Chong Siak Ching is the Chief Executive Officer of National Gallery Singapore and the Head of Visual Arts Cluster Singapore, which comprises the Singapore Art Museum, Singapore Tyler Print Institute and National Gallery Singapore. She was previously the President and CEO of Ascendas where she established the organisation as Asia’s leading provider of business space and she was awarded Outstanding CEO of the year at the 2009 Singapore Business Awards 2009 for her leadership and dynamism. She currently serves on the board of directors of Mandai Park Holding, is a member of the Yale-NUS Governing Board and is the Chairperson of the Singapore Note and Coin Advisory Committee. She is also Singapore’s Non-Resident Ambassador to the Republic of Chile.  

After studying history and political science, Ms Catherine Pégard began her career as a journalist in 1977 in the daily newspaper J’informe, launched by Joseph Fontanet. Between 1978 and 1982, she wrote about politics in Le Quotidien de Paris, under the management of Philippe Tesson.

Catherine joined the weekly magazine Le Point as a political journalist in 1982 where she became deputy editor in chief and in 1995, editor in chief. From 1994, Catherine published a weekly note “Political notebook” fed from the backstage of politics. At the same time, she discussed political news on Radio Classique (radio channel) with Jean-Marc Lech. From October 2004 to 2007, she also co-hosted the show Les Femmes et les Patrons d’abord (“The Women and the Bosses First”) on Paris Première (TV Channel) alongside Alexandra Golovanoff.

In May 2007, Catherine left Le Point and was appointed as adviser to the President of the French Republic Nicolas Sarkozy. In August 2011, she was appointed as President of the Public Institution of the Palace, Museum and National Estate of Versailles and took office on 2 October 2011. On 28 September 2016, Catherine’s presidency was renewed for another three years.

Paul Tan is currently a PhD candidate in Creative Writing at the Nanyang Technological University and sits on the boards of the Singapore Chinese Orchestra, the Singapore Symphony Group and the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre.

Paul joined the National Arts Council in 2011 as the Festival Director of the Singapore Writers Festival and Director, Literary Arts, and helmed four editions of the popular literary festival before serving as the Deputy Chief Executive Officer at the Planning and Corporate Development Group until August 2021.

Paul has also published five volumes of poetry and writes the occasional opinion piece for The Straits Times.

Ms Gaille Teo is an Analyst in the Data Science Division in Government Technology Agency of Singapore (GovTech). She is part of a multidisciplinary data science unit that works on data problems in healthcare, transportation, fraud detection and operation management, utilising techniques such as machine learning, graph analytics, and data visualisation. As ops-tech advisor for indigenous land development projects in Newcastle, Australia, and Ifugao, Philippines, Gaille plays a leading role in using data for development. She has degrees from Harvard University and IE Business School.

Mrs Catherine Collin is a volunteer in a historical monument and initiator of concerts and exhibitions. , After studying law, she decided to engage in studies that allowed her to work in her chosen fields and went on to complete. a master in cultural business management degree. She began her career in a cultural agency, Argos (1987-1993), where she was in charge of sponsorship, research, audit and the implementation of music festivals. Between 1993 and 2001, she administrated the Seine-Saint-Denis Youth Book Fair, a commercial event and developed cultural projects with a multimedia component.
In 2001, she joined the Museum of Decorative Arts and directed both the education department and the photo library and documentation., Working together with the conservation department, Catherine has showcased the beauty and significance of the museum’s collections through her programmes and the digitalisation of the works. Catherine also develops projects, researches and conducts digital experiments focused on education and allowing greater public access to the museum’s artworks.

Mr Kia Siang Hock is the Deputy Director overseeing IT Architecture and Innovation at the National Library Board of Singapore (NLB). In this role, he and his teams are heavily involved in the architecture, conceptualisation, proof-of-concepts (PoCs), design and development of various innovative services at NLB.
He has over 20 years of diverse IT experience in the areas of IT management, architecture, applications, systems operations, and applied research and development.

Mr Lucian Teo works in Google, helping internet users in Asia stay safe online by teaching them tips and tricks to avoid scams, phishing and account hijacking. He believes the open web is an amazing force for good, and that the world would benefit from more Asian innovation, culture and creativity online. Prior to Google, Lucian worked on digital communications in the Singapore Government.

