ArtReach: ARTS IN THE SOCIAL SECTOR Arts projects for wellness, intervention and rehabilitation
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CONTENTS
ArtReach
2
We
4
Small Works, Big Love
6
Creating arts access
Arts without barriers
Coming Together
8
Fun with Fabric
10
Their World, Their Arts
12
Arts for wellness and rehabilitation
Everyday Waltzes
14
Connecting through Colours
16
Word of Mouth
18
Acknowledgements
20
2
ArtReach
ArtReach ArtReach is an initiative of the National Arts Council to promote arts access to underserved communities for wellness, intervention and rehabilitation. It supports artists and voluntary welfare organisations to collaborate on projects that use the arts to achieve social outcomes and initiates conversations through workshops and seminars. ArtReach also develops resources to help social care workers, healthcare workers and volunteers start and lead their own arts programmes.
ArtReach
3
4
Creating arts access
WE
Building confidence through a journey of creative expression
A little background… Visual artist Tay Bee Aye was keen to continue developing the children’s interest in the arts and to provide an additional avenue for self-expression, following an earlier collaboration with Chen Su Lan Methodist Children’s Home in 2011. Back then, she introduced the children to basic elements of artmaking over a 6-month period, as the children used their newfound art skills to create their ideal world, featuring their dream house and their favourite things. The project culminated in 2 pieces of work – Me
and My World, an exhibition of 3D self-portrait fabric sculptures, and a large group work displayed along the main corridor of the Home depicting their collective dreams and aspirations. The continuation of this artistic journey was a project simply titled WE.
Date of project: August – November 2012 (3 months) Art-form: Visual arts Artist: Tay Bee Aye Organisation: Chen Su Lan Methodist Children’s Home
Creating arts access
What did we do? The children were guided to conceptualise and create 12 figurative sculptures based on a common theme – my dream occupation. Under Bee Aye’s facilitation, the children went through a process of negotiation amongst themselves in envisioning what the final exhibition could look like, before embarking on the creation of the sculptures. Bee Aye was intentional in scoping the project to reflect a spirit of collective learning from peers, to encourage character development, build confidence in the children (most of whom faced learning difficulties and exhibited symptoms of hyperactivity), and foster teamwork through the art-making process.
Finally… Despite tendencies of hyperactivity amongst the children, both centre staff and Bee Aye observed that the programme was successful in meeting their objectives. The children developed a strong sense of independence and confidence in the process, and were engaged right from the beginning of the project! The children also showed strong team spirit as they exchanged tales and dreams, discussed and worked together on the final exhibition, bringing a weekly dosage of laughter and fun into Chen Su Lan Methodist Children’s Home.
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6
Creating arts access
SMALL WORKS,
BIG LOVE
Duration of project: February – May 2012 (10 weeks) Art-form: Visual Arts Artist: Justin Lee Organisation: King George’s Avenue Seniors Activity Centre
Connecting through simple lines and shapes to create meaningful possibilities
A little background… Small Works, Big Love was a community arts project that encouraged seniors to express themselves through drawing and art-making, building their self-confidence and inter-personal relations in the process. This project was conducted by visual artist Justin Lee, who worked with 13 seniors from the King George’s Avenue Seniors Activity Centre. Most of these seniors have never been taught how to write with a pen, much less to draw. The artist wanted to simplify art-making and give them assurance to express themselves through art. The workshops kept a focus on the process of creating art, with the hopes that it might inspire the seniors to discover a new side of themselves.
“The most rewarding thing for me is that when you teach, you learn twice.” - Justin Lee, artist
What did we do? The seniors started off drawing animals and everyday objects using only lines and shapes. By starting with simple activities, Justin broke down the process and showed the seniors that drawing was not all that terrifying! While drawing, the seniors were encouraged to share personal stories from their past, particularly the occupations they used to hold – some were seamstresses, night soil cleaners, or salesmen in a departmental store. These stories became inspiration for the next part of the project where they created stencils based on imagery related to their past occupations, such as night soil bins, clothes, a tailoring ruler etc. They then used the
Creating arts access
Finally… Juian Lee, the centre manager, shared that many of the seniors are single and live alone, and therefore, seldom have the opportunity to interact with others or articulate their thoughts. Over the 10 weeks, she felt that the art activities provided the seniors with the opportunity to express themselves through their art as well as through their conversations. The elderly also realised that art was not exclusive to artists, but was available for anyone to enjoy. Another staff in the centre, executive Goh Pei Ying was also heartened to observe how well the elderly could work in groups. She noticed that they were willing to lend and share materials amongst themselves, and even provided assistance when some seniors took the initiative to request for help when needed, which in turn made every group willing to lend and share materials, and encouraged a spirit of “sharing is caring” amongst them.
