In Appreciation and Recognition of Our Arts Educators

Goh Lay Kuan (b. 1939) is a pioneering figure in Singapore’s dance scene. Celebrated as a dancer, choreographer, educator, and arts activist, Goh received the Cultural Medallion in 1995 for her artistic achievements and valuable contributions to her field. In 2014, Goh was inducted into the Singapore Council of Women’s Organisations’ Hall of Fame.

Although she had a late start to ballet at the age of 17, Goh proved to be a diligent learner at the Singapore Ballet Academy; training under teachers like Goh Soo Nee, Vernon Martinus, and Frances Poh. Upon saving enough funds, she left for Australia to study under Laura Martin at the Victoria Ballet Guild in Melbourne. After graduating with honours, she danced with several companies before landing the position of principal ballerina with Ballet Victoria.

Despite these successes, Goh found it challenging to thrive in Australia due to the racial discrimination encountered there. Together with her partner, Kuo Pao Kun who was studying in Sydney at the time, they decided to return to Singapore in 1965.

Upon returning, the couple co-founded the Singapore Performing Arts School (PPAS), with the vision of creating symbiotic relationships between creative performance and arts education. The school operated under several different names over the years It was renamed the Practice Theatre School in 1973, the Practice Performing Arts School in 1984, and The Theatre Practice in 1997. However, its approach remained largely the same, melding traditional and contemporary expressions with a sense of social consciousness. While Kuo taught drama, Goh served as the principal dance instructor with the intent to eventually form a professional dance company. The school was largely self-funded, which meant that they had to handle most of the work, such as teaching, writing, directing, and stage craft, themselves.

In 1976, both Goh and Kuo were detained without trial under the Internal Security Act for their alleged association with communism and for producing works that appeared to diverge from the state’s dominant political stance. Goh “recanted” her involvement and was released while Kuo remained incarcerated for four years, leaving her to run their school and care for their daughters on her own. In 1980, upon Kuo’s release, Goh entered a new phase of artistic prolificacy, as a solo practitioner, collaborator, and educator. She expanded her curriculum and added other forms of dance to her repertoire.

In the early 1980s, she spent time training with the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance in New York City, which led to the development of works that blended a diverse array of Southeast Asian sensibilities and contemporary influences. During this time, Goh received a commission to produce Singapore’s first full-length dance production for the 1988 Singapore Arts Festival. The finished work Nu Wa – Mender of the Heavens brought together dance, orchestral music, and choral pieces, and was lauded by The Straits Times as “the most significant modern dance ever produced”.

Goh’s artistic output continued through the 1990s and 2010s with several key productions—Sheng Ji (Rites of Life) and Yu Gui (Homing of Fish), which were performed by the Guangdong Modern Dance Company; and Returning, conceived for the 2015 Singapore International Festival of Arts. In tandem, she turned her focus to early childhood arts education, launching the Play-in-Arts programme for preschoolers in 1988, and the Student Theatre Exposure Project in 1994. Presently, Goh continues to serve as artistic advisor for The Theatre Practice.

Han Sai Por (b. 1943) is a Singaporean artist well-respected for her large-scale sculptures hewn from granite and marble—two of her favoured natural materials.

Han graduated from Singapore’s Teacher’s Training College in 1968 and spent the next decade as a primary school teacher. Following her childhood aspiration to pursue an arts education, Han enrolled in part-time studies at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) in the mid-1970s. In 1979, she moved to the United Kingdom where she attended a foundational course at East Ham College of Art, and subsequently Wolverhampton College of Art in 1980. It was at Wolverhampton that she was introduced to stone carving and began immersing herself in sculpture work. She graduated in 1983 with a Bachelor’s degree with Honours in Fine Art.

Upon her return to Singapore, Han was one of only two educators who taught at Nanyang Girls’ High School, as part of the Ministry of Education’s newly launched Arts Elective Programme (AEP). Launched in 1984, the AEP was conceptualised as an intensive enrichment programme that marked a significant shift towards recognising the arts as a useful means to develop students’ conceptual and creative skills.

