Part of T:>Works’ The Season of Thought Leadership: in the Arts, by the Arts, with the Arts, launched on 7 March 2024, Artistic Directors Academy (ADA), led by T:>Works Artistic Director Ong Keng Sen, is a research laboratory to develop Artistic Directors, harnessing international cultural innovators to helm Masterclass modules, as well as individual mentoring to sharpen and intensify skillsets.

ADA focuses on giving perspectives to existing and potential Artistic Directors who wish to facilitate creative platforms, collectives, engagement projects, companies, venues, and festivals. ADA is a curriculum-based capacity development project where T:>Works will share its immense skills in the international field, translating international developments to artistic positions in the local context, and therefore opening up creative avenues internationally whilst being based locally.

ADA took off in March 2024 with an open call, which concluded on 30 April, yielding a selection of 18 Fellows. The accomplished individuals spanning disciplines of performing arts, ecology, curation, visual arts, creative design, literary arts, architecture, technology, discourse, and community engagement, have committed to participate in ADA Masterclasses, mentoring, and discussions, which will culminate in research projects being showcased at the final presentation in 2025.

Who is Artistic Directors Academy (ADA) for?

 ADA is open to aspiring and existing individuals facilitating the content of, producing for, curating, or dramaturging, any of the following:

• creative platforms, collectives (including visual arts), performance groups, arts education, archives (including film/moving image), discourse networks;
• community engagement projects; and
• exhibition spaces, interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary arts centres;
• also those who are potentially interested in becoming curators, directors, producers, dramaturgs, and programmers of festivals – literary, film, visual culture, sound & music, traditional arts, design & architecture, digital (small & large scale, live & virtual, outdoors & indoors, local & international).

Participating in Artistic Directors Academy (ADA)

• Modular Participation:
  Eligible for SkillsFuture Credit, Masterclass modules are open for paying participation at S$1,000 per module by interested members of discourse, cultural, design, arts, scientific, and adjacent professions/industries.
• Free Public Participation:
  Select conversations and talks will be made available.
• Full Participation of One Year (Low Residency):
  Open call for applicants has now closed.

Media Releases

• What’s Coming Up at T:>Works: Explore Nature & Ecologies with Yasmine Ostendorf-Rodríguez and 5G Hotspot with Wong Binghao! (17 September 2024)
• T:>Works’ Artistic Directors Academy (ADA) strides on with second Masterclass and Public Lecture on Queer Labour by Fadescha (1 August 2024)
• T:>Works launches ‘The Season of Thought Leadership: in the Arts, by the Arts, with the Arts’ with a public conversation on “The people cultures of a national theatre” (26 February 2024)

For more details, please contact [email protected].