“It really builds up their selfconfidence, self-esteem and also the partnership and the teamwork between and among the elderly.” - Juian Lee, Centre Manager
stencils to draw repeated patterns all over the canvas, filling them in with only lines drawn in all directions and colours, bringing to life an abstract representation of their past. Drawing can be a quiet exercise in solitude, but it can also be an activity to bring people together. Towards the end of the project, the seniors were divided into groups to work on a larger canvas together, and to draw using each other’s stencils. The result was a series of abstract art works that held the collective memories of these seniors.
“I get to learn something new about myself and I have benefitted from this process because I realised that art is not just for artists or people who like to have fun. It is also for ordinary people like us to enjoy and share. Actually art talks about things happening in our daily life so without you there is no art!”
- Artist Justin Lee, to all the participants in his final workshop with them
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8
Arts without barriers
COMING TOGETHER
Duration of project: May – August 2013 (10 weeks) Art-form: Multi-disciplinary (drama and installation art) Artist: Lee Wai Ying, in collaboration with Lim Wei Ling Organisations: Marine Parade Family Service Centre and RSVP Singapore
Bringing out the inner child through an interactive exploration of play
A little background… Coming Together was a programme that aimed to provide an experiential learning opportunity for participants through the use of creative drama and interactive installation. Dramatherapist Lee Wai Ying, in collaboration with spatial designer, Lee Wei Ling, wanted to introduce drama from a completely different
perspective – that one does not necessarily need to be performing on a traditional stage to enjoy the creative drama process. Wai Ying only had two considerations in mind when she approached Marine Parade FSC and RSVP Singapore – participants should be comfortable working with balloons and have little or no prior experience with the arts.
What did we do? Wai Ying structured Coming Together to allow the participants with limited exposure to the arts to go through a series of experiential art sessions as a start. To get a better understanding of their environment and their own artistic abilities, Wai Ying introduced a range of arts experiences: from storytelling, roleplaying, puppetry, using masks, to theatre games like improvising with objects, and even employing the use of musical instruments and vocals. The participants began to engage their senses and became more aware of their
bodies, the spaces they were working in, and grew more sensitive to each other’s presence. Once Wai Ying had established the foundation of creative exploration, she worked with Wei Ling to conceptualise an installation solely made out of balloons to re-introduce the idea of child-like play to these adults. With their newfound artistic consciousness and confidence, the participants were given their own space to experiment and interact with the balloon sculpture as an art-making and play object.
Arts without barriers
Finally… What a sight it was, watching adults playing freely with balloons! The participants of Coming Together unanimously agreed that they re-discovered their child-like wonder through exploring and experiencing a variety of art-forms. While it initially proved challenging for the participants to break out of their shell of inhibition, through encouragement from Wai Ying and interaction with fellow participants, they soon found themselves feeling empowered to realise their creative potential. Wai Ying also observed greater confidence among the participants in immersing themselves in the activities.
“I feel that this is very unique…there is such a thing that we can express our feelings through abstract ways – through feelings, through actions. This form of play at our age, it does stimulate our growing, [our] ageing, and makes us feels younger.” - Auntie Mary, participant
By the end of 10 weeks, the participants commented that they had developed a newfound appreciation for their creativity unearthed through Coming Together, and were grateful to have been given the opportunity to have fun, be challenged, and most importantly, to expand their view of what art is, and find the artist within themselves.
