We bid a warm farewell to one of our pioneers, the incomparable Alex Abisheganaden, billed as Singapore’s Father of Guitar, and the founder of NUS Guitar Ensemble (GENUS)
Ever wondered how an arts festival comes together? Jobina Tan, Section Head at NUS Centre For the Arts and 2023’s Festival Director for NUS Arts Festival, shares her experiences.
Meet Sim Wan Hui, a veteran in Singapore’s arts administration scene, who is from the pioneer CFA staff team, that saw the birth of the Centre in 1993.
Meet Jacey Yeh, a former staff from NUS CFA, who has spent over 10 years in the arts management line, and currently works at NAC to drive arts participation among seniors in the community and advocate the social value of the arts
Meet Lishi Lee who has taken on a range of arts related roles on and off stage, first as an NUS undergraduate, then later a staff in NUS.
Meet Tan Wee Lee, who acquired transferable skills during his EMCC Crew days that he applies to his current job as a Rail Engineer
Meet Jeffrey Tan, a former staff with Centre For the Arts, who produced 2 special stage programmes during EMCC’s 30th anniversary.
Meet Ranice Tay, a multi-disciplinary and bilingual theatre practitioner, who was a recipient of the NUS Performing and Visual Arts Scholarship.
After two years of COVID-19 induced uncertainty, the 13th Tan Ean Kiam Arts Awards finally returned in person to honour the best of our campus arts groups and their commitment in bringing the arts on campus to life. Our warmest congratulations to all award recipients and nominees!
Meet Jack Ho, one half of music duo, Jack & Rai, who received his musician journey after winning a songwriting competition held by EMCC.
Meet Faith, a Straits Times’ Life! Theatre Awards-nominated lighting designer on theatre and dance productions, who was also once NUS CFA staff and a member of NUS Dance Ensemble
Meet ShiLi & Adi, a dynamic multilingual singing duo, made up of ShiLi Yap and Adi Rakhmadian. They recall how EMCC inspired them to start out as a male-female vocal duo, and provided the platform when they launched their first EP, “Berdua”.
Meet Michelle, who joined EMCC Crew to attain skills and experience that helped us in her current job as programmer with The Theatre Practice
Meet Tammy Ng, a current NUS undergraduate who was Vice-President (Productions) of EMCC Crew. Her term of office coincided with the gradual reopening of Singapore amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, and she shares how EMCC Crew worked to welcome live audiences again.
Meet Nipuna Perera, a NUS alumnus who has been in the events industry for 15 years, and makes time to return to NUS to train and share his experiences with current students.
Meet Erin Tan, a full-time arts programmer, who spent all four of her undergraduate years with EMCC Crew, in positions such as front-of-house, artist liaison, and production stage management.
Hear from our student poets who had the opportunity to work with NUS alumna and local artist Jennifer Anne Champion in a unique poetry-embroidery project titled Loose Threads as part of the ExxonMobil Campus Concerts (EMCC) series.
Meet Lester Ng, EMCC Crew’s Vice-President for Productions from 2020 to 2021, who shares about challenges and opportunities of show production during Covid-19.
Meet Neo Yi Hui, President of EMCC Crew in AY 2017/18, who says her time with EMCC Crew made her a creative solutionist in her current role in as a Copywriter/Producer in the media industry.
NUS’ Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music alumna and recipient of the 2019 Paul Abisheganaden Grant for Artistic Excellence Li Churen shared with us her artistic journey, inspiration and her once-in-a-lifetime experience to learn from and play alongside her idol, pianist Alain Planes.
Meet Aditi Sridhar, a current communications professional who credits EMCC Crew with teaching her about the finer points of events organisation.
Meet Anirban Sen, a 2010 graduate who won the prestigious Student of the Year award at the annual Tan Ean Kiam Arts Awards in 2009
Meet Lau Xuan Kai, a multi-faceted artist who participated in varied arts projects via the EMCC platform throughout all 4 years of his undergraduate life.
