Industry Experiences
Kolektif Administrator (Part time)
About Kolektif:
Kolektif is an experimental programme under the National Gallery's youth engagement wing. Targeted at 17-25 years olds in Singapore, the 4 or 9 months long programme aims to equip youths with basic art programming skills and bring together various social issues, youth subculture and Southeast Asian Art through thought provoking public programmes such as The Kolektif Takeover.
My main tasks includes procurement, management of internal and external stakeholders (vendors, Kolektif members and Kolektif alumni), developing and marketing schedule and programme calendaring, brainstorm and carry out social media initiatives, engage in research on current and cross disciplinary youth engagement as well as planning and executing Kolektif-led public programmes.
General Tasks
Logistic Management
As a Kolektif admin, I was in charge of the maintenance and upkeep of the inventory (by purchasing new ones when the old ones run out and laundering the logistics after event use). For each event, I would consolidate what is required from the logistics and AV team.
I was surprised of how much logistics and preparation is required for a programme, especially behind-the-scenes. With this experience, it gave me a better understanding of another aspect of event planning which helps me to be mindful of the preparations required. In my future roles, I would ensure that I provide sufficient time for preparations and set-up after knowing how much work and time is required for it.
Sharing sessions
The youth engagement team also do sharing sessions about Kolektif with students from tertiary institutions such as NAFA, Lasalle, Ngee Ann Polytechnic. As the main person in contact, I liaised with the lecturers to confirm the content of the sharing sessions, assist in booking of the venue suited for the amount of students, preparing powerpoint slides, as well as setting up and tearing down of location. Through communicating with our partners, I have honed my communication and liaison skills
Social Media Campaigns
I have worked on multiple social media campaigns that pushed Kolektif's social media presence amongst the youths today. One of the most significant campaigns is Kolektif Krossover which invites young creators of different disciplines (makeup artists, bakers, jagua ink tattoo, songwriters, poets, etc) to respond to the Gallery's art collection. As the person in charge of Season 7 of Kolektif Krossover, I researched and reached out to potential creators, planned out the social media calendaring for this campaign, designed the frame for the posts, and copyedited the captions. This allowed me improve my organisational skills while doing social media calendaring and refine my collateral designing skills as well.
During the process, I also liaised with the creators and internal staff from the Information Management department in attaining approval for the creators' drafts. Upon leveraging on the creators' audience, it pushes the visitor ship to our Instagram page.
Projects
Kolektif 2023 + Kolektif Takeover 2023: The _ Project
The 2023 Kolektif programme recruited 14 youth volunteers (aka Kolektif members) to plan and execute a public programme at the gallery under the guidance of the Gallery's youth engagement team. Here are my tasks as a youth coordinator of Kolektif 2023 Programme:
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Meeting facilitation
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People Management
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Liaison
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Design Production
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Social Media Management
I conceptualised and prepared powerpoint slides for the biweekly Kolektif meetings. During the meetings, I facilitated with the brainstorming of programme ideas and social issues together with three other coordinators. This honed my creative thinking while conceptualising programme ideas together with the members.
Upon finalising the programme ideas and social issues, the members were split into 2 groups and each group worked on one sub-programme. I was tasked to oversee the planning and execution of the group that was working on the programme called "Garden of Discovery". During the process, I had to keep track of the team's progress, sourced for resources from internal stakeholders and external vendors, and oversee the members' wellbeing. By doing so, my time and people management skills as well as resourcefulness was greatly enhanced. Due to the small team size, I am able to get hands-on with majority of the task. The Kolektif Programme 2023 and the final takeover was a great exposure and insight towards the various aspects of events planning in a museum setting.
Kolektif Takeover @ Light to night 2023: Triva Night!
