SINGAPORE – A new South-east Asian arts module that will enrol over 700 students annually, travel grants for underprivileged students and art residencies.
These are some programmes that will be funded by the United Overseas Bank (UOB) at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (Nafa), in an inaugural five-year tie-up to further Singapore and South-east Asian art.
First announced in November 2023 during the 42nd UOB Painting of the Year award ceremony at Victoria Theatre, details were confirmed on April 15, when the gift agreement of an undisclosed sum was signed at Nafa.
The new online course, called the UOB Introduction To SEA Arts, will be compulsory for all first-year Nafa diploma students from August 2025.
It promises to help students better understand regional creative and cultural influences and broaden their thinking about art and its possibilities, correcting the Western bias prevalent in much of art education.
As part of the module, Nafa will also set up a SEA travel grant to enable 30 underprivileged students each year to travel for overseas exchange, taking them to other regional cultural hubs in Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines.
Nafa president Tan-Soh Wai Lan said in a statement the gift establishes the school as a “beacon and gateway” for SEA arts.
“Partnerships such as this with UOB represent a shared commitment to arts education and talent development in the region. The South-east Asian region is a vibrant mosaic of heritage and culture, inspiring diverse and dynamic artistic expressions. We remain dedicated to grounding our students’ learning in this cultural richness,” she said.
Part of the gift will also go to supporting the continuation of the Nafa artist-in-residence programme, where two eminent SEA artists each year are offered a residency at Cite internationale des arts, an artist-in-residence building complex in Paris that accommodates 1,200 creatives from around the world every year.
The two Nafa artist studios there were first set up in 1998 and 1999, and have since housed numerous Cultural Medallion recipients, such as Han Sai Por, Chng Seok Tin and Lim Tze Peng.
According to Nafa, more than 70 artists have benefited from the programme in the last 25 years, which fully subsidises the stay at the 30 sq m studio apartments.
In parallel, UOB will also support two artist residencies in Singapore a year over the next five years. A UOB spokeswoman said at least one of the two spots available in Singapore and in Paris will go to artists shortlisted in the UOB Painting of the Year competition.
Finally, the gift also supports the annual Southeast Asian Arts Forum, organised by Nafa’s Institute of South-east Asian Arts, and its affiliated programmes, continuing UOB’s involvement in the symposium since 2019.
To date, over 2,250 seminal artists and educators have participated in editions of the multi-day forum which, in 2023, featured dialogues and performances. These included Malaysia-based writer Wen Di Sia’s sharing about indigenous knowledge and cosmologies, and Indonesian puppet theatre company Flying Balloons Puppet’s production that envisioned a future that de-centred human existence.
Mr Wee Ee Cheong, deputy chairman and chief executive officer of UOB, said the bank is committed to strengthening communities in SEA and transforming lives through the influence of art.
UOB is a major sponsor of the region’s arts space. In January, the founding partner of National Gallery Singapore in 2015 extended its partnership with the gallery for another five years, which will help the gallery research and acquire new works for the UOB Southeast Asia Gallery.
The bank is also launching the 43rd edition of UOB Painting of the Year, its flagship venture into the arts in 1982, in May.
Mr Wee said: “UOB is committed to fostering meaningful connections through art, which resonate beyond our business endeavours. We are excited to partner Nafa to continue championing SEA art.”
