Case studies: Beyond the Campus
NUS Centre for the Arts: nurturing creative talent across faculties
The National University of Singapore Centre for the Arts (CFA) is a multifaceted arts organisation based at the NUS main campus (Kent Ridge) in Singapore. It is specifically focused on nurturing triple arts – performing, visual and literary – within the campus and reaching beyond it with collaborations and exchanges. Its mission is “to contribute to holistic education and the NUS experience through the arts”.
NUS CFA manages a rich year round event calendar & other programmes that bring new opportunities for diverse cultural exposure to the campus and the public. Those programmes, which include the NUS Arts Festival and ExxonMobil Campus Concerts, aim to bring together worldclass Singaporean and international performers and the CFA Arts Groups. CFA manages and promotes active engagement in the arts by undergraduates and alumni in 23 arts groups. These groups cover the arts spectrum from traditional ethnic dance and music to progressive and innovative forms like Electronic Music, film making and contemporary dance. Students are provided with professional tutoring, rentfree rehearsal spaces, instruments and performance platforms to encourage the development of their creative talent. |
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A range of information is available from NUS CFA website including their periodical newsletter of events and activities. |
NUS dancers with international choreographers Idan Cohen (Israel), Akiko Kitamura (Japan) and Horse Dance Theatre of Taiwan, after their performance Overdrive, which opened NUS Arts Festival 2014.
Established in 1993, NUS CFA also manages University Cultural Centre a worldclass venue which opened in 2000 featuring a 1,600-seater Hall and 450-seater Theatre with function rooms and entertainment spaces. It also includes a versatile dance studio and outdoor performing area. NUS CFA oversees NUS Museum, Singapore’s oldest museum established in 1955 that focuses on Southeast Asian and Asian art and NUS Baba House Museum, a late 19th century townhouse celebrating Straits Chinese history and culture.
NUS University Cultural Centre’s 1,600-seater Hall.
NUS University Cultural Centre 450-seater Theatre
Interview with Christine Khor, Director, NUS Centre For the Arts
Can you give us a bit of background on the origin and development of NUS CFA?
While NUS CFA has developed and grown recently through the establishment of new facilities at the University Cultural Centre, its roots within the development of NUS as institution are much older. Music and dance activities were developed informally soon after the Arts Faculty in Bukit Timah campus was set up in 1928 within the academic setting which preceded the the National University of Singapore (1980) and were further enhanced under the Centre for Musical Activities (CMA) between 1979 and 1993, mainly thanks to the commitment of its first Director, the late Paul Abisheganaden*.
The values and agenda did not change from that period as the CFA has at its core the enhancement of students’ and academics’ quality of life and work through the active engagement and participation in the arts, increasingly offering the highest professional opportunities for them.
*A publication accounts for this historical development and the work and role played by Paul Abisheganaden (Abisheganaden, Paul. Notes across the years: Anecdotes from a musical life. Unipress, Centre For the Arts, National University of Singapore, 2005.
Can you tell us more about the NUS CFA model?
A key component of the CFA model is the management and grooming of students from various faculties who are part of 23 arts groups which CFA oversees.
NUS CFA oversees students from NUS’ 14 faculties who love the arts and are naturally attracted to the centre and its vision. ]These students get neither credits nor ECA points for joining any of the 23 Arts Groups – it’s not like a module that’s going to lead to your degree and until recently did not even receive a transcript for their involvement. It is an extracurricular activity (ECA) and they do it purely out of passion. Some would have loved to be fulltime musicians for example, but they are on the path to become doctors and engineers instead. They play their passion out on stage, because they can’t be a full time musician. Even though they are going to be doctors or lawyers it doesn’t stop them from their cultural activity.
CFA presently has 3,000 members in 23 groups. Many want to be in the limelight! Our role is to encourage them to fulfil their artistic potential. We set high standards through strict audition processes as we want to maintain high quality, including in the use of facilities. Very importantly we provide the "hardware" with which all these activities can happen such as a stage, backstage area and instruments. We also provide the programming “software”, and some funding for projects.
While NUS CFA has developed and grown recently through the establishment of new facilities at the University Cultural Centre, its roots within the development of NUS as institution are much older. Music and dance activities were developed informally soon after the Arts Faculty in Bukit Timah campus was set up in 1928 within the academic setting which preceded the the National University of Singapore (1980) and were further enhanced under the Centre for Musical Activities (CMA) between 1979 and 1993, mainly thanks to the commitment of its first Director, the late Paul Abisheganaden*.
The values and agenda did not change from that period as the CFA has at its core the enhancement of students’ and academics’ quality of life and work through the active engagement and participation in the arts, increasingly offering the highest professional opportunities for them.
*A publication accounts for this historical development and the work and role played by Paul Abisheganaden (Abisheganaden, Paul. Notes across the years: Anecdotes from a musical life. Unipress, Centre For the Arts, National University of Singapore, 2005.
Can you tell us more about the NUS CFA model?
A key component of the CFA model is the management and grooming of students from various faculties who are part of 23 arts groups which CFA oversees.
NUS CFA oversees students from NUS’ 14 faculties who love the arts and are naturally attracted to the centre and its vision. ]These students get neither credits nor ECA points for joining any of the 23 Arts Groups – it’s not like a module that’s going to lead to your degree and until recently did not even receive a transcript for their involvement. It is an extracurricular activity (ECA) and they do it purely out of passion. Some would have loved to be fulltime musicians for example, but they are on the path to become doctors and engineers instead. They play their passion out on stage, because they can’t be a full time musician. Even though they are going to be doctors or lawyers it doesn’t stop them from their cultural activity.