As an artist, Han is an active participant in local and international art exhibitions, symposiums and workshops. Her group showcases include the Contemporary Asian Art Show at National Museum of Modern Art, Seoul (1986), the 5th Asian Sculpture Symposium, Kuala Lumpur (1987), the 3rd Asian Art Show at Fukuoka Art Museum, Japan (1989) and Sculpture in Singapore at National Museum Art Gallery, Singapore (1991).

Han’s tenacity, creativity and mastery are also well-documented through her numerous solo exhibitions and public art commissions. She staged her first solo showcase at the National Museum Art Gallery, Singapore in 1993. Han also continued to serve as a part-time lecturer at NAFA, LASALLE College of the Arts and the National Institute of Education between 1987 to 1995.

In 1995, Han received the Cultural Medallion for her exemplary contributions to Singapore’s arts and cultural landscape, and became a full-time sculptor in 1996. In 2001, upon consulting with her artistic peers—Lim Soo Ngee, Baet Yeok Kuan, John Low and the late Chng Seok Tin, Han founded Sculpture Society Singapore with the vision of creating a strong community of sculptors to further the development and appreciation of sculpture in Singapore.

The next two decades saw Han receiving wide international acclaim. Her exhibition credits include XI Triennale, New Delhi, India (2005)—where she received the Sculpture Award, Beijing Olympic International Tour Exhibition, China (2008) and Singapore Biennale (2016). Her seminal Black Forest series has been presented at Jendela, Esplanade, Singapore (2011), Institute of Southeast Asian Art and Art Galleries, NAFA, Singapore (2013) and Gangwon International Biennale, in conjunction with the PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games, South Korea (2018). Most recently in 2022, Han presented two solo exhibitions Microorganisms Landscapes, at Jendela, Esplanade, Singapore and The Forest and Its Soul at Singapore Tyler Print Institute.

Apart from her artistic achievements, Han is noted for her impact on generations of arts students. Her nurturing spirit, generosity and influence continues to be witnessed today, through her work with the Sculpture Society, and her interactions with her former students—many of whom have grown to become accomplished practitioners and educators themselves.

Lim Yau (b. 1952) is recognised as one of Singapore’s most prominent orchestral and choral conductors. A recipient of the Cultural Medallion in 1990 and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Composers and Authors Society of Singapore in 2011, Lim has held several key positions throughout the course of his long career. He was involved as a crucial figure during the nascent stages of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO), most notably as its Resident Conductor between 2001 and 2011. He was also the Music Director of the Singapore Symphony Chorus (SSC) during the same period. A passionate advocate for symphonic and choral music, he is also an influential and nurturing figure at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA).

Lim’s artistic development began at an early age when he was exposed to Beijing opera music. He found himself drawn to the televised performances of the Vienna Boys’ Choir, and learned how to play the piano. As a student at River Valley High School, he sang in the choir and helped the school’s Chinese orchestra to notate music. During his National Service, he performed with a Chinese orchestra and was invited to stay on to work with the reservists’ choir. There, he helped to transcribe and arrange choral music, also making his first foray into conducting.

Thereafter, Lim took on a teaching stint and decided to pursue music as a full-time career. With funding support from his siblings, Lim studied voice and choral conducting at the Royal College of Music in London. This was followed by a scholarship to study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he received a postgraduate diploma in Advanced Orchestral Conducting. He also had the opportunity to study under the masters Franco Ferrara at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, and Sergiu Celibidache at the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra in Germany.

Upon his return to Singapore, Lim became closely involved with inter- and intra-generational music making in the Singapore arts scene. Apart from his leadership with the SSO and SSC, Lim was also Music Director of the Singapore National Youth Orchestra (1990–2002), and the Singapore Symphony’s Children’s Choir (2006–2010). He also played a significant role in the formation of several new ensembles. In 1990, he co-founded the Singapore Lyric Theatre (now known as the Singapore Lyric Opera). In 1994, he founded and led the Philharmonic Chamber Choir (PCC), which was soon to be recognised as one of Southeast Asia’s leading chamber choirs.

Driven by a desire to empower and develop emerging talents in his field, Lim joined NAFA in 2012 as Head of its music department and of Orchestral Studies and Chamber Music. He also directed the Academy’s own orchestra and chorus. He later assumed the position of Dean at the School of Music (2015–2019) and was instrumental in establishing its first specialist conducting diploma programme, as well as building a network of alumni who have gone on to light their own paths in performance, conducting and teaching. Since 2020, Lim has served as the School of Music’s Artistic Director, continuing to nurture and guide others within its various programmes.

