Speech By Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Minister for Education and Second Minister for Finance, at the Topping Out Ceremony for Lasalle-SIA College of the Arts' City Campus, 26 Sep 2006, 10.30am

SPEECH BY MR THARMAN SHANMUGARATNAM, MINISTER FOR EDUCATION AND SECOND MINISTER FOR FINANCE, AT THE TOPPING OUT CEREMONY FOR LASALLE-SIA COLLEGE OF THE ARTS’ CITY CAMPUS, 26 SEP 2006, 10.30AM

I am pleased to join you for this significant moment marking LASALLE-SIA’s next phase of development as an institution of excellence in the creative arts.

EXCITING TIMES FOR THE CREATIVE INDUSTRIES
2 These are exciting times for the creative industries. Design, media, the performing and visual arts are among the fastest growing industries in the new economy. They are also an important part of Singapore’s strategy to become a key node in the new Asian economy.

3 We are making good progress. In the digital media space, global leaders such as Lucasfilm Animation, Electronic Arts and Koei have chosen Singapore as a base for animation and game development. RGM holdings, a global talent management company, launched its Asia headquarters in Singapore in 2005 and it will be setting up a US$100m media financing facility for media content projects.

4 In the area of design, we also see an increasing number of global players such as Motorola, BMW DesignWorks, Hewlett-Packard and Procter & Gamble siting their design activities in Singapore. Of particular note is BMW DesignWorks, which established its first ever design studio outside the USA and Munich in Singapore last year, selecting us over Tokyo, Seoul and Shanghai.

5 We have also made progress in the performing and visual arts arena. IMG, a global arts management company has set up a new Asia regional HQ in Singapore which will help to improve the standards of the artist management in the industry. They have plans to establish an annual music festival, an annual classical recital series and major visual arts exhibitions. The Singapore Biennale 2006 (SB2006), Singapore's first international contemporary art event, recently opened to the public on 4 September 2006, featuring more than 95 artists and art works from over 85 countries.

LASALLE-SIA’s Position in the Creative Industries in Singapore
6 LASALLE-SIA will add to the vibrancy and dynamism of the emerging creative industries by educating and training talent. LASALLE-SIA’s move to this new City Campus located in the heart of Singapore’s civic district is also an important part of the Ministry of Education’s efforts to provide a wider range of quality education options in Singapore and to establish Singapore as a hub for education.

7 The Ministry supports LASALLE-SIA’s endeavour to develop itself into a first-class arts institution. LASALLE-SIA today has an array of programmes covering design, media arts, film, fine arts, theatre, dance, music and arts management. It has gained a reputation in the field of arts education. I am told that you have even received applications from countries as far away as Norway and Finland.

8 LASALLE-SIA’s approach in combining academic rigour with artistic practice is designed to nurture reflective practitioners. There is a consistent demand for your graduates as seen from the Graduate Survey statistics, which show 84% of graduates finding work within three months of completing their studies. And in 2005, more than half of LASALLE-SIA’s graduates that year were engaged in artistic work related to their course of study. This is an encouraging indication of the relevance of the training provided by LASALLE-SIA and I hope more of LASALLE-SIA’s future graduates will be able to make their mark in the creative industries.

9 LASALLE-SIA’s drive to provide quality Arts education can also be seen in its partnerships with well-respected institutions such as top fashion institute ESMOD International of Paris and Sotheby’s Institute of Art.

10 LASALLE-SIA has also been actively engaged with the arts community, within and beyond Singapore. It has been sharing its expertise with teachers from our schools, and has conducted a number of workshops for secondary school students. The school is publishing a book on contemporary art in Singapore, commissioned by the National Arts Council, for international distribution.

11 Through their artistic and professional practice, LASALLE-SIA’s staff have also helped to raise Singapore’s profile in international events including the International Symposium on Electronic Art in California, and the International Association of Art Critics and the Brave Festival in Poland. The only Singaporean artists invited to exhibit at the Sydney Biennale this year were two of LASALLE-SIA’s very own staff.

MOVING FORWARD
12 I encourage LASALLE-SIA to continue its quest for excellence so that its graduates will be recognised by the creative industries as some of the best arts talent around. With the talent, dedication and passion of your staff, I am confident your New City Campus will be much more than an architectural icon in Singapore. I wish you success in your vision to be an institution of excellence recognised nationally and internationally as a world-class art institution.