“This programme made us feel carefree and freespirited, while bonding with one another through play. At the end of activities, it is as though we had travelled back into our childhood days.” - Participant
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10
Arts without barriers
FUN WITH FABRIC
Duration of project: February – July 2012 (14 weeks) Art-form: Art and craft Artist: Tay Bee Aye Organisation: Asian Women’s Welfare Association Seniors Activity Centre (AWWA SAC)
Sewing a rich tapestry of stories from the women in AWWA
A little background… Fun with Fabric is a project that aimed to enhance the artistic ability of an existing craft and sewing interest group in Asian Women’s Welfare Association Seniors Activity Centre (AWWA SAC). To this end, community visual artist Tay Bee Aye was invited to hold workshops with the group over 3 months. Sewing is commonly seen as a domestic and utilitarian skill; the interest group would spend their time making familiar, functional items such as lunch bags and tissue pouches. However, Bee Aye wanted to challenge the norm, and take the activity beyond a hobby by introducing sewing as an art-making technique. Bee Aye’s experience as a community artist working with fabric-based materials in her sculptures and
installations made her a perfect fit as artist-facilitator to the 13 elderly women of the sewing interest group. Her goal was to provide an artistic dimension to the routine sewing activity that the women were accustomed to; by demonstrating different ways of using fabric, she hoped that the skills could eventually be applied back to the interest group’s everyday activity.
What did we do? “Initially, our teacher instructed us to tell a story, so I thought of my past work at the hospital. I remembered the doctors and their work equipment. The happiest thing is to reminisce about my past when I was young and I made a drawing based on that.” - Liang Ah Sup, participant
Bee Aye spent the initial sessions introducing the women to different ways of working with fabric beyond sewing, such as tie-dye work and image transfer – art-making techniques that were brand new experiences to them. She added a soft touch to the otherwise instructional structure of skills transference. For example, as the first step of the process of learning image transfer techniques, the women brought in old personal photographs. As they exchanged the stories behind each photograph, they also learnt the technicalities of ink transfer. By the end of the session, not only would the women have caught a glimpse into each other’s younger years, they would also have completed their first piece of image transfer art work.
Arts without barriers
“Generally it’s very touching when I see them helping one another, to do stitching, things to help them complete, help them to compose, to organise things. It was an amazing working relationship and they really will complement and come back with brilliant results.” - Tay Bee Aye, artist
Finally… “In the past, I didn’t know what art was. Now I think that reminiscing and drawing a memory can be art.” Surprisingly, many of the women who participated in this project felt that the most meaningful part of this experience was not the learning of new skills, but that they were given an opportunity to reminisce and share their art-making journey with their friends and family. The women expressed a deep sense of gratitude to the artist, affectionately termed laoshi (teacher), for her patience in guiding them through the creative process; the women also showed appreciation at being recognised for their efforts and participation at the exhibition. As for the artist, Bee Aye, she felt inspired by the women’s learning spirit and positive attitude. When she learnt that some of the women had sacrificed “Channel 8 drama television time” to complete their individual art works, Bee Aye was struck by their passion and dedication and was reminded that age will never be a determining factor for artistic creativity, vigour and vibrancy.
For the final group appliqué work, Bee Aye asked the women to extract particular images that captured their tales and to illustrate them as a template for the final group appliqué work. Beyond just sewing, the women had free rein over the artistic direction, from conceptualisation, to choosing of fabrics, and the placement of the images. In addition to technical skills, the women also learnt important interpersonal skills in working together. It was no easy task accommodating the opinions of 13 strongheaded women, but the challenging process paid off when the women’s colourful and heartfelt masterpieces of their woven tales, showing places they used to work at, the houses they used to live in, and everyday scenes of a younger Singapore, were exhibited at the inaugural Silver Arts Exhibition in 2012.
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Arts without barriers
THEIR WORLDS, THEIR ARTS
Date of project: February to April 2012 (9 weeks) Art-form: Visual arts Artist: Daniel Wong Organisations: Fei Yue Neighbourhood Link (Bukit Batok); Peace Connect Neighbourhood Link; O’Joy Care Services
Creating a new experience in self-expression through the arts
A little background… Their Worlds, Their Arts aimed to create a unique artistic experience for seniors by providing a safe creative space for them to socialise and interact through varying visual art mediums. The project was facilitated by artist and art therapist, Daniel Wong. At the various community spaces, the seniors would gather regularly, but were largely engaged in solitary activities or moved around within their social circles. Daniel wanted the process to encourage a spirit of reminiscence and sharing of stories from each seniors’ personal experience, as they learnt more about the people they spent leisure time with daily. 3 groups participated in the project: Fei Yue Neighbourhood Link (Bukit Batok), Peace-Connect Neighbourhood Link and O’ Joy Care Services. The seniors’ age ranged from 55 to 85, with a majority of them having minimal exposure and were unfamiliar to the arts, and thus, had fixed views of what art was. Using a range of mediums, including paint, clay, collage and fabric, Daniel helped to break down their earlier misconception of art as an aesthetic or final product. Instead, Daniel made the art-making process about the exchange of stories, colourful anecdotes and personal journey. With varying themes each week relating to childhood or home, the structure provided a guide for the seniors as a common starting point, and minimised the fear of “a blank slate”. As they embarked on each art work, the seniors reflected on these themes and shared the impetus for creating their works of art, largely motivated by their own memories and life experiences.