Meet Eugene Koh, a thespian who has showcased theatre productions on the EMCC platform, one of which was later restaged for the M1 Fringe Festival!
Meet Siow Yun Jing, who was President of EMCC Crew in AY20/21, when COVID-19 changed the way artists and production crew around the world produced and presented their art.
Meet Ng Yee Lin, a veteran in the arts and creative industries as she shares how her humble foray into EMCC became the launchpad to a 30-year career around the globe.
Meet Rosita Ng, who has shared the stage with arts luminaries such as Joe Peters, Edwin Thumboo, and Alex Abishegenaden, and even performed for national leaders and royalty!
Meet Abram Komara, who dedicated all 4 years of his uni life to EMCC, and dipped his hands into almost every role available!
Meet Ganesh Kalyanam, the very first Executive Producer of EMCC series, back when it was still called Campus Concerts back in 1987!
It’s that time of the year again when we celebrate our #GraduatesOfCFA for their contributions to the arts on campus! We shine the spotlight once more on nine of our graduates, as they reflect on their time with NUS Centre For the Arts.
Last seen in NUS Arts Festival 2019: A Disappearing Number alongside NUS Stage, alumnus Remesh Panicker returns to the stage with Gibran, and shares with us more about how his artistic journey began and how his show Gibran came about.
More than just a fun experience during undergraduate days, Su-Lin shares more about how her EMCC experience has helped deepen her interest in the arts.
Check out how instrumental his EMCC experience had been in developing his craft.
Find out how EMCC helped fuel this local playwright’s passion for the arts
A jack of all trades is oftentimes better than a master of one. Get to know NUS alumnus Tan Shao Yun, who holds the fort down in many aspects of the media world.
Much like life, exploring the arts is much akin to an arduous journey of discovery, which isn’t always a fixed path. Check out Liu Yong Huay Faith’s #myheartiswiththearts story, where she shared more about her artistic journey and some right-from-the-heart advice for aspiring artists.
While we (im)patiently wait for 2022 to arrive, why not look back at how encouraging 2021 has been for us amid the constant uncertainty, changes and challenges arising from the pandemic?
CFA offers many exciting internship opportunities in arts marketing and programming. Our social media intern Nadiah, shares her thoughts on her time spent with us.
Docents at the NUS Baba House are passionate volunteers who bring the house and Peranakan history to life for visitors. Read on to get a peek behind the scenes on how one trains to become a docent.
Kaala Chakra (Wheel of Time) blended dance, music and visual art to capture time and its meandering ways. Hema explores how it pushes the boundaries of traditional Indian dance performances in its unique presentation.
Digital domination, gender upheaval, cancel culture, and environmental doom — Wei Mei discovers how Shook explores these and other issues in the contemporary theatrical performance by NUS Stage.
Past . Presence . Future . was an evocative exploration of the bonds within a family. CFA Arts Ambassador Sze Ying, shares her thoughts on this beautiful piece by NUS Dance Ensemble.
Sound Garden, was an installation that explored the various forms of music storage over the years. Join student writer Thina as she ponders the future of music storage and what it may mean to us.
In Critical Conversations: Telling Our Stories, speakers Sarah-Tabea Sammel and Sherman Ong painted an illuminating picture of how we as individuals are situated within larger conceptualizations of Time. Read on to learn how we are more similar to each other than we realise.
Critical Conversations: Reframing Our Past was a delve into social history and the processes of historicization. Volunteer writer Alefiya takes us through her thoughts as she reflects on the missing side of history.
Volunteer writers Kang Ying Ting and Ng Wan Sim reflect on Critical Conversations: A Measure of Time in a COVID World and explore the myriad of meanings time can take on in different lived experiences.
On 8th March 2021, CFA’s artistic director for NUS Indian Dance, Mrs. Santha Bhaskar, was inducted into Singapore’s Women Hall of Fame in recognition of her pioneering work in the arts. In commemoration of her recognition, we take a look at the Indian Dance Doyen’s journey through the arts.
