Art as a craft... a living Craft。。。

Arts subjects, usually than not are often sidelined these days in Singapore’s educational landscape of soaring expenses and standardized exams. As school re-opens recently, officials across the island take the red pen to their arts budgets, they generally reason, "How do we justify the time and expense of photography, music, dance or drawing when we have decree benchmarks to meet and little money to spend?"

At one of the very few Art schools here, however, there's nothing dispensable about photography -- or dancing, acting, drawing, and painting. The arts at this ‘public’ school are central to the mission of educating students in math, science, and the humanities, with the aid of Arts.

What could photography lessons possibly have to do with science class? As teachers there see it, tough training in the arts is training for everything important and it's a kind of preparation teenagers passionately want and need.

In Arts, we learn there's not just one right answer. We learn that judgment counts. We learn to connect. We understand there are no Arts without an audience…

You come to class telling me, “I want to be a Photographer…” and you think it's going to be one thing and you end up making pictures, building portfolios, visiting galleries, holding your own exhibition.

You’re learning your strengths.