cultural Unit and of course, his magnus opus, The Esplanade Theatres.

All the key papers deliberated by ACCA were penned by civil servants including Ng Yew Kang and I who wrote many of them. I sometimes wonder how different it would be were the papers penned by non civil servants. Would the course of arts development taken a different turn?  After all, the value of non-Government ACCA members was to offer a perspective different from us civil servants.

Singapore Cultural Foundation – sponsorship for the arts

When the National Arts Council was formed in 1991, its start-up funds were drawn from its predecessors – the Ministry’s Cultural Affairs Division, the Singapore Cultural Foundation and the National Theatre Trust. 

The Singapore Cultural Foundation was mooted in 1978 by then Minister for Culture the late Ong Teng Cheong whom I credit for having put into place all the essential buildings blocks for arts development – from arts showcases (at least six festivals) to awards for (Cultural Medallion)  artists and sponsors (Patron of the Arts Awards).

Rationale for Singapore Cultural Foundation logo

The Singapore Cultural Foundation was the fund-raising arm for the arts, a repository for tax-exempt donations from individuals and corporate organizations.  By the time I joined the Ministry of Culture in April 1981, the Foundation had raised about $4 million and grants made to a handful of artists.  While the Foundation’s Fund-raising Committee focused on fund-raising, my role was to develop the donation programme, to demonstrate its worth as quickly as possible, to honour our obligations to our pioneering sponsors and attract more donations.

I got approval from Lee Wai Kok, former Deputy Secretary (Culture), to engage a full-time Executive Officer to staff the secretariat of the Foundation.  Rosni Othman who now works with the Singapore Dance Theatre, was recruited.  As it was difficult to get new posts from Ministry of Finance and not wanting to waste energy trying, we decided to engage Rosni from the Foundation’s financial resources. She was succeeded by Elaine Tan who is now a Director in NAC.

We convened quarterly Management Committee meetings chaired by the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary (Cheng Tong Fatt, Wong Hung Khim, Koh Cher Siang) to decide on the grants.  Synergizing its funding policy with the Ministry’s Cultural Affairs Division, we introduced a system of four (quarterly) funding cycles a year to deal with requests and proactively sought out areas and projects to support rather than wait or merely react.  We devised a series of grant schemes in an effort to give the work some shape, introduced scholarships awards including one for disabled artists; and extended seed grants to new arts initiatives like the National Library’s Arts Resource Centre (now the Performing Arts Library at The Esplanade) and Singapore International Jazz Festival.  This earned us the accolade “Playing fairy godmother to the arts” in a Straits Times article written by Judith Holmberg on 9 Dec 1987.  

First (catch-up) Annual Report of Singapore Cultural Foundation

We also staged events twice yearly to honour our benefactors and present awards to artists   We published our very first annual report in 1983, unveiling our committee composition, our beneficiaries, our Constitution and donations received. We caught up with the back-log and the first report contained a super-long list of sponsors and, beneficiaries.  For our first sponsors’ event, I used Chng Seok Tin’s work ‘Melody on the Moor‘ on the cover of the programme sheet. Seok was away in Mexico having got the Foundation grant to study overseas and I visited her family in Haig Road, to secure permission to use her work.  I also invited writer Maria P Tan, another grant recipient, to enact her latest short story. The event turned out to be quite pleasant and kicked off a series of twice-a year ceremonial events.

Recognizing that donors might have preferences, we set up special accounts for specific causes or arts groups. At first, there was resistance owing to the concern that such an option would erode support for the Endowment Fund. I argued that the Endoment Fund was stagnating and we needed to energize the fund-raising effort.  In any case, funds would not have flowed in, if not for the special accounts.  The scheme proceeded and we received a fresh flow of donations, for Singapore Dance Theatre, the Singapore Festival of Arts, American Artists programmes, SIA Great performers’ series and other favourite causes.  The “Scholarships for Disabled Artists” account was set up for Hi! Theatre, kicking off with a dinner hosted by Goodwood Hotel and featuring a Hi! Theatre performance.  The NAC inherited these special accounts and still operating some of them today.

The Foundation also published “Singapore Artists”, the first-ever coffee table book  featuring 68 Singapore visual artists and; “Zubir Said: His Songs” featuring the life story and songs of our National Anthem composer; and the story of how “Majulah Singapura” came to be chosen as Singapore’s National Anthem.

I served as Secretary of the Foundation’s Management Committee for a period of nine years from 1981 to 1990 when I was posted to the Ministry of Communications and Information.

Annual Reports of Singapore Cultural Foundation

stint in people’s association

 “Queen Juliana of Holland”!  That was the nickname given to me in the People Association where I worked from 1979 to 1981.

 

PA was my fourth posting in the civil service, after stints in the ministries of Education, Communications and National Development.  I had been offered a posting to the Ministry of Finance (Revenue Division) but I derailed it as it was rumoured that the senior officers in Revenue Division did not like female officers. This, coupled with my general aversion to statistics, emboldened me to request instead, a humbler posting to the People’s Association.

 

PA was then run by Lim Chin Tiong.  I was Assistant Director (Programmes) working to Douglas Koh. The Programme Division managed four community programmes namely, the Kindergarten Section which later evolved into the Day Care Section when the community needed care services for toddlers of working couples; the Social Education Section which promoted campaigns, Continuing Education which ran an interesting gamut of classes for adults and last, and most attractive to me, the Culture Section.

 

Douglas and I were also expected to raise the standard of English among our colleagues and my first assignment was to polish up the language of the banners hanging at community centres.  Nowadays, when I read about ungrammatical signs sighted in China, it reminds me that Singapore had its share of such comical signs in the late 1970s and still does.  

Douglas and I took our jobs seriously and spent a lot of energy helping our colleagues to polish up their submissions. Not everyone welcomed the interference of these two Western-educated Chinese and we eventually earned the nicknames “German” for Douglas and “Juliana, Queen of Holland” for me.  

 

I am not sure if our efforts bore fruit especially as I chanced recently on a PAssion banner on East Coast Park that read, “Drinks are ahead of you”.  Had the drinks raced ahead of the athletes?  However, I discovered that I enjoyed copy-writing and production.  As an English literature student, we wrote large volumes, but it was a thrill to write for the masses and to watch a brochure take shape under one’s guidance.

 

After three interesting years, I “graduated” to the Ministry of Culture.