What did we do?
Their stories and artworks over the 8 weeks culminated in a simple exhibition, where seniors invited their friends and families to enjoy a yumcha session. Over food and drinks, the seniors spent time viewing their exhibition and explaining each piece to their loved ones.
Arts without barriers
“A piece of work by a famous artist is art, a simple drawing that we use to express our thought is also a piece of art. It really gives me a sense of achievement because we do different things every week, we get to think of different things every week.” - Leong Keng Kwong, participant
Finally… While the initial sessions were more reserved and quiet, the seniors quickly found themselves relating more intimately to each other as they exchanged stories through the activities. Daniel observed that the cohesiveness of the groups in the 3 centres progressed as seniors built mutual trust, giving each session a sense of relaxation, enthusiasm, and enjoyment. One participant, Ms. Kalsom Bee Binte Hamid at Peace Connect Senior Activity Centre, quipped, “I’ve never had the chance to mingle with the Mandarin-speaking people in the centre, even though I recognise their faces, but now I know a bit more about them!” During these sessions, Mdm Kalsom voluntarily took on the role of translating the English stories to her Malayspeaking friends as well. The seniors all felt that they
had built stronger friendships with each other through the process, and more importantly, that they had moved beyond language barriers and learnt to express their feelings creatively through the arts. The seniors’ leap of faith to take on new experiences was rewarded with a sense of achievement and empowerment as they were given the opportunity to display their creations for their loved ones. O’Joy Care Services has included this model of art activity in their regular programming at the centre. With a greater variety of activities, their beneficiaries are empowered to make choices in how to spend their time, and are able to continue exploring their capacity for self-expression through the arts.
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Arts for wellness and rehabilitation
EVERYDAY WALTZES
Duration of project: September 2011 to May 2012 (8 months) Art-form: Dance/Movement Artist: The Arts Fission Company Organisations: Apex Day Rehabilitation Centre, TOUCH Seniors Activity Centre, NTUC Silver ACE @ Redhill and Silver ACE @ Telok Blangah
Guiding through creative everyday movement to enhance awareness of mobility
A little background… Everyday Waltzes was a project designed to use everyday movements to enhance awareness of mobility, increase the basic ability of daily functional movement and encourage personal expression through dance. For this project, The Arts Fission Company reached out to seniors in four centres between September 2011 and May 2012 – NTUC SilverACE @ Redhill, SilverACE @ Telok Blangah, Apex Day Rehabilitation Centre and TOUCH Senior Activity Centre, with the aim of building strong core muscles from incorporating familiar movements from everyday life to increase the seniors’ awareness of their own physicality.
What did we do? Arts Fission worked in tandem with a physiotherapist to ensure the programme was suitable, effective and tailored specifically for seniors across varying mobility levels. In addition, they took the extra effort to compile accompanying music that was familiar to the elderly, with evergreen tunes like 甜蜜蜜 (Tian Mi Mi). Over 5 weeks, the seniors engaged their entire body in movement by repeating daily actions, from
simple movements like standing and sitting, to more complex actions such as the opening and closing of windows. The individual actions were then made into a choreographed dance sequence giving new meaning and purpose to these otherwise mundane everyday movements.
Arts for wellness and rehabilitation
Finally‌ By the end of the programme, some centre staff noticed that seniors were more cheerful and had a more upbeat spirit - the liveliness of the music coupled with the pleasure of witnessing their friends sway and dance along brought smiles to their faces. Arts Fission believes that dance has the inherent ability to uplift, heal and stimulate the human spirit, and empower the doers with a healthy mind and body. This was clearly evident in Everyday Waltzes, as they experienced an improvement in balance, stability and reflexes to keep them fit and the fun spirit of creative movement to keep them young-at-heart. Arts Fission has continued to bring Everyday Waltzes beyond these 4 centres, into hospitals and in working with patients with dementia.
