Architectural Ideas for the Arts School are exhibited

The “Designing the Singapore Arts School ” Exhibition is part of the Singapore Design Festival. For the first time, the public will get a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the new arts school and the selected architectural design submitted for consideration by the Government.

1. SINGAPORE , 18 November 2005 – The “Designing the Singapore Arts School ” Exhibition is part of the Singapore Design Festival. For the first time, the public will get a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the new arts school and the selected architectural design submitted for consideration by the Government. Visitors to the exhibition can learn more about the design issues and the innovative architectural proposals that have resulted. Singapore The exhibition is from 18 to 27 November at the National Library, Level 9 Promenade.
   
2. Visitors are taken through the on-going process of designing the school – from its conception to its development today. The exhibition highlights how the design of its spaces embraces teaching and learning, imagination and creativity, community and self, as well as key features of the school’s proposed curriculum.
   
   

   The arts school

3. Set to open its doors in 2008, the arts school will be the nation’s first independent, pre-tertiary arts school to offer a unique integrated arts and academic curriculum for youths aged 13–18. An initiative by the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (MICA), the arts school plugs an existing gap for a dedicated development path at the pre-tertiary level for those who have interest and show early talent in the arts, providing a learning environment where both their artistic and academic potential can best be realised.
4. By so doing, the school aspires to groom future generations of artists and creative professionals to be leaders in all fields, and individuals passionate for and committed to the arts in a multicultural society.
5. Located at Kirk Terrace, the Arts School hopes to tap on synergies with the city’s arts and education districts. This will provide opportunities for the school to engage and collaborate with the education institutions in the Bras Basah area, arts groups and venues, museums, the National Library, and the general public.
6. Dr Balaji Sadasivan, Senior Minister of State for Information, Communications and the Arts, and Health said:
   “For an Arts School student learning is a personalised experience. This means that history lessons could be in the classroom or at the museum. A student could be practising in private in the school’s studio facilities in the morning, and attending a Master class or workshop by a visiting artist in the afternoon. Being in the city also means that there would be spaces in the School that are accessible to the public – and there, groups of students may be performing or sharing their works in progress with the community.”
   
   

   An engaging exhibition

7. The exhibition will take visitors on an interactive and engaging journey into the school’s conception, design ethos, vision, and educational approach. They will encounter an expansive collection of archival materials and related objects, designed to form an “archaeological” display of sorts, to allow the audience to enter into a visual conversation with the space and all its elements. It is the very process of collecting and organising materials which forms the underlying theme for the exhibition.
8. The fascination with mundane sights and materials, and how they may be changed into something startling, is applied to the exhibition through the collective display of objects, accumulated “trash” such as used books, musical scores, mathematical instruments, stage costumes, and children’s art and craft work, to symbolise the different disciplines of the school and the integrated arts, and academic curriculum. These disciplines comprise the visual and performing arts, music, languages, sciences, humanities, mathematics and computer science.
9. As part of the school’s consultative approach to involving the community, the public will be encouraged to contribute their suggestions on how they feel the school’s public access spaces, namely its atrium and park, should be used to maximize their value to the community. The suggestions will be consolidated daily and displayed throughout the course of the exhibition.
   
   

   Public Talk and Panel Discussion

10. In conjunction with the, there will also be a special public talk cum panel discussion on how architectural ideas and space design support creativity and learning will be held. The speakers will share the School’s design ethos, vision and educational approach; selection and design process, and background of the specialised arts school project.
11. The talk will take place 19 November (Saturday), 3-4pm , at the National Library (Imagination Room, Level 5). Admission to the talk is free.
    
    Ministry Of Information, Communications And The Arts
    18 November 2005
    
    FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT
    Er Ker Jia
    Manager, Corporate Communications 
    Arts School 
    Tel : +65 6837 9622 
    Mobile : + 65 9437 0977 
    Email : er_ker_jia@mica.gov.sg
    
    Fiona Quek 
    Oakdale Communications 
    Mobile : + 65 9630 4858
    Email : fiona@oakdale.com.sg