Prior to joining the museum in September 2016, Mr Olivier Boasson was the Counselor for cooperation and cultural affairs with the Embassy of France to Senegal. Before his posting to Senegal, he served in Paris as the Deputy Director General of the Agency for French Schools Abroad (AEFE). The AEFE is under the aegis of the French Ministry of European and Foreign Affairs, and oversees the administration of 500 schools operating in 130 countries outside of France, offering the curriculum of the French Ministry of Education to 350, 000 French and non-French nationals.
Oliver has also served as the : Cultural counselor with the Embassy of France, based in Ottawa.( 2006-2010) ; Deputy cultural counselor with the Embassy of France, based in New York City.(2002-2006) ; Cultural attaché with the Consulate General of France, Chicago. (1999-2002) . He has also taught t in two Parisian universities and one middle-school and worked as journalist/editor between 1993-1999.: : : Oliver trained at Ecole Normale Supérieure, University Paris VII, and at Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Paris.

Ms Suenne Megan Tan is currently Director of Audience Development and Engagement at National Gallery Singapore where she supports the Gallery’s vision of inspiring a thoughtful, creative and inclusive society through innovative and accessible programmes that generate positive societal impact, and pave a new way for thinking about the present and future role of museums and cultural institutions in cities.
Suenne is a key member of the Gallery’s senior leadership team and has spent over 20 years in the non- profit museum sector. She has been with the Gallery since its inception as an independent entity in 2009, coming over from Singapore Art Museum where she was Deputy Director of Communications, Programs and Development from 1998-2009. As a member of the leadership team, Suenne participates actively in discussions and decisions on the Gallery’s mission, strategies and plans.
Leading up to the Gallery’s opening in 2015, Suenne oversaw the Gallery’s education and programmes, where she conceptualised and launched the Gallery’s Keppel Centre for Art Education (KCAE), a core facility of the Gallery which provides a creative environment for children and families to access art throughout the year. KCAE received the 2018 Children in Museums Award in recognition of it being an excellent example of a dynamic 21st century education centre within an art gallery.
In her current portfolio, Suenne has developed a number signature programmes for the Gallery, which include, Children’s Biennale series, which has since travelled to international museums overseas; and Light to Night Festival, a creative platform where art, innovation and ideas intersect. Under Suenne’s leadership, the Gallery has been asked to lead the programming for the entire Civic District during the Festival, which has become one of the marquee events of Singapore Art Week and a highlight in the Singapore cultural calendar.
As a young visual arts institution, Suenne is excited by the role that the Gallery can play as an agent for change in our society, by providing a stimulating public space in which people can come together to learn about, and be inspired by art, which enables a sense of well-being, as part of its role as a leading museum in Southeast Asian art.

Ms Agathe Grandval is Head of Audience Development within the mediation and digital services department of the Réunion des Musées Nationaux et du Grand Palais in Paris.

After studying science and completing a master’s degree in Ecology, she was initially involved in exhibition design, first at the Hall of Evolution (French Natural History Museum) and later with the private sector firm Altermuséo. Then, for the year 2000 special celebrations committee, Agathe managed the implementation of two national landscape and events projects. More recently, she spent 10 years at the Parc de La Villette Public establishment as Head of the Exhibitions, Cultural and Audience Research department.

Ms Charlotte Nors has over 20 years’ experience in arts management from Denmark and Singapore and holds a BA (Hons) in Business Administration from De Montfort University in the UK.
During her 17 years with Singapore Repertory Theatre (SRT), Charlotte has been instrumental in the development of the youth wing, which includes The Little Company serving young audiences, SRT’s Residency Programme as well as the mentorship programme for women in the industry to be launched later in 2018.
SRT has over the past 25 years established itself as a key presenting/co-producing partner for international touring productions such as Sam Mendes’ The Bridge Project and Peter Brook’s Battlefield. SRT’s focus however remains on producing theatre in Singapore for a diverse audience ranging from original musicals to Shakespeare in the Park
Charlotte is a proud graduate of the DeVos Institute's International Arts Management Fellowship programme at the Kennedy Centre in Washington DC.