Iskandar Jalil (b. 1940) is Singapore’s pre-eminent master potter whose unique style melds Japanese aesthetics and philosophy with Southeast Asian and Islamic elements. A recipient of the Cultural Medallion in 1988, Iskandar is recognised for his excellence in ceramics as well as for his contributions as a teacher and mentor.

The turning point in Iskandar’s pottery practice was when he was awarded a Colombo Plan scholarship to study ceramics engineering at Tajimi City Pottery Design and Technical Centre in Japan. His stay in Japan changed his view of pottery and was to exert an important influence on the process of his pottery making, from the simplicity of their beauty to the earthiness of their form to the glazes that he used. His connection to Japan was recognised when he was conferred the title of “Master Potter” by his teacher when he visited the country in 2000. In recognition of his efforts in promoting cultural exchange between Singapore and Japan for over four decades, Iskandar was conferred the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette by the Emperor of Japan.

One of the most salient aspects of Iskandar’s pottery is in the application of glazes, which he prepares himself. They are distinctive for their use of matte glazes and a blue oxide colour that came to be known as “Iskandar Blue”. While Japanese influence is evident in the simplicity of their form and beauty, their tactile quality and “imperfect” shape, his works are subtly rooted in Southeast Asian and Islamic aesthetics as seen in their motifs and Jawi calligraphy, the use of local materials and the use of twigs, often as a handle, which gives his works an organic and indigenous quality.

Iskandar’s works have been showcased in numerous art and ceramic exhibitions in Singapore and overseas. He has also worked on several public art commissions, sited at the Tanjong Pagar MRT station, and at Changi International Airport Terminal 2. His works can be found in many private and public collections in Singapore and around the world, such as those of Singapore’s first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, former USA president George Bush as well as the National Gallery Singapore and the National Museum of Sweden.

As an educator, Iskandar first trained in mathematics and science at the Teacher’s Training College but developed an interest in art while taking an art module there. He taught pottery at the Baharuddin Vocational Institute, where many well-known Singapore artists received their education. He also taught at the National University of Singapore, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, and was most associated with Temasek Polytechnic’s School of Design. Iskandar also served as an external examiner for colleges in Australia and Malaysia. After his retirement in 1999, he continued to teach privately.

As cikgu (Malay for ‘teacher’) to his students, Iskandar has a reputation for attention to details and uncompromisingly high standards, often encouraging  them to discard works that were not up to par. Through both institutional and private teaching, Iskandar came to influence a whole generation of master artists. Foremost among them are ceramicists Ahmad Abu Bakar and Suriani Suratman.

Milenko Prvački (b. 1951) is celebrated as one of Singapore’s major artists, with a rich practice that spans more than four decades. Born in the former Yugoslavia, Prvački migrated to Singapore in 1991 during the Yugoslav wars. As a dedicated educator, he has taught, groomed and mentored numerous award-winning artists since 1994. In 2012, he was honoured with Singapore’s Cultural Medallion for his contributions to cultural life here.

Prvački is recognised for his signature visual language, expressed through sculpture, installation, and most notably, larger-than-life paintings. His rich body of work including Ultimate Visual Dictionary (1999–2000), Construction Site (2001–03), Covered Up (2011–2013), and Remembrance of Things Past (2012), links his past and present. Through an ongoing process of building, destruction, construction and erasure, his art is an ode to the ever-transforming Singapore. For instance, in Abstraction for Beginners (2017–2023), Prvački exposes the landscape to forces of change and transformation through abstract forms. In his commitment to always seek and explore, he practises a daily ritual of painting and says that ‘painting is like breathing’.

It is this practice of experimentation and freedom that also compels Prvački to mentor and educate young artists. Upon arriving in Singapore, he commenced teaching at LASALLE College of the Arts in 1994 after meeting with the College founder, the late Brother Joseph McNally. He has since served in various leadership roles, including Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts. He presently holds the position of Senior Fellow.