CFA presently has 3,000 members in 23 groups. Many want to be in the limelight! Our role is to encourage them to fulfil their artistic potential. We set high standards through strict audition processes as we want to maintain high quality, including in the use of facilities. Very importantly we provide the "hardware" with which all these activities can happen such as a stage, backstage area and instruments. We also provide the programming “software”, and some funding for projects.
Featured in NUS Arts Festival 2008, "Frozen Angels" was written by Haresh Sharma and directed by Alvin Tan of The Necessary Stag, both NUS alums.
How did you go about establishing a framework for collaborative work within and beyond academia?
Every March, the NUS Arts Festival team works closely with different faculties and brings together the academics and artists. As an example there was a play called "Frozen Angels" that looked at issues in stem cell research. A medical ethicist, a Cambridge University professor based here in the School of Medicine, was assigned to advise us during the writing and staging of the play. He gave us valuable judgement. So that was the year we partnered the Medical Faculty. We also discovered that the doctors are amazingly talented – they could sing, dance and act – audiences paid money to see them!
We have also partnered with the Global Asia Institute, an NUS think tank which researches to find solutions for 20th Century Asian cities’ challenges. Then Director, Prof K Seetharam, shared with the students different aspects of the problems facing Asian cities and the students then worked closely with their Artistic Directors to represent their responses to such issues.
NUS CFA believes that the arts and higher education have shared goals of building knowledge and nurturing an inquiring spirit. Through its programmes and partnerships with organizations in Singapore and beyond, CFA promotes research, learning and appreciation of the arts, and encourages multidisciplinary collaboration based on existing and emerging cultural interests within the NUS community of students, staff and alumni.
NUS CFA presents different genres of the arts, catering to the broad academic and popular interests of the NUS community, with the purpose of inspiring, creating critical dialogue and enjoyment. CFA nurtures arts literacy through its audience development, and develops the creative and artistic talents of NUS students and staff. In doing so, CFA provides a platform of interaction that brings together diverse creative and intellectual energies within the NUS and beyond.
Every March, the NUS Arts Festival team works closely with different faculties and brings together the academics and artists. As an example there was a play called "Frozen Angels" that looked at issues in stem cell research. A medical ethicist, a Cambridge University professor based here in the School of Medicine, was assigned to advise us during the writing and staging of the play. He gave us valuable judgement. So that was the year we partnered the Medical Faculty. We also discovered that the doctors are amazingly talented – they could sing, dance and act – audiences paid money to see them!
We have also partnered with the Global Asia Institute, an NUS think tank which researches to find solutions for 20th Century Asian cities’ challenges. Then Director, Prof K Seetharam, shared with the students different aspects of the problems facing Asian cities and the students then worked closely with their Artistic Directors to represent their responses to such issues.
NUS CFA believes that the arts and higher education have shared goals of building knowledge and nurturing an inquiring spirit. Through its programmes and partnerships with organizations in Singapore and beyond, CFA promotes research, learning and appreciation of the arts, and encourages multidisciplinary collaboration based on existing and emerging cultural interests within the NUS community of students, staff and alumni.
NUS CFA presents different genres of the arts, catering to the broad academic and popular interests of the NUS community, with the purpose of inspiring, creating critical dialogue and enjoyment. CFA nurtures arts literacy through its audience development, and develops the creative and artistic talents of NUS students and staff. In doing so, CFA provides a platform of interaction that brings together diverse creative and intellectual energies within the NUS and beyond.
Composer and violin virtuoso Dr L. Subramaniam taking a bow with the NUS Indian Instrumental Ensemble after their performance.
Coming back to the collaboration with the Medical School, we invited a prominent alum-led Singapore theatre company with their distinct artistic style and flair to be part of this project. Working with the arts groups allowed us to move away from medical jargon towards a discussion of poetry and artistic interpretation. We commissioned the group to find artistic interpretations for our research and bring artistic thinking to the university’s intellectuals and researchers. This was invaluable because researchers of different faculties do not normally meet artists and do not have the time to lavish on common interests. But we played the role of the broker and thus could bring the arts group to talk to the Medical School. We became friends and developed a good relationship.
What were the main gains from this collaboration?
It is a win-win situation for all parties. We made great partners with the Medicine team and they actually invited quite a few of their guests to our shows – the whole season was based on Medicine and Arts. The arts company would never have dreamed of gaining access to such cutting edge research, and all the confidentiality of stem cell research. Because we are a multiracial multireligious society consisting of Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus etc. stem cell research is a difficult topic as it focuses on thoughts of the afterlife. So the arts group would never have accessed the research and the medical ethics of it all. So I would say it’s a win, win, win. And it was such a good play that it was re-staged for a second season.
(edited by Silvie Jacobi)
What were the main gains from this collaboration?
It is a win-win situation for all parties. We made great partners with the Medicine team and they actually invited quite a few of their guests to our shows – the whole season was based on Medicine and Arts. The arts company would never have dreamed of gaining access to such cutting edge research, and all the confidentiality of stem cell research. Because we are a multiracial multireligious society consisting of Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus etc. stem cell research is a difficult topic as it focuses on thoughts of the afterlife. So the arts group would never have accessed the research and the medical ethics of it all. So I would say it’s a win, win, win. And it was such a good play that it was re-staged for a second season.
(edited by Silvie Jacobi)
