SMU Publication: The Straits Times Date: 7 January 2006 Headline: So long, farewell

So lonY farewe I Veteran arts managers Ng Siew En and Lena St George- I weet are changing jobs

Hong Xlnyi ARTS REWRTER

URED by attractive job offers, I two veteran arts administrators are moving on to new organis- L ations soon.

Next month, Ms Ng Siew Eng, 49, will leave her post of wmpany manag- er at the Singapore Dance Theatre (SDT) to become the wmpany man- ager of the Singapore Lyric Opera (SLO).

Her duties at the SLO will inclhde fund-raising and audience develop- ment activities.

That same month, current British Council arts director Lena St George- Sweet, 44, will also take up the post of assistant director of media/uublica- tions at Singapore Management Uni- versity (SMU).

Her duties include workine with ~ E s t u d e n t s to run the camP&mag- azine and its radio station.

Both women are almost synony- mous with their current organisations, as Ms Ng has spent 13 years with SDT, while Ms St George-Sweet has been with the British Council for 23 years. Ms Ng said she was very proud of

what she had accomplished at SDT, and wanted to try something different.

She received the job offer from SLO in August last year, and handed in her resignation letter in December.

"They were shocked, and asked me to reconsider. But I said that my deci- sion was final."

Still, it has been an emotional deci- sion, especially since she regards the

SDT dancers as "mv

These two ladies have

.- - family". Ms N& who has a

master's degree in marketing manage- ment from AusGa- made huge ,,,-,,,

headways for versity, joined SDT in 1993 after work-

the ark Scene' ing as an arts admin-

ThaaWeWo~*s is6ator for the Sin- gapore Symphony

-*gdkectw Orchestra (SSO) for Tw Tong 14 years.

To change the perception that dance was inaccessi- ble, she launched Ballet Under The Stars in 1995. The annual ballet per- formance at Fort C a ~ i n g Park has since become a popular event. Under her management, SDT has also ex- panded considerably and toured ex- tensively in the United States, Europe and the Asia Pacific region.

SLO chairman Mr Toh Weng Cheong described her as "probably the most experienced arts manager in Singapore". SLO has never had a pro- fessional arts manager before and he hopes she will help expand its pro- gramming and reach.

In an interview on Thursday, Ms St George-Sweet said she felt "this was the right time to try something new".

She called her SMU post a "dream job", and also looked forward to hav- ing more time to pursue her interests, such as creative writing.

A Singaporean Chinese who isdi- vorced from her British ex-husband (she has kept his name as it is what she is known as professionally), Ms St George-Sweet has a bachelor's degree in English language from the National University of Singapore.

Among other achievements, she helped the British Council collaborate with many local arts groups and arts festivals. She also came up with the idea of letting the British Council fund arts scholarships for local theatre practitioners.

In 2003, she was made an Honor- ary Member of the British Empire by Britain's Queen Elizabeth I1 in recog- nition of her contributions'to main- taining a strong Singapore-Britain re- lationship.

Considering their contributions to their respective organisations, many wonder if SDT and the Brit~sh Coun-

Although it appears difficult to replace the experience of Ms Ng Siew Eng (above) and Ms Lena St George-Sweet (left), neither of them feel they are indispensable.

cil will be the same without them. Said Theatreworks' managing di-

rector Tay Tong: "Long-serving and committed arts managers like Siew Eng and Lena have etched their per- sonalities onto their organisations.

"These two ladies have made huge headways for the arts scene and the profile of their organisatiops."

But Ms St George-Sweet is not worried. She said she had no formal training in arts management, while "young people nowadays are armed to the teeth with degrees".

Similarly, Ms Ng said: "I believe that things will sort themselves out."

However, she confessed to feeling "a bit nervous" about her new job. "People expect a lot from me, so there is that pressure."