Prvački has influenced many notable Singaporean artists, including Jane Lee, Ruben Pang, Tan Wee Lit and Ye Shufang. Besides teaching in Singapore, he continues to be engaged as a visiting professor of fine arts at Musashino Art University in Tokyo, Sabanci University in Istanbul, University of Washington’s School of Art in Washington D.C., and RMIT University in Melbourne.

A firm believer in arts education built around an epistemology of sharing, learning and making, Prvački has initiated numerous programmes throughout his career. In particular, he founded an international artist residency, Tropical Lab, in 2009, where postgraduate students from top art schools worldwide gather in Singapore to deliberate on a given theme. Notably, the residency has become a significant site for student artists to collaborate and build a global community.

Prvački actively exhibits locally and internationally. His works are in various private and public collections, such as the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Australia; Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade, Serbia; Museum of Contemporary drawing, Nuremberg, Germany; Singapore Art Museum and National Gallery Singapore. Additionally, he is widely consulted on arts issues in Singapore.

Prvački’s art has garnered him numerous awards and honours. In 1982, he was awarded the Museum of Contemporary Drawing Award and the Faber Castel Award conferred by the International Drawing Triennale in Nuremberg, Germany and in 1985, the Special Jury Award at the International Painting Exhibition, Cagnes sur Mer, France. In 2011, he was honoured with the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government and, more recently, in 2020, the 22nd Sava Šumanović Fine Art Award by the government of Serbia.

Through his dedication to his art and arts education in Singapore, Prvački remains a beacon for a generation of artists.

Thirunalan Sasitharan (b. 1958) is a Singaporean actor, educator, writer, and activist. He is the Co-Founder and Director of the Intercultural Theatre Institute (ITI), an independent theatre school in Singapore. A recipient of the Cultural Medallion in 2012 and the third Harvard Club of Singapore Fellow Award in 2022, Sasitharan is considered one of the key thinkers and movers within the local arts community and beyond.

Sasitharan’s foray into acting and theatre craft began in the 1970s when he was a student at Victoria School. He continued to be active in the theatre, as a Philosophy major at the National University of Singapore (NUS). In 1981, he was invited by Kuo Pao Kun, a pioneering dramatist and arts activist, to co-write a script. The play, No Parking On Odd Days, was the first of many collaborative projects the pair would develop.

Between 1983 and 1989, Sasitharan taught philosophy at NUS. He also worked as a journalist and editor for The Straits Times where he presented his critical perspectives on the state of the arts in Singapore, including issues related to aesthetics, society, and politics.

In 1996, Sasitharan became the second Artistic Director of The Substation, succeeding Kuo who had founded the independent arts centre in 1990. Sasitharan further developed The Substation as a crucial space for artistic practice, discourse, collaboration, and experimentation that was welcoming to multiple disciplines, voices, and perspectives. Over five years, he established key platforms that foregrounded the practices and works of independent artists, writers, and filmmakers. These included the artist-in-residence programme and Moving Images, a signature showcase of experimental films from Singapore and neighbouring countries.  

In 2000, Sasitharan and Kuo co-founded the Theatre Training and Research Programme (TTRP), which was conceptualised as a tertiary-level programme for actors. Upon Kuo’s passing in 2002, Sasitharan continued to head and develop the programme as it continued to draw students from all over the world. Adopting a global pedagogical outlook, TTRP set out to train students in classical Asian and Western performance traditions who can work in a range of contemporary theatre genres and forms. The programme was unique in that it catered to budding actors seeking new and original experiences beyond the boundaries and paradigms set by the theatre industry. It also handed significant agency to them in theatrical production and other behind-the-scenes processes.

In 2011, TTRP was re-launched as the Intercultural Theatre Institute, which has steadily gained prominence within Singapore’s arts scene. Under Sasitharan’s continued leadership, ITI remains one of Singapore’s key theatrical learning spaces that provides a rigorous, immersive and practice-based experience, while also encouraging the exploration of diverse cultural traditions and contemporary forms alike. Its graduates have gone on to become artists, educators, and cultural leaders in their own communities.  

Beyond ITI, Sasitharan is a sought-after speaker and writer, and is frequently invited to share his knowledge and insights on the arts, theatre education, aesthetics and creativity both in Singapore and abroad.

