Page 5 - NAFA Annual Report 2014/2015
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and the School of Young Talents reached its 15-year mark. co-edited Evolving Synergies: Celebrating Dance in
It is fitting that the two Schools won a total of six First Prizes, Singapore, the first anthology on dance in Singapore.
five Second Prizes and three Third Prizes, including a In design, part-time lecturer from the School of Art and
clean sweep of top prizes in the Pipa Youth Category, Design, Mr Peter Tay, was named Designer of The Year at
at the biennial National Chinese Music Competition. the President’s Design Award, Singapore’s most prestigious
NAFA students continued to learn outside their curriculum design accolade. The multiple award winner has worked
through competitions, partnerships and inter-disciplinary with industry giants such as Stefano de Martino, former
projects. Students from Design & Media (SOAD) put their associate partner of Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, and
skills to the test at the Crowbar Awards and placed very Raoul Bunschoten.
well with numerous medals, finishing with the overall Best of
Show Award. NAFA also emerged All-Stars at the Singapore Our alumni also made the news when Fine Art graduate
leg of Portfolio Night 2014, and represented the country at Khairuddin Hori was appointed to the prestigious role of
the Portfolio Night All-Stars in New York. In addition, Deputy Programming Director at the Palais de Tokyo in
our students also won prizes at the D&AD New Blood Paris. He assumed the position last November to lead a
Awards 2014. In March 2014, 3D Design (SOAD) team of six curators and to assist the Palais’s president
signed an MOU with King Mongkut’s University of Jean de Loisy in programming for the largest centre for
Technology Thonburi, Thailand, to conduct furniture design contemporary art in Europe.
collaborations and other joint initiatives. In addition to this,
pieces produced by 10 final-year furniture design students While our fundraising efforts have made progress,
were selected for production by home-grown furniture we continue to seek supporters for arts education.
design and lifestyle company, Commune. This year, we were able to lend a helping hand to
181 young artists with generous support from our
Noteworthy projects and inter-disciplinary study outcomes long-standing donors. A total of S$1.2 million in
include Folk Wisdoms, an exhibition that was the result of scholarships, bursaries and merit awards was disbursed.
an inter-disciplinary project involving students from We are grateful to our new donor, BreadTalk Group,
3D Design, Fine Art and Design & Media in a 5-day who has generously donated S$50,000 to support
workshop with principals from the Faculty of Fine Arts, diploma students in our Design & Media programmes.
Institut Seni Indonesia Yogyakarta. A project with
The Walt Disney Company saw Erica Devi Handika, As we move forward into a new chapter, I would like
a student from the Diploma of Fashion Design programme, to thank NAFA lecturers, staff and management for
designing and producing four Cinderella-inspired dresses their hard work and effort, which has moved NAFA’s arts
that were featured in the Singapore gala release of the film. education to a higher level. I would also like to thank
the board, corporate partners, the media, donors and
NAFA brought the exhibitions of two high-profile artists: all supporters of our vision to be a premier arts institution
Diego Rivera and Nadav Kander, to the public. in Asia.
Our students benefited from the talks and workshops
held in conjunction with the exhibitions. Held for the first Low Sin Leng
time in Singapore, the Diego Rivera exhibition by NAFA and Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts
the Embassy of Mexico showcased 34 pieces of historical
art from the state of Veracruz in Mexico and two mural
reproductions, produced during the 52 years of Rivera’s
prolific career. London-based Kander’s Prix Pictet winning
series, Yangtze, The Long River was exhibited for the first
time in Southeast Asia.
NAFA’s academic staff continue to be active contributors
in the arts and creative communities. Dr Caren Carino,
Vice Dean and Principal Lecturer of Dance (SOAMDT),
