SAM 1980s/90s

With Joanna Wong on Esplanade Tributes Wall (Oct 2012)

Singapore Arts Manager 1980s / 1990s (SAM ’80 /’90) is a collection of memories of my two decades as an arts manager in Singapore.

A chance posting (“chance” as I had declined a posting to the Ministry of Finance with an offer to “go anywhere else”) to the People’s Association in 1978 inducted me into the world of cultural affairs in the public service. I started my arts management journey in the People’s Association where I managed its Cultural Troupe. This led to a posting to the Cultural Affairs Division, Ministry of Culture (1981-84) where I chose to stay through its various incarnations – Ministry of Community Development (MCD, 1985 – 90) and Ministry of Information and the Arts (MITA, 1990 – 1993).  My journey culminated in my appointment in a dream job, as General Manager of the Singapore Arts Centre Company Limited which was set up in late 1992 to construct the national performing arts centre which we named “The Esplanade Theatres on the Bay”. I left the arts management world in 1997 but continue to have an active interest in the arts scene as an advocate, a volunteer and a member of the audience.

SAM ‘80/’90s chronicles to the best of my memory, the state of arts administration in the early years; and the contributions and challenges of earlier cohorts of “art organisers”. The label “arts administration” was used by the media only in late 1986, after our first-ever arts administration course. I hope these stories will quicken the journey of today’s arts administrators so that instead of simply doing what we did and / or making the same mistakes, they can build on what we did and propel arts development to a higher plane.

Enjoy the read and feel free to contribute your point-of-view, whether you were a fellow arts administrator, an artist with whom we collaborated, an art sponsor, a designer who produced our beautiful marketing collateral, a public service colleague who eased our efforts at arts promotion in your own way, a member of the audience whom we tried hard to “infect” with our passion for the arts or, a currently practicing artist or arts administrator; or someone who witnessed what we did or who needs witnessing of what you did.  I am fully cognizant that SAM ‘80/’90 is limited by my memory  so your contributions will make for a more complete picture of the times.

Juliana