Angelita Teo, director of the National Museum of Singapore, wears her strengths and weaknesses on two slim, silvery bangles on her right wrist. Engraved on the bands, gifts from her family, are “Patience” and “Be present” – reminders to balance her insatiable curiosity and zest for life.
“Because I get very excited by things I can also get a bit impatient,” says the 44-year-old. The other bangle is a prompt to make sure her mind doesn’t drift off on a tangent.
“I’m one of those people who, if a door opens, I need to poke my head through – I cannot resist it! I tend to explore opportunities that land before me without turning them down first. I’m always looking for new things to do and new ways of doing things, because I don’t think we should stick to something just because we’re familiar with it.”
Besides heading the National Museum, Teo has, since the start of this year, been overseeing community events for the National Heritage Board, such as the Singapore Night Festival and the Museum Roundtable, which pools the resources of public and private museums to promote public interest.
Of her Heritage Board duties she says, “It sounds like a lot more work, but in reality I see it as an opportunity to leverage and streamline things.”
An example is the upcoming Children’s Season, a programme of activities for the June school holidays to be held at museums across the island.
The push to attract younger audiences has been a focal point for the National Museum since Teo became its director in July 2013. She considers it an important target for the museum, especially since the S$10-million (Bt260-million) revamp of its permanent galleries was completed in September.
“In order for the museum to attract a new audience, that audience has to be younger,” she reasons, and she’s adamant that a child’s first experience of the museum shouldn’t be for “a worksheet they have to complete”, but preferably on a family outing, so they “associate the museum with being fun and a bit warm and fuzzy”.
In 2014 Teo opened Play@NMS, an area for kids aged three to seven with interactive exhibits, and Children’s Season activities now spill out of the galleries into common spaces and the front lawn. “We’re not afraid that kids will come in and run around and make noise – we’re quite open to that!”
Play@NMS closed in December but will return later this year as an improved, enlarged family wing, swapping spaces with the office spread over two floors. Teo says it will be a treat for everyone in the family, right up to the grandparents.
Among the many other “exciting things I can’t wait to be completed”, Teo mentions a new installation by Suzann Victor to replace her much-loved red chandeliers above the link bridge in the museum and a new gallery-cum-restaurant.
The chandeliers were only scheduled for routine maintenance, but new possibilities arose when Teo spoke with the artist. The result is new chandeliers made of Swarovski crystal instead of glass with which visitors will be able to interact, choosing the way they swing and how the lights change colour.
Victor praises Teo for turning a “routine problem-solving exercise” into an “exciting journey”.
The idea of serving up art as well as food in what was formerly Chef Chan’s Restaurant sprang from another meeting of minds. Companies and individuals are keen to host events in the museum, which they see as an interesting, alternative space, while the museum is eager to work with up-and-coming creative talents.
This source first appeared on The Nation Life.