ACM001 Art, Culture & Society

The course explores the complex relationships and interactions between Art, Society and Culture. Practitioners and individuals with significant experiences related to Art, Society & Culture will share their different perspectives on current developments in Singapore. Their talks will anchor our discussions and provide us with insights and deepen our understanding of the “realities” underlying the relationship between art and society in Singapore and elsewhere.

ACM002 Arts Leadership

The main aim of this course is to explore the nature and crucial significance of ‘leaders’ in the domain of arts and culture. Who becomes a leader in the arts/culture? Why? Students will be given some broad frameworks for thinking about leadership and shown case studies that exists in the Arts. The course hopes to also introduce the arts and culture landscape of Singapore and its challenges; and hopefully inspire the students; and to encourage the students to take a page from the experiences of Arts Leaders, which will contribute to their growth as leaders.

ACM 003 Introduction to Arts Management (Offered in AY 2016 - 2017 T1)

The course will also look at arts management from the arts practitioners’ and audience’s perspective, emphasizing public education and audience development. Following a theoretical introduction to aesthetics, art theory and cultural studies, the students will study spatial management (physical and technical planning and facilitation) and programme planning (curatorial, scheduling and programming). The arts management components in financial planning, marketing and operations are designed in the course to supplement the management courses in the programming. The students will further consider the “landscape” of distribution, consumption, ownership and copyright issues in the arts. The course will end with societal overviews – arts and the state, arts and businesses, and arts and civil society, within regional, national and global frames. A separate module on the Study Mission to the Venice Biennale (Venice, Italy) and Documenta (Kassel, Germany) is under planning. Arguably the two most significant events in the art world, the two coincide once every ten years. This happens in June/July 2017. The Introduction to Arts Management course also serves as a foundational knowledge to the study mission module should the students be also keen to enroll in the study mission in mid-2017.

ACM004 Further Arts Management (Offered in AY2016 - 2017, T2)

Stay tuned... 

ACM103 The Arts in Health and Wellness Managements

There is a place for the Arts beyond museums and galleries. For example, the arts are increasingly being regarded by clinicians and health workers as an integral component of healthcare. Art professionals now work side-by-side with members of the medical community in hospitals, long-term care facilities, and hospice/palliative care organizations. Art programmes in healthcare facilities include the display of art, performances in publicspaces, and bedside activities. Research conclusively shows that creative arts therapies contribute to a healing environment. Art supports thephysical, mental, and emotional recovery of patients,communicate health and recovery information. The Arts are now used in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorders to autism, mental health, chronic illnesses,Alzheimer’s and dementia, neurological disorders, and brain injuries, premature infants, and physicaldisabilities. These programmesare also being shown to have economic benefits. The Arts can result in shorter hospital stays, less medication, and patients have fewer complications. Because the arts can foster a positive environment for patients, caregivers reportreduced stress which result in improved workplace satisfaction, and therefore employee retention.

The syllabus pairs classroom seminars with practicums held on-site at health care facilities including Singapore General Hospital, Khoo Teck Phuat hospital, Alexandra

Hospital,Deutsche Bank , TCC, Club 21, Wheelock Properties

At the practicums, students engage with healthcare and other industry professionals who will take students on-site walkabouts that will cover arts for health programmes, exhibition spaces, public and community art programmes. The knowledge can be translated to applications where creativity meets commercial scenarios .

The combination of seminars and site visits provide students with special opportunities to see how creative, conceptual, and managerial thinking isapplied to clinical, environments, and in turn to commercial settings.

ACM 202 Introduction to Event/Festival Management

This course will focus on event management in a theory-into-practice approach in collaboration with industry players

ACM 203 An Introduction to Museum/Gallery Studies (Offered in AY2016 - 2017, T2)

This is a unique course that is offered through the partnership of SMU with the National Heritage Board Education and Outreach Department. The syllabus combines classroom seminars with practicums held on-site at museums and heritage centres and heritage sites. Classroom sessions interrogate museal theory and discuss topics such as; heritage and identity; the politics of representation; museums and heritage centres and the community. At the practicums, students engage with museum professionals who will take students on-site walkabouts that will cover exhibition spaces as well as behind the scenes. The combination of seminars and site visits provides students with the special opportunity to see how creative, conceptual, and managerial thinking are realised in museum displays and outreach programmes.

This term’s course focuses on the on-the-job learning in the professional roles of research writer of the Little India Heritage Trail Booklet. The production of such a booklet works within a typical magazine publication management structure. Through the hands-on course work students essential produces a publication involving learning skills that will be valuable in many real work situations such as the publication of annual reports, the design and writing for product catalogues, the publishing of in-house newsletters,The hands-on learning experience in heritage research and writing uses ethnography as research method. The researcher enters into the field as a participant observer. The researcher also refers to secondary sources such as published texts, oral history recordings, as well as other sources of information such as epigraphs. Ethnography is the qualitative research method companies carry out when considering the launch of a new product.Museums and heritage centres are about a people, for people. Public views of museums and heritage centres1 include:

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1. The central purpose of a museum is the preservation of national heritage which is strongly linked to national pride and identity.

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2. While preserving heritage is crucial, the collections have to be displayed. Storage for its own sake is not the point.

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3. Museums and heritage centres are trusted sources of information/learning.

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4. Museums and heritage centres are about education and entertainment.

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5. Museums and heritage centres promote through tourism.

ACM 206 Dance, Culture and Society

Perspectives on dance history, culture and society can be studied through a broad framework that looks at themes such as race, gender, tradition and change. These issues will be explored in historical periods from the Romantic to the contemporary eras including western classical ballet to post-modernism, traditional eastern dance forms to evolving Asian contemporary dance. Underpinning the discourse is the tension between individual expression and societal norms, expectations, regulations and cultural identities.

ACM 207 The Art World: A Context for Framing Arts and Culture Management

This course is intended as a contextual approach to arts and culture management. The course has four components:

(1) Institutional Theory of Art;

(2) Key Arts events in Singapore in January 2016; (3) The Scope of Arts and Culture Management; and

(4) Museum Visits.

The key design of the course is to interface two sets of theories as points of access to the arts and arts management, and three sets of encounters with arts events and artworks. The theoretical articulation and knowledge relate with the encounters and experiences of the ‘real’ art world and artworks. This interface will serve as a continual reflection between theory and events, knowledge and practice.

ACM009 Publishing: The What, Why, When, Where and How (Offered in AY 2016 - 2017 T1)

The subject and nature of publishing has been changing since time immemorial. In today’s complex world it has become particularly interesting in terms of its meaning, scope, purpose, value and process. This exploratory module will seek to understand better the 4Ws and the 1 H of publishing as exemplified in practice as well as understood by key players. From publishing as a very private act (writing a poem on a wall, for example) to online/digital publishing (as seems to be the major movement nowadays) this act of *making public* of one’s creative/artistic works has been the source of surprise, amazement, engagement and intense discussion/debate.

In order to help us understand better some of the complexities involved we will, from time to time, invite experts to share their insights and experiences with us so that a firmer grasp of the vast and varied manner of today’s publishing world is obtained.