Mr Lim Shung Yar is the Director of the Community Relations and Engagement Division in the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY). He oversees policies related to racial and religious matters in collaboration with other Government agencies and leads programmes that strengthen social cohesion, community resilience, and the partnership between Government and community organisations.
Prior to his posting to MCCY, he served in the Ministries of Education, Information, Communications and the Arts, and Trade and Industry.

Born in Belgium in 1966, Ms Michèle Antoine combines education in sociology of sciences, museology, theatre and dance. She began her professional life as an exhibition developer in Quebec, within the Metamorphose company.
She has been working on various high profile projects in Montreal and Quebec: the Biodome, the Botanical Garden of Montreal, Expotec, the precursor of the Science Centre of Montreal. When she returned to Belgium, she joined the Museum of Natural Sciences in Brussels where, among many other projects, she designed and produced “Fatal Attraction”, an international coproduction which travelled not only in Europe but also through Canada. When she became Director of Exhibitions in Universcience, she had to steer the architectural and museological renovation of the Janlet Wing, whose new Dinosaurs and Evolution Galleries boosted the fame of the museum.
In 2012, she was asked to be part of the international team of the future, “House of European History” in order to manage the production of the exhibitions and to organize services for visitors.
Since June 2016, Michèle has been Director of Exhibitions of Universcience, the public institution of the Palais de la Découverte and the Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie in Paris. Within the framework of the institution’s project, she coordinates the programming of exhibitions embracing all sciences, the field of social sciences and history of science. She monitors a line of programming of exhibitions, the implementation of an editorial line on the design and the participation of the public to the conception of exhibitions. She is involved in the coordination of exhibitions, mediation, digital technology and events.

Mr Shaun Wong leads the Digital team within the Strategic Communications & Digital group at Singapore’s National Heritage Board (NHB). His team is tasked to drive digital, content and social media marketing for NHB as well as lead digital transformation in the areas of linked data, marketing automation and data analytics.
He started his career in advertising but decided that the calling to perpetuate Singapore’s heritage and culture through the web in the early 2000s was too great to be ignored. For more than a decade, he has been privileged to develop digital campaigns and solutions aimed at growing and engaging NHB’s online audience.
Shaun continues to pursue ways to make technology work better for his folks at NHB, provide valuable heritage experiences to audiences at both physical and digital spaces and deepen the love of Singapore’s stories, people and places.

As General Director, Centre for National Monuments, the French Heritage agency, Mrs Bénédicte Lefeuvre leads this government-owned corporation which includes 100 historical sites open to the public as l’Arc de Triomphe, le Mont Saint Michel or la cité comtale de Carcassonne. This network illustrates the wealth of French heritage in all its diversity.
The Centre for National Monuments is the largest public operator of cultural and touristic sites in France with over 9.4 million visitors per year. The Centre employs 1400 staff working in various locations in France.
Over 84% of the corporation is generated by visitors. Bénédicte assists the Centre’s President in its economic development and manages the global strategy including innovation. She is also the project manager of the Hotel de la Marine, a historical monument located at Place de la Concorde in Paris which will open to the public in 2020.
Bénédicte began her career as manager in a private communications agency. She has been working in the cultural sector since 1991, first in the field of cinema, then in contemporary art and finally in the heritage sector since 2006.She has been working for the Centre for National Monuments for five years. Previously, she was in charge of resources allocation at the Direction of Heritage of Ministry of Culture in Paris.

Ms Tan Huism heads the Singapore and Southeast Asia collections and exhibition teams at the National Library of Singapore. In this capacity, she provides leadership in the development of the national collection and helps enhance the library’s engagement with the public. Huism is also a curator, her most recent exhibition, Tales of the Malay World: Manuscripts and Early Books (Aug 2017 – Feb 2018) showcased rare Malay manuscripts and early printed books in Southeast Asia. Other library exhibitions curated by her and the team includes ‘From the Stacks: Highlights from the National Library’ (2016), the mapping festival ‘GeoGraphic’ (2015) and the ‘Khoo Seok Wan: Poet and Reformer’ exhibition (2013).
Prior to joining the National Library in 2012, Huism was with the National Heritage Board as Deputy Director, Curation and Collections and Senior Curator, West Asia at the Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM) where she had been working since its inception in 1993.