In a world that has experienced drastic changes in this pandemic, how is our experience with time affected? This is the question posed by the panelists at the Critical Conversations discussion in the lead-up to NUS Arts Festival 2021: A Question of Time.
We caught up with NUS Symphony Orchestra’s ExCo to learn more about Layers, their recent chamber music performance, and their experience in producing the show.
NUS FASS, NUSStage, NUS Malay Language Society alumna, Nessa Anwar, tell us about her entry into the Singapore theatre scene and her experience working in the industry.
Emergency Shelter and NUS FASS alumni, Grace Lee-Khoo and Chong Woon Yong, share about their entry into the Singapore theatre scene and their experiences working on Offstage 3.0.
Hello! I’m Bevlyn, and this was my CFA Arts Ambassador journey in this unpredictable year of 2020.
Photography is more than just getting likes on your Instagram. Its ability to realistically portray life has deepened many viewers’ understanding, awareness and emotional connection to events beyond their everyday experiences. Choy Myn explores how photography acts as a medium of support and change in this article.
Explore the tropics at NUS Museum through NUS Museum Outreach Trainee, Wei Xin’s, eyes as she navigates the “Garden City” identity of Singapore through visual artworks and the Conservation Corridor.
Choy Myn shares her journey as a CFA Arts Ambassador in 2020. Join her as she leads you down memory lane from planning events to writing articles for CFA!
As social-distancing measures prevail, all 21 CFA Arts Excellence Groups continue to face many challenges on-and-offstage.
The arts are a consistent source of introspection and inspiration for many artists in NUS. We caught up with the two singer song-writers of ExxonMobil Campus Concerts’ Bring It Back To Live to find out more about their music and experimental processes.
One of the more unique performances in the multi-part film presentation, Dhi by NUS Indian Dance, is their Bharatanatyam interpretation of Abdul Ghani Hamid’s poem, Terkocak. CFA connected with Arjavi Bahety, former president of NUS Indian Dance, to find out more about their experience in translating Hamid’s poem into dance.
While we persevere against the odds to keep our artistic fires alive; Mary Loh, Head of Talent Development & Programming, weighs in on the arts landscape and why the arts will not die.
The arts are often used to explore emotions, gain self-confidence, deal with stress and grow self-awareness. Two recent events by NUS Centre For the Arts, in particular, promote this introspection. Dreamtalk (4-5 Sep) took the viewers on a journey to discover and embrace our inner worlds. Pantang (18 Sep & 2 Oct) is a retelling of Singaporean ghost stories, asking us to confront our fears of the unknown. We sat down with the creators of Dreamtalk (Ranice Tay) and Pantang (Gavin Low) to explore these themes further.
We connected with the three student artists of NUS Stage to understand their artistic process in capturing human stories through drama, and what they hoped would be the role of art in the larger context of how we evolve as a society.
In conjunction with the upcoming film programme Whispers of History: Echoes of the Cold War in Asia, film programmer Seng Yu Ying reflects on the documentary nature of all the films in the programme, and ruminates on how proximity and remote film viewing alters the way we access such narratives of history.
NUS Museum’s upcoming exhibition titled Wishful Images: When Microhistories Take Form reconsiders the historical conjuncture between two less discussed historical narratives echoing the Lusaka Conference of the Non-Alignment Movement of the Cold War and Koza Riots of Okinawa, which both happened fifty years ago.
How has the language of the Peranakans changed over the centuries, and what efforts are modern Peranakans taking to keep Baba Malay alive? Read on to find out!
Reworked for the digital stage with spatial designer, Kow Xiao Jun; Dreamtalk 話夢, featuring Ranice Tay, and theatre pioneer, Ang Gey Pin, takes us on a journey to discover and embrace our inner worlds.
As artists all over the world find new ways to share their artforms in times of social distancing, Mr. Alvin Tan, a graduate of NUS and the Artistic Director of The Necessary Stage, has directed a global online-theatre performance titled Who’s There?