Teo Eng Seng (b. 1938) is an iconic figure in Singapore visual arts scene, known for his distinct visual style and sharp politically conscious commentary. His practice encompasses painting, sculpture, installation, and performative works. In particular, he has received critical praise for his signature paperdyesculp approach, transforming dyed paper pulp into evocative textural forms. In response to attaining the Cultural Medallion in 1986, Teo was reported to have referred to the honour as a “helpful burden” that motivates and pressures him to make better art, rather than a “reward” for work already done.

As a child, Teo was encouraged to express himself through art by his father, who was a photographer. He would draw often, sometimes on walls and floors, and helped his teachers to create posters. At 17, Teo attended art lessons that were jointly organised by the Singapore Art Society and the British Council, and also showed his work in an exhibition held at the Council’s hall. His first solo exhibition was staged in 1959 when he was a still a student at Pasir Panjang Secondary School—an audacious move that made the news in the Singapore Free Press.

Driven by his prodigious spirit, Teo embarked on a hitchhiking tour in India, Pakistan and Europe before working odd jobs to raise funds for his tertiary studies in the United Kingdom. In London, he worked while attending night classes at the Central School of Arts and Crafts. He then joined the degree programme at the Birmingham College of Art and Design. Upon receiving his Bachelor’s degree in painting and postgraduate qualifications in art teaching from the latter, Teo became an educator and also maintained an active art practice.

Between 1969 and 1971, he taught at a school in Shoreditch, London. Upon his return to Singapore thereafter, he joined the Singapore International School (now known as the United World College of Southeast Asia) as an art teacher. In 1978, he was made Head of the art department at the College; a position he held until 1996. There, he was pivotal in driving their annual arts festival and contemporary art exhibitions.

During his time at the College, Teo decided to abandon oil painting for a new method he was exploring. He termed his approach “paperdyesculp” and saw it as a means of repositioning his practice away from the Western conventions he was trained in. Tired of having his paintings compared to those of ‘Western artists’, he felt the need to develop a new process and medium that could speak to his creative impetus. This decision, coupled with his ability to consolidate these elements into expressive assemblages that critically reflect social conditions, has earned him accolades over the years. He has since continued to experiment with creased textiles and recycled plastic waste.

While Teo has eschewed his teaching position for a full-time artistic practice, he is known to be a generous spirit when it comes to offering advice, guidance, and opportunities to others. Of note is the transformation of his home into a free exhibition space, to showcase not only his own works but that of his peers and emerging artists.

Thiagarajan Kanaga Sabapathy (b. 1938), also known affectionately as T.K. Sabapathy is a key figure in Singapore’s arts and cultural landscape. He has contributed to the arts and arts education in Singapore as an art historian, curator, art critic and academic. As an art critic, Sabapathy has written regularly on exhibitions and the local art scene for The Straits Times, particularly in the 1980s and the first half of the 1990s. His incisive reviews of exhibitions have become an important part of the history of art criticism in Singapore.

Sabapathy’s career could be traced back to 1958, when he undertook an elective two-year undergraduate programme at the University of Malaya, then based in Singapore. He had enrolled in the university as a history major. From 1958 to 1960, he came under the tutelage of Michael Sullivan, an art historian and curator of the then University of Malaya Art Museum. Sullivan would have an important influence on him. From 1962 to 1965, Sabapathy studied in the MA in History of Art programme at the University of California, Berkeley, where he studied both Western and Asian art. Upon graduating, he then served as a research fellow specialising in Southeast Asian art at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

Sabapathy’s long and fruitful career as an academic started in the United Kingdom, where he taught Asian art at the Farnham School of Art in Surrey in the late 1960s and Southeast Asian sculpture at Saint Martin’s School of Art from 1969 to 1970. In 1971, he began teaching art history at the Universiti Sains Malaysia in Penang and spent almost 10 years there. During his tenure, he helped to establish the art historical foundations of Malaysian modern art. From 1981, Sabapathy taught an art history module at the Department of Architecture in the National University of Singapore, and currently holds the position of Adjunct Associate Professor in NUS. He has also lectured at the Nanyang Technological University’s (NTU) School of Art, Design and Media as well as the National Institute of Education. Sabapathy remains a tireless advocate of art history being taught as a full-fledged degree programme in the university after the art history programme at NUS was discontinued in 1973.

