PRESS RELEASE
EMBARGOED TILL 25 JULY, 5PM
NEW DIRECTOR OF ASIAN CIVILISATIONS MUSEUM APPOINTED
SINGAPORE, 25 JULY 2016 – The National Heritage Board (NHB) will be appointing Mr Kennie Ting as Director of the Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM) with effect from 1 September 2016. Mr Ting takes over from current director Dr Alan Chong who will be relocating from Singapore.
2 On Mr Ting’s appointment, Mrs Rosa Daniel, CEO, NHB said, “Kennie’s appointment underscores the confidence we have in our young home-grown leadership taking our cultural institutions forward. Kennie has made his mark in diverse areas in the arts and heritage sector. Over the last one-and-a-half years, Kennie has been driving key aspects of ACM's operations and its recent revamp. With his keen interest and research into Asian history, Kennie will continue to take ACM forward as a museum of international distinction which tells the story of Singapore’s rich cross-cultural Asian heritage.”
3 Mr Kennie Ting’s career started at the former Ministry of Information, Communication and Arts (MICA) where he was part of a team drafting the Renaissance City Plan III. This was a comprehensive blueprint for the arts and heritage sector which helped drive various national-level cultural initiatives in the late 2000s, including the development of National Gallery Singapore, NHB’s Heritage Institutions and Singapore Night Festival. After a short break pursuing further studies abroad, he joined the NHB where he oversaw strategic planning, corporate development and museum operations. In 2015 he was appointed Group Director of Museums with direct oversight of NHB’s museums and major festivals. He is passionate about Asian history and heritage and is the author of two books published in 2015, The Romance of the Grand Tour – 100 Years of Travel in South East Asia and the volume on Heritage in the Singapore Chronicles series commissioned by the Institute of Policy Studies.
4 Speaking about Dr Chong, Mrs Daniel said, “With his strong background in curatorial scholarship and research, Alan has over the past 6 years led the ACM in strengthening its curatorial focus on cross-cultural exchanges between world cultures and Asian civilisations. He guided ACM’s recent revamp which has been well-received and has given our audiences beautiful and insightful galleries. We are looking forward to Alan’s continued involvement with ACM in his role as an advisor for various ongoing projects.”
5 Dr Alan Chong joined NHB in July 2010 from the US. One of the first exhibitions which he developed was the Terracotta Warriors exhibition which remains as one of the most highly-visited exhibition amongst NHB’s museums. Since then, Dr Chong’s focus has been on building the museum’s collection, strengthening research and scholarship and developing thought-provoking exhibitions that adopt a pan-Asian, cross-cultural approach. Exhibitions that Alan and his team have helmed included Devotion and Desire, which explored how love and religion were expressed in art across Asian cultures and China Mania! which delved into the love for and export of Chinese ceramics from trading ports in China to Europe, the India and Southeast Asia. Most recently, the on-going Christianity in Asia is an unprecedented exhibition presenting artefacts from ACM’s collection alongside those of 20 other museums and collectors worldwide. In keeping with ACM’s new curatorial focus on the crossing of cultures, it explores how Christianity was introduced in Asia and resulted in the development of new forms of religious art that incorporated both Asian and European aesthetic styles.
6 Mr Loh Lik Peng, Chairman of the ACM said, “I thank Alan for his contributions in pulling together the revamp of ACM and re-positioning it as an inspiring museum of cross-cultural connectedness. ACM is a top institution in this region, and I am confident Kennie will take it to the next level of excellence in the region and beyond. I look forward to working closely with him and the ACM team in the future.”
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<<For an image of Mr Kennie Ting, please email to: Sylvia_GOH@nhb.gov.sg>>