While artistic excellence is one of the core pursuits of the 21 CFA Arts Excellence Groups, the groups’ endeavours also include deepening a sense of heritage, artform experimentation, and contributing to the community through inspiring and thought-provoking performances.
Docents are volunteer guides who are instrumental to the activities at the NUS Baba House, leading regular heritage tours as well as co-creating and hosting educational visits with groups of all ages. This interview with docent Dawn Marie Lee reveals more about the work of such volunteers in museum education.
Setting the stage for transformative experiences at CFA is the UCC Team. Comprising teams handling Venues Management, Production Services and Facilities Management; this Team oversees every aspect of a successful event – from the planning to the lights and sounds at the actual performance. Read on to learn more about the nuts-and-bolts of running an arts and cultural centre on campus.
The NUS Museum and NUS Baba House collections can be explored from their publications as well. This article introduces the publications available and invites readers to view the full collections online.
Mary Ann Lim, Outreach Executive at the NUS Museum shares what determines the collections strategy at our Museum, and as importantly the hard work that goes behind each and every artefact to ensure that they are conserved for generations after to enjoy.
NUS Centre For the Arts presents many signature events, and student performances each year. Why are these events and performances important or relevant to the NUS community; students, staff and administrators alike? And how are such programmes created and conceptualised? What goes behind the scenes before we see these staged under the bright lights? Read on the find out.
Formed in 1980, the NUSChoir is an award-winning youth choir that is committed to promoting excellence in choral music within the NUS community, and to bringing their music to audiences, both local and foreign. Celebrating their 40th anniversary this year, read on to find out some of their fondest memories in these 40 years, and what they’re doing to mark the occasion.
Many of our academic colleagues have leveraged the exhibits at both the NUS Museum and Baba House to augment their curriculum; this is the basis of a ‘module collaboration’. Many, professors and students alike, testify to how this has added an interesting facet to their module. To enquire about creating a module collaboration for your classroom, please do contact the NUS Museum team.
Professor Audrey Yue (Department of Communications and New Media, NUS Cultural Research Centre) and Dr Margaret Tan (Senior Lecturer and Director of Programmes at Tembusu College, and Co-director of the NUS Art/Science Residency Programme) share their thoughts on how new media arts have impacted the way we interact and the social-cultural issues related in creating such work.
There are 12 sub-clubs under the Cultural Activities Clubs (CAC) at NUS. These clubs offer activities that fall under 2 genres: Music and Dance. Each year the hold a much loved annual performance called CAC+US. Read on to find out what they do within each sub-club and to what to expect at this years’ CAC+US concert.
Collaborative practice and research is at the heart of the programming at the NUS Arts Festival. NUS Ilsa Tari, one of our arts excellence student groups, together with their Artistic Director Cikgu Osman Abdul Hamid, worked closely with Dr Suriani Suratman, Senior Lecturer and Deputy Head of the Department of Malay Studies, to develop Rantau: Layaran Sukma (Exploration: Voyage of the Soul) for the NUS Arts Festival 2020: Ways of Seeing.
Luqman Hakim Bin Abdul Rahman (Year 4, Faculty of Arts and Social Science) was part of the NUS Centre For the Arts 2019 summer internship group. He designed a film series that reflected the NUS Arts Festival theme: Ways of Seeing, as part of this internship project. Find out what he has to share about his experience as an intern and co-curator of this film series at the NUS Arts Festival 2020.
Dr Trivic shares how he tapped on dance and the members of NUS Dance Synergy to work with his students from the School of Design and Environment, to see the world in a different way, through an augmented reality app.
Amplitude brings groups from across the seven halls of residence together in a single evening of musical delight from acapella to a combine halls choir.
Using Arundhati Roy’s novel ‘Ministry of Utmost Happiness’ as the backdrop, Professor Rajeev S. Patke shares how his favourite cities are captured in the written word, and how their architecture has been impacted by the social, cultural, political environment of the day.