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Arts for wellness and rehabilitation
CONNECTING THROUGH COLOURS
Duration of project: March – July 2013 (4 months) Art-form: Rangoli Art Artist: Vijayalakshimi Mohan Organisations: Metta Rehab Centre, Moral Welfare Home & Sunlove Dementia Care
Invigorating the senses through Rangoli, with a contemporary twist
A little background… In Connecting Through Colours, artist Vijayalakshmi Mohan aimed to use the traditional Indian art-form of Rangoli to awaken the visual and tactile senses of seniors, regardless of age, mobility or cognitive abilities. Vijaya wanted to use this opportunity to build crosscultural understanding in multi-cultural Singapore through a custom that is traditionally exclusive to the Indian community.
Vijaya worked with Moral Welfare Home, Metta Rehabilitation Centre for the Elderly, and Sunlove Dementia Care. The 3 homes catered to different groups of seniors – some were patients recovering from stroke, some were persons with dementia, while others were persons with physical disabilities.
Rangoli is a decorative design drawn on floors using coloured rice and sand, typically consisting of bright and vibrant colours. Apart from its ornamental purpose, Rangoli is also thought to bring good luck and blessings.
What did we do? Vijaya conducted 8 workshops at each of the 3 organisations. The seniors were given opportunities to work individually on their own projects, as well as collaboratively on larger group activities. Vijaya spent the first workshop identifying potential constraints that could have limited the seniors’ enjoyment and learning, and tailored the art-making process accordingly. For example, to accommodate the physicality of the seniors, they were given plywood to use as canvas for their artwork – a departure from
Arts for wellness and rehabilitation
and usually culminating in expressions of how much they were enjoying the activity.
Finally…
The staff observed that in the short span of the few workshops, there had been subtle changes in the behaviour and demeanour of the elderly, such as being more relaxed, settled, displaying increased concentration. A manager remarked, describing one of the seniors at his centre, “Often anxious and very quiet, once engaged in Rangoli session, he would sit absorbed in the work for a long time. He was not interested in joining in any of the activities done previously, but now, when he is engrossed in his artwork he can sit still for hours at a time.” Most of all, the staff noticed that the seniors had become more interactive and conversational with each other.
As Vijaya could not speak Mandarin nor any of the dialects, the involvement of the staff at each organisation was crucial in ensuring the activities were well-facilitated. Though the staff were initially meant to play the primary role of translator, they ended up being Connecting Through Colour is about the contemporary more involved in the creation process. The art-making reinvention of a traditional art form, making it a sparked off a much wider range of conversation meaningful and relevant topics between the staff and senior participants, experience, regardless of including stories, memories, personal interests, ethnicity or mobility.
the traditional method of working on the floor, which would have been an inconvenience to the seniors. Over the sessions, the senior participants used not just the traditional materials like coloured rice and sand for their Rangoli, but introduced innovative new ones such as beads, pasta shapes, and even recycled household items like buttons! The mix of vibrant colours and different textures from the wide variety of usual and unusual materials heightened the sensory stimulation of the participants.
“I think this is the first time I’m doing this actually. I never do this one before. Sprinkle, sprinkle all these, come out so beautiful.” - Participant
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Arts for wellness and rehabilitation
WORD OF MOUTH
Date of project: March – October 2012 (7 months) Art-form: Theatre (Puppetry) Artist: Paper Monkey Theatre Organisation: Singapore Association for Mental Health (Creative Hub)
Communicating mental wellness through performance and puppetry
A little background… In 2011, the Singapore Association for Mental Health initiated Creative Hub, a platform that aims to reach out to the public to increase awareness of the benefits of art as a mental wellness tool. Using visual arts, music, dance and drama, Creative Hub promotes psychological wellness and mental health recovery using non-traditional forms of therapies.
“I like to create new and old things. Puppet making allowed me to use my creativity to make new out of the old.” - Tze Chong, participant
Photo by Alvin Khoo
Photo by Alvin Khoo
A year later, they engaged the expertise of their neighbours in Goodman Arts Centre, Paper Monkey Theatre, and collaborated to use puppetry as a means of engaging 15 patients with mental illness on the recovery track. While Paper Monkey has vast experience working with children and youth, this was their first time working with mental health patients.
What did we do? Paper Monkey Theatre worked closely with individuals with mental illness to weave intricate stories about their past and present situations, with hopes of using puppetry as a unique and enjoyable platform to advocate to the masses on the sensitive topic of mental health in Singapore. Through the 10-month long process, the participants and volunteers worked together to make their own puppets, devise and rehearse the performance. The participants took part in a mix of theatre games and visual art activities, facilitated by Paper Monkey, to encourage freedom of expression and to create a space for participants to conjure fantastical scenarios as part of devising the performance. The result was a captivating staging of the piece at the World Mental Health Day 2012 event performed by Paper Monkey Theatre, volunteers, and the patients themselves, featuring a mix of shadow and rod puppets.