Sabapathy’s role as a curator was also important in educating the public about Singapore and Southeast Asian art. One of his most significant exhibitions is Modernity and Beyond: Themes in Southeast Asian Art, one of the inaugural exhibitions of the Singapore Art Museum in 1996. In 2012, he curated Intersecting Histories: Contemporary Turns in Southeast Asian Art, which marked the opening of the ADM Gallery, at NTU. These exhibitions represent his conviction of the concept of regionalism in exhibition-making and writing.

Sabapathy has accumulated a vast body of writings on Singapore and Southeast Asian art in the last five decades. This includes artists’ monographs, exhibition catalogues and reviews. These writings were recently compiled into the book Writing the Modern: Selected Texts on Art History in Singapore, Malaysia Southeast Asia, 1973–2015. From 2001 to 2004, Sabapathy was the director of the Contemporary Asian Arts Centre (CAAC), a contemporary Asian art research facility at LASALLE College of the Arts. His most important contribution in that capacity was a series of publications on the collected writings of artists such as Ho Ho Ying, Liu Kang and Cheo Chai Hiang, which have become a valuable scholarly resource. He is the co-editor of The Modern in Southeast Asian Art: A Reader (2023), a seminal collection of writings, including translations of works from the region.

Wee Beng Chong (b. 1938) is a Singaporean artist celebrated for his diversity of style and prolific multidisciplinary practice. His artistic works are expressed through a myriad of mediums including oil painting, Chinese ink painting, calligraphy, seal carving, sculpture, ceramics, and printmaking. Apart from being well-versed in traditional Chinese art forms, Wee is recognised for his unconventional adaptations and signature modernist style.

Wee developed a passion for art as a child. Between 1955 and 1958, he studied at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) under the guidance of pioneer artists like Cheong Soo Pieng, Chen Wen Hsi, Chen Chong Swee, See Hiang To, and Lim Hak Tai. After graduating from NAFA, Wee made commissioned artworks to fund his studies in Paris. There, he joined the renowned L’Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts between 1964 and 1969 to study sculpture. During this time, he received an International Prize for Modern Art at the 17th Grand Prix Painting Exhibition.

Wee has since exhibited his work in multiple solo and group showcases in Singapore. He continues to bring his work abroad to countries such as Australia, China, Japan, Korea and the United Kingdom. His artworks are also collected by both private and public institutions such as the National University of Singapore, the Overseas-Chinese Banking Corporation, and the National Gallery of Malaysia. He has won several awards for his artistic and professional contributions including the Pingat Apad, Angkatan Pelukis Aneka Daya, Singapore; the International Artist Award at the International OAC Exhibition in Japan, and the Gold Award from the International Calligraphy Exhibition in Guilin, China. Most notably, Wee was the first visual artist to be awarded Singapore’s Cultural Medallion at its inaugural ceremony in 1979.

As an educator, Wee has been committed to guiding students for over four decades. He first taught as a private art tutor upon his return from Paris in 1969. He then joined NAFA in 1981, eventually heading its Fine Art department between 1982 and 1989. Thereafter, he became a senior lecturer from 1990 to 2014 before serving as a Senior Teaching Fellow. Over the decades, Wee was an exemplar of artistic excellence to countless students, many of whom have gone on to contribute significantly to Singapore’s arts and cultural landscape. These include the National Arts Council’s Young Artist Award recipients Lim Poh Teck and Baet Yeok Kuan.

In addition to his teaching work at NAFA, Wee is a leader and mentor in other capacities. He was founder and President of the Modern Art Society; founder of the Lanting Art Society; advisor for the Shicheng Calligraphy and Seal-Carving Society; and Life Honorary Committee Member of the Seal Engraving Society of Korea. He has also served and contributed to various art societies and events in Singapore, such as the Singapore Sculpture Society, Federation of Art Societies, and the National Day Calligraphy and Painting Exhibition.

Wee’s tireless work in the development of Singapore’s visual arts scene will continue to inspire and influence generations of artists both here and beyond.