‘Dhi’ is a dance performance choreographed by Cultural Medallion recipient and Artistic Director, Mrs Santha Bhaskar, and performed by the NUS Indian Dance. Inspired by the works of important Singaporean poets such as Alvin Pang, Abdul Ghani Hamid, and A Palani; ‘Dhi’ highlights the importance of self-reflection for the betterment of oneself.
Formally established by the late Paul Abisheganaden in 1979, the NUS Symphony Orchestra (NUSSO) is one of the largest and most prolific musical groups in NUS. Over the years the NUSSO has toured the world, performed with international virtuoso and debuted new compositions. At NUS Arts Festival 2020, NUSSO will be the finale act, presenting, ‘A Night at the Gallery’.
In an effort to blend cultures and test the range of Niibori guitars, Horizons, returns GENUS to its Japanese roots with an unprecedented collaboration with the NUS Koto Ensemble (KotokottoN). The guitar and the koto will showcase seamless transitions between Japanese and Western classical pieces, and celebrate the ability of music to bring us new ways of seeing and experiencing culture.
The focus on conservation practices helps situate the NUS Baba House within contemporary urban issues, rather than as a silo of the past. Built in the 1890s, the NUS Baba House at 157 Neil Road was originally the ancestral home of a Peranakan family – the Wees, who descended from shipping magnate Wee Bin.
Where YSTCM students are budding professional musicians, NUSSO members are talented amateurs who use music to augment their studies in other fields. Bringing these groups together creates opportunities for students who may not otherwise intersect to meet, learn and perform with each other.
Canadian performance artists Hong Kong Exile have been touring with their acclaimed work Foxconn Frequency (no. 3) – for three visibly Chinese performers since January 2018, but global events has given their work further contextual layers in recent months.
With the NUS Arts Festival 2020: Ways of Seeing, academic involvement once again features in many of the productions and scheduled events. However, for the first time, the Festival also has a designated Academic Advisor who has contributed to programming and conceptual decisions throughout the development of the festival.
With the NUS Arts Festival fast approaching, there’s an opportunity to open up to new experiences and we asked the Director of the Singapore Writer’s Festival for her advice on how to embrace literature; where to start and how to be open to challenging literary concepts.
Dériver / Arrivée: A Century of Travel in French Cinema featured four films that dealt with the thematics of travel and travelling, framed by Malabou and Derrida’s analysis of the voyage and the attendant notions of dériver and arrivée (drift / derivation and arrival).
Bollywood dance group NUS Naach have appeared numerous times on the EMCC schedule, and as a prolific participant or EMCC, we spoke with them about their 2019 production and what being a part of the EMCC platform means for them.
In NUS Museum’s fourth and final exhibition drawn from the collection, focus is shifted once again. Wartime Artists of Vietnam specifically engages with concept of an artist’s agency; how they are pulled in multiple directions as war artists and how they reflect the war experience through art.
Being a member of a CFA Arts Excellence group means developing under the tutelage of an industry professional, bonding with peers from across the University and taking on challenging creative concepts. In recent years, however, each of CFA’s 21 groups have stepped beyond their own production schedule to incorporate external community projects into their programming.
I looked at the modules in the course as a way to open up new perspectives and possibilities in and of ideas – doing so made them an amazing resource in many ways. While it was daunting at first, viewing my studies as a part of my film research and work made balancing the two an easier and more enjoyable proposition!
With an emphasis on being bold and trying new things, numerous artists and works that were first staged as part of EMCC have gone on to achieve great things. The latest of these is Spacebar Theatre, founded by Eugene Koh and Lee Shu Yu (now alumni from FASS), whose piece The Utama Spaceship has been selected as part of the 2020 M1 Singapore Fringe Festival!
Now in its third and final iteration, The Golden Record returns to the University Cultural Centre on 18 October as part of Singapore’s Bicentennial Commemoration. The final piece in the trilogy takes one of the most profound voices from part two, Cultural Medallion recipient and Artistic Director for NUS Indian Dance, Mrs Santha Bhaskar.
