Speeches
Speech by Mr Masagos Zulkifli BMM, Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Home Affairs at the Official Opening of The New Art Gallery on Thursday, 19 March 2009, at 5.00pm at The National Institute of Education
Prof Lee Sing Kong
Director, National Institute of Education, Singapore
Your Excellencies, Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
Introduction
I am delighted to join you all this evening for the official opening of the new Art Gallery at NIE, showcasing Visual Praxis, an exhibition by 17 artists and art educators.
The Art Gallery at NIE will play a very important role in our efforts to become a global city for the arts in the future. The arts have helped us in preserving the past while allowing us to redefine the future from one generation to the next. The arts are also influential in their contribution to the Singapore ethos, providing a means of preserving confidence in our identity and in our future.
The Art Gallery aims to support the pedagogy, research and practice aspects in NIE’s Visual Arts Programme. It will also provide a platform for interaction and sharing, and act as a catalyst among student teachers, teachers and practitioners in the arts and design to achieve greater heights, not just as artists, but also as art educators.
Arts education
The Primary Education Review & Implementation (PERI) Committee in their recent preliminary recommendations has indicated that there is scope within our curriculum to better balance the teaching of content knowledge with skills and values. We should provide our pupils with a well-rounded development through exposure to a broad range of activities from a young age. In fact, we can help our pupils develop many life-skills through subjects such as Physical Education (PE), Art and Music.
I am happy to know that NIE is proactively equipping arts student teachers with the relevant theoretical knowledge and pedagogic skills to design and conduct arts education lessons in schools. NIE has various high quality Arts education programmes at degree, diploma and postgraduate diploma levels. Some of the major classroom activities include drawings, ceramic works, multimedia, digital imaging, museum visits, field trips and graduation shows. These arts student teachers also actively engage in non-classroom activities ranging from charity to social and community projects.
The excellent training and enriching experiences that student teachers undergo in NIE will enable them to develop a range of knowledge and skills, promote leadership and character development, and develop confidence as art educators. Above all, they develop a better appreciation of our universe. Through imagination and creativity, NIE’s arts education encourages our student teachers to envisage fresh possibilities of expression and communication. As such, NIE is well positioned and ready to play a significant role in helping to provide a more holistic education for our children.
NIE Art Gallery’s role in inspiring the future
It is decidedly fitting that the new beginning of the Art Gallery is coupled with the showcase of artworks from individuals whose professional identities have them as both artists and art educators. It takes discipline to maintain equilibrium between these two roles as an artist and art educator. It is not an easy feat to impart theoretical knowledge of visual art while developing and sustaining individual artistic practices. I recall that previous generations have established various remarkable artists-art educators, namely Liu Kang and Georgette Chen who went on to influence a future generation of artists and art educators. With the Art Gallery, I hope that student teachers at NIE will be similarly inspired to create masterpieces while sharing their passion for and knowledge in art with their students.
I believe that the Art Gallery holds many new possibilities. As a cultural site for artistic discourse and a comprehensive university gallery that promotes active learning, research, teaching and interpretation, opportunities abound for student teachers who are seeking to explore their potential and talent as an artist and art educator.
I have every confidence that NIE and the Art Gallery will continue to be forerunners in promoting dynamic Arts Education to the future generations of Singapore.
I hope that everyone, like me, is stirred by the creative energy of the show and I would like to wish everyone here every success for the future. I officially declare the NIE Art Gallery open. Thank you and a pleasant evening to all.