The Custodian of the Arts – Conversation with National Gallery Singapore’s CEO

BBA Year 1, Jia Songshan, tells us more about an exclusive dialogue session he and his classmates had with National Gallery Singapore’s CEO Ms Chong Siak Ching, and her team.

The visit to National Gallery Singapore (NGS) was an enriching experience and had a couple of surprises. On the way there, it was revealed that Ms Chong Siak Ching, had invited her senior management team to hold a conversation session with us. Besides that, we were also treated to an exclusive tour around the gallery by experienced historians.

With the background of NGS, my peers and I had a chance to hear some stories behind the building and some art work. This definitely enhanced the entire experience of the session, even before we got to the “main event”.

As mentioned, we started the visit by touring around the impressive galleries housed inside NGS. We had the privilege of having volunteer guide Mr Tim Clark who was so passionate in sharing stories and many insights into the art history of Singapore. Particularly, he pointed out several pioneer painters from Singapore like Cheong Soo Pieng, Liu Kang and Chen Wen Hsi. He explained in great detail the historical significance and artistic intricacy of their artworks. This is a great “appetiser” for our visit as everyone got a much deeper understanding, and therefore appreciation, of the museum and its importance. NGS is not just another museum in Singapore, but one which helps to bridge the gap between local and regional arts, thus creating a “melting pot of culture and arts”.

Because of the tour, the subsequent conversation with Ms Chong and her team became much more enjoyable as we were able to relate on the points they shared. Drawing our own experiences from the tour, this created a better environment of conversation. Some key questions that were asked: how does the museum decide on what exhibitions to run and how are exhibitions organised. Besides organisation-specific questions, we were also able to engage in more general topics of discussion such as leadership and failures.

Personally, I was really fascinated to hear how Ms Chong overcame her initial lack of expertise in the arts sphere to become one of the leaders in the industry. One of my personal key takeaways were: the importance of skills transfer and people management. She reminded us that despite our backgrounds or expertise, we can and should always develop more generic skills which can be utilised in every context.

In summary, this conversation with the entire senior management of NGS has been very rewarding. It gave us an opportunity to gain insights into an industry which many of us might take for granted and helped us to understand what goes on behind a national organisation that aims to promote the arts to different stakeholders while still ensuring the smooth running of the business. Even for students who are not particularly inclined to the creative industry, this session has helped them to deepen their understanding of leadership.