Gilles Massot is a multidisciplinary artist and academic whose works are based on the idea of “the space between things” with the aim of establishing links and deciphering the narratives existing between disciplines, people, occurrences and parts of the world.
The series of exchange concerts between NUS Symphony Orchestra (NUSSO) and Berlin Konzerthaus Audience Orchestra (KAO) was a special one to both orchestras. In addition to bringing two orchestras from two continents together, it was also one of the key events in NUSSO’s 40th Anniversary year.
Dancers from NUS Ilsa Tari embarked on a tour to Indonesia in July to learn new techniques and gain insight in to the craft from highly acclaimed professionals at the Jakarta Institute of the Arts (IKJ). This involved a series of intensive masterclasses conducted by the teachers of IKJ whose lessons ranged from body techniques, the art of Silat, exploration and expression to choreography.
To open the NUS Arts Festival 2019: A Game of Numbers, the Centre For the Arts sought a production that was steeped in the mathematical theme, that hadn’t been performed in Singapore before and, above all else, challenged the student artists involved.
Over the past four months, a group of theatre-loving volunteers have been assisting a local non-profit arts company, Emergency Stairs, with their annual production of Southernmost. The small volunteer team, consisting of students and adults, was started by Lingjie, a full-time NUS Arts and Social Science freshman with a palpable passion for theatre.
Jean Sebastien Roberge is the Assistant Production Manager of Toruk: The First Flight, a Cirque du Soleil production inspired by James Cameron’s Avatar. He is talking about Canada, of course, in response to a student seeking to ascertain that Cirque du Soleil indeed came from Montréal – or to be more accurate, its outskirts. Jean Sebastien’s enthusiasm is unsurprising given that he comes from Montréal himself.
The Paul Abisheganaden Grant for Artistic Excellence in 2018 has been presented to violinist, Gabriel Lee.
Noted for the extraordinary diversity in his output, Gabriel has performed with numerous symphony and chamber orchestras, yet he is perhaps best known for his performances as a founding member of the Lorong Boys musical group.
NUS Centre For the Arts (CFA) was formally launched in July 1993 and in the 25 years since, the role of the arts on campus and the range of opportunities available have grown immeasurably.
“A review is NOT an audit” said The Straits Times music reviewer, Dr. Chang Tou Liang as part of his opening salvo at the Writing for Different Genres session at the Stephen Riady Centre, UTown, on 7 January.
The eighth Tan Ean Kiam Arts Awards saw the University Cultural Centre dressed for a spring celebration honouring outstanding NUS Centre For the Arts (CFA) groups, students and alumni for their talent and excellence in the arts and arts management.
Four outstanding student leaders from the NUS Jazz Band, NUS Symphony Orchestra and NUS Dance Synergy represented Singapore and NUS at the 14th ASEAN and 4th ASEAN+3 Youth Cultural Forum (AYCF+3) from 4–8 October 2016.
From 20 to 23 September, the NUS Baba House hosted Let’s Mix It!, a lime workshop for students taking the Advanced Architectural Studies module within the NUS Department of Architecture.
The NUS School of Design and Environment (SDE) is participating in NUS Centre For The Arts’ HERE! 2016, and selected works from their project Groove Light are now on display at the Alice Lee Plaza till 19 August.
NUS Museum has received the University Museums and Collections (UMAC) Award from the International Council of Museums for prep-room, an exploration of curatorial methods and audience engagement.
The 60 members of NUS Symphony Orchestra (NUSSO), led by Music Director, Maestro Lim Soon Lee, participated in the Florence Youth Festival in Tuscany from 24 June to 1 July.
Last month, members of the The NUSChoir performed together with the Yale Alumni Chorus (YAC) and the Metropolitan Orchestra in a celebration of the deep ties between National University of Singapore and Yale University.