Arts for wellness and rehabilitation
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Finally‌ The project achieved notable success by allowing individuals with mental illness and no prior theatre background to have first-hand experience of performing in front of a live audience, empowering them in working together towards a common goal. The performance was well-attended by members of the public and healthcare professionals, which allowed SAMH to demonstrate the effectiveness of the arts in the wellness and rehabilitation process of the recovering participants. SAMH also noted that the participants started off reserved and shy, but after a period of time, they fostered relationships with the Paper Monkey Theatre facilitators as well as amongst themselves, which allowed them to respond more freely to the games played. Overall, the creative use of puppetry made an otherwise sensitive topic of mental health accessible, personal and engaging, bringing positive attention to an important issue relevant to all Singaporeans.
Photo by Alvin Khoo
“I found that I have learned many things from it. One was about taking initiative to make sure everything was alright and nothing was going wrong. I also had to stay enthusiastic and it made me realize the stress of working in such a project but I think that helped me mature as a person.� - Min Min, participant
Photo by Alvin Khoo
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Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements DANIEL WONG has worked as an art therapist in mental health and community settings, taught experimental art workshops and been involved in community arts projects in various countries, especially Thailand.
JUSTIN LEE is a visual artist who adapts his visual artistic practice in working with the community. He has collaborated with Singapore Art Museum, and conducted a 6-month residency at Singapore Association for Mental Health.
LEE WAI YING is a UK-registered dramatherapist currently working with Singapore older adults through creative play to promote wellness, as play is ageless. She is a practice researcher with a diverse background in early childhood education and teaching, drama-in-education, theatre and visual arts.
VIJAYALAKSHMI MOHAN is a qualified artist and art therapist, and is deeply committed to making the experience of Rangoli art accessible to the community, regardless of race or age. She holds the Guinness World Record for the largest Rangoli art display.
Helmed by well-known puppeteer/playwright Benjamin Ho, PAPER MONKEY THEATRE focuses on creating theatre productions and workshops infused with puppetry for children and family, encouraging artistic development and enriching learning experiences. THE ARTS FISSION COMPANY is a professional contemporary dance company formed 18 years ago by Artistic Director and Cultural Medallion recipient Angela Liong. The Company has a strong outreach focus. With the conviction to empower the elderly through age-appropriate arts experiences, it has been working with the elderly in the social service sector through creative dance projects. TAY BEE AYE is a Singaporean multidisciplinary artist specialising in soft sculptures and site-specific installation works using fabric-based materials. She is passionate about making works with stories, and has worked on numerous community arts projects with welfare organizations.
With thanks to: Apex Day Rehabilitation Centre Asian Women’s Welfare Assocation Seniors Activity Centre Chen Su Lan Methodist Children’s Home Fei Yue Neighbourhood Link (Bukit Batok) King George Avenue Senior Activity Centre Marine Parade Family Service Centre Metta Rehab Centre Moral Welfare Home NTUC SilverACE@Telok Blangah NTUC SilverACE@Redhill O’Joy Care Services Peace Connect Neighbourhood Link RSVP Singapore Singapore Association of Mental Health (Creative Hub) Sunlove Dementia Care Centre TOUCH Senior Activity Centre
About the National Arts Council At the National Arts Council (NAC), our vision is to develop Singapore as a distinct global city for the arts. We engage our stakeholders in the arts to create a vibrant cultural eco-system for artistic talents to excel and achieve sustainability in the long term. NAC nurtures the arts to make it an integral part of the lives of the people. We engage Singaporeans from young for them to learn, enjoy and be enriched through the arts. Arts & Communities Arts and Communities (A&C) is a key initiative of the National Arts Council to make the arts part of our lives. We engage everyone through the arts to promote creativity, self-expression and community bonding. We collaborate with artists, corporations and community partners, to enhance the quality of life by bringing the arts to where we work, live and play. Programmes under A&C include Arts for All – for youths, families and adults; Silver Arts – for senior citizens; Arts@Work – for the workplace; and ArtReach – for the social service sector, where people can participate, pursue their interests and share their passion with the wider community.