Kolektif held a trivia night and chill space in the theme of Y2K at the Gallery as part of 2023 Light to Night. Here are my tasks for the event:
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Logistic Management
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Brainstorming of Trivia Night questions
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Planning the layout and activities at Youth Chill Space
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Social Media Management
My main task was planning and executing the Youth Chill Space which consists of small activities such as film photo-taking, friendship bracelet making, and more. I then had to purchase new materials needed for the Y2K decoration of the chill space, and helped with the operations during the event day itself which includes setting up and tearing down of both the Trivia Night and Chill Space. At the same time, I also helped to brainstorm Trivia Night questions and handled the social media of the day.
Communications Intern
At STPI - Creative Workshop and Gallery, I was involved in the organisation’s marketing and communications as a communications intern. My job scope comprises of organisation and upkeep of STPI’s library; preparing exhibition press and wrap-up packs, developing e-mailers; website content maintenance; doing support research and content development for exhibitions and social media, as well as Front of House duties at the gallery (giving tours, taking note of visitorship etc)
Projects
STPI Open House 2021: Kampong Spirit
What I Did:
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Singlehandedly planned and executed five marketing campaigns:
1. Unique hashtags (#STPIOpenHouse2021 & #STPISemangatKampong)
2. Social media photography contest
3. Tik Tok
4. Instagram filter
5. Interview with audience and volunteers -
Social media management (Instagram, Facebook and Tik Tok)
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Email Marketing
Making use of the knowledge and skills that I have gained in Arts Marketing, I was able to design the marketing timeline, social media campaigns targeted at younger audience (30 years and below) and social media calendar for this event rather smoothly.
I also took the initiative in launching and managing STPI's official Tik Tok account in hopes to extend the organisation's reach to the youths through this trendy digital platform today. Even though the followers remain low, the four video contents that I conceptualised, shot, edited and published has garnered over 500 views up to date.
What I Learnt:
This experience has taught me many valuable lessons and skills such as:
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ability to adapt to unforeseen circumstances and make adjustments to plans quickly due to the sudden changes in the projects happening concurrently, which then affected the progress of the marketing campaigns.
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Importance of post event publicity in retaining audiences for the next event
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The need to evaluate the capability & resources of department & company beforehand so as to produce high quality content within tight timeline
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Effective communication with team members to resolve an issue swiftly
Me facilitating the screen printing activity at STPI Open House 2021: Kampong Spirit
3 PUMPKINS KIDS TOUR
What I Did:
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Utilising visual images and printmaking tools such as the mesh, silkscreen, etching tool and more to explain the various printmaking methods
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Incorporated two activities - Charades and kinetic sand with the aim to facilitate the comprehension of the themes, land reclamation and sea state
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Created simple quizzes, to keep track of the kids' understanding and get them to participate in the tour actively
I have also been given the opportunity to design and lead a guided tour with 20 students (age 8 to 17 years) and four adult volunteers from the 3 Pumpkins play centre. This tour touches on STPI’s latest exhibition, Charles Lim Yi Yong: Staggered Observations Of A Coast.
What I Learnt:
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Bringing over my experience from my Service Learning Project with Chen Su Lan Methodist Children's Home, my team recorded a DIY zine tutorial video while guiding the children through the activity in a clear and engaging manner by doing voiceovers. This has taught me to engage children with hands-on activities in a fun manner and have bettered my public speaking skills while leading the tour.
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Tweaking the tour content according to the learning capabilities and constraints of different audiences such as using simpler terms relatable analogies for younger audience could facilitate in better understanding of the concepts.
PART TIME ART WORKSHOP ASSISTANT
What I did:
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Part time workshop assistant at Artventure Cove (April - June 2021)
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Preparing materials and setting up venue before the workshop
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Registering the participants
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Ensuring that temperatures are taken prior the sessions
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Explaining the instructions and demonstrating in a clear and friendly manner
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Facilitated 2-8 children per 30-45 mins session
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Ensuring COVID-19 safety measures are strictly adhered to
Paper Carnation Workshop
Quilling Monster Workshop
What I LEARNT:
During the workshops, I got the opportunity to work with young families with children age 3-12. Assisting children in making artworks through different mediums has trained my patience and workshop facilitation skills, deepening my knowledge and understanding of the younger generation at the same time.
Batik Painting Workshop