After studying law and literature, Mr Dominique Bluzet moved into theatre and joined the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts et Techniques du Théâtre (Paris). As an actor, he worked with directors such as Abdellatif Kechiche, Marcel Maréchal, Jacques Weber.
At the tender age of 23, he became director of his first theatre: the Théâtre Essaïon.
In 1993, he was offered the position of director of the Théâtre du Gymnase in Marseille. In 1996, the city of Aix-en-Provence hired him to revive the Théâtre du Jeu de Paume. In 2007, he took over the running of the Grand Théâtre de Provence. “All types of music, for all types of people” was his mission statement, associating classical music, jazz, world-class soloists, chamber music, and contemporary dance.
Then, he brought those three genres together as a collective: “Les Théâtres”. In 2015, the Théâtre des Bernardines joined the fold of “Les Théâtres”.
In 2013, with the CIC bank and violinist Renaud Capuçon, Dominique created the Easter Festival in Aix-en-Provence, a major new event for classical music, thus reinforcing the city’s remarkable musical tradition. The 6th edition of the Festival will take place from 26th March to 8th April 2018. In just 5 years, attendance has grown from 8 000 to 22 000 in 2017.
Dominique is Officer of the Legion of Honor.

Mr Jason Chen is the Director of Place Management at the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA). URA is Singapore’s land use planning and conservation authority whose mission is to make Singapore a great city to live, work and play.
Jason holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the National University of Singapore, and a master’s degree in Mass Communications from the University of South Australia.
He joined the organisation in 2008 as a place manager and took on his current role as Director of the Place Management Department in 2012. He leads a team which oversees the coordination of the planning, infrastructure implementation, place branding as well as the programming of events for Marina Bay and Singapore River. He is also responsible for planning and organising the annual Marina Bay Singapore Countdown and i Light Marina Bay, Asia’s leading sustainable light art festival.
Before joining URA, Jason held various positions in the private sector and the Singapore Armed Forces.

Dr June Yap is Director of Curatorial, Programmes and Publications at the Singapore Art Museum, where she oversees content creation and museum programming.
Her prior roles include Guggenheim UBS MAP Curator (South and Southeast Asia), Deputy Director and Curator at the Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore, and curator at the Singapore Art Museum.
Amongst exhibitions she has curated are No Country: Contemporary Art for South and Southeast Asia as part of the Guggenheim UBS MAP Global Art Initiative, The Cloud of Unknowing at the 54th Venice Biennale with artist Ho Tzu Nyen, The Future of Exhibition: It Feels Like I’ve Been Here Before at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (Singapore), Paradise is Elsewhere at Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (Germany), media art exhibitions Interrupt and Twilight Tomorrow at the Singapore Art Museum. She is the author of Retrospective: A Historiographical Aesthetic in Contemporary Singapore and Malaysia (2016).

Angelita Teo was appointed as Director of the National Museum of Singapore (NMS) in July 2013. In her first year, she welcomed over 1 million visitors to NMS – a record for any museum in Singapore. Angelita was awarded the Public Administration Medal (Bronze) in 2014 for her contributions towards the development of a vibrant cultural and heritage sector in Singapore. Between 2014 and 2015, Angelita helmed the Museum’s complete revamp of its permanent galleries, which reopened in September 2015. Since 2012, Angelita has run the Festival and Precinct Development Division of the National Heritage Board (NHB), and is the festival director of the iconic Singapore Heritage Festival and Singapore Night Festival, which together reach out to over 2 million visitors annually. In 2016, she undertook the management of the Museum Roundtable Unit, which aims to build and facilitate a stronger museum – going culture in Singapore. Angelita started her museum career as an Assistant Curator in 1996. She pursued a Masters in Art Curatorship at the University of Melbourne in 2011, under a full government scholarship from the NHB.

Clarissa Oon is the Head of Communications and Content at Esplanade — Theatres on the Bay and she oversees the organisation’s brand and strategic communications, as well as the running of their streaming and archival platform, Esplanade Offstage. She is a known commentator on the arts in Singapore and Asia, with her writing published in essay anthologies, Mekong Review and ArtReview, and had previously worked as a journalist for 17 years at The Straits Times. She was a keynote speaker at the 2019 Asian Arts Media Roundtable, organised by ArtsEquator, and was the chief judge for the 2020 Singapore Literature Prize, Creative Nonfiction in English category.