THE ANNOUNCEMENT & Thank You from Audrey and Weng Choy

A big thank you to all our supporters and the candidates for their care, concern and patience during our search for a new Artistic Director. And finally, we've made the announcement - it will be Noor Effendy Ibrahim!

Yes, the search took longer than we anticipated. Two interview rounds, one stakeholder's forum, many subcommittee and board meetings later, we are at the end of the process.

During the search, the board and team at The Substation underwent their own process of reflection about what The Substation is, was, and can or should be. Each of us has our own dreams for The Substation, as did the candidates. The challenge is to match our aspirations with the reality of the organisation's situation and the resources in Singapore's arts and cultural scene, right here right now. We looked hard at what we had done successfully and where we hadn't done so well; where we had managed to fulfill our mission and where we had misfired. We asked ourselves many questions: "what exactly is our vision and mission? What needs to be changed? What can we afford to change? What are the future possibilities for The Substation? Why does it need to exist? What type of Substation Artistic Director does the Singapore arts scene need?"

These are questions without ready answers, and it's probably why we deliberated so long and hard over the candidates. Each candidate would have represented a different future Substation. We feel fortunate that we could attract extremely talented candidates with strong, diverse and sometimes fascinating track records. To all the candidates, we'd like to say how much we appreciate your thoughtfulness and contribution to the process, and that we are very glad to have met you. To the final four who faced the gauntlet of the stakeholders' forum, we thank you for your commitment - we know it wasn't easy, and we appreciate your time, effort and courage. We know that some people have been critical of the idea of putting the candidates in front of the stakeholders, but The Substation has always done things differently and is a place where people are challenged to go outside their comfort zones. (That's a quality that we'd like our AD and artistic leader to have!) We believed that people who had invested so much of themselves in The Substation and wanted a voice in the future of the place they love, needed to be heard and we sought to find a place for them. A big thank you to the stakeholders who respected the process and its
confidentiality.

The forum demonstrated a certain maturing of The Substation community. Five or six years ago, I doubt that we could have done it, or could have found candidates who would have agreed to it.

It's been a tough process for the board and staff as much as it was for the candidates. But it has been thorough, and the board has been involved, engaged, and taken its responsibilities of guardianship and governance very seriously indeed. We are honoured to have been part of the process.

We are prepared for change and, since The Substation is an organisation that challenges artists, audiences and our own board and staff, we're looking forward to it.

We hope you will all continue to support the work of The Substation! We would like to express our deepest appreciation to all our board,staff, supporters, and artists, who have generously let us oversee The Substation for a while. It has been a privilege.

Audrey & Weng Choy

Drums rolling

The search is complete and the Board has made its decision. We’ll be making a public announcement soon.

We thank our supporters and the arts community for their care and concern.

discussions and listening

At the completion of the stakeholders' presentations on Monday, KC invited people to send in thoughts, concerns, preferences and reasons directly to him (or Peter) by the end of Wednesday. We're collating these now... and there are many & varied. Clearly the session made an impact.
One of the groups represented on Monday was the ever-patient, hardworking staff of The Substation. In a debriefing on Tuesday, one of the people who has been there for a long time said she wanted to say how impressed she was that so many people had come, and shown so much care and passion for The Substation. It made her proud.

So, in inviting and assessing feedback, will we be influenced? yes, of course. These are our stakeholders. The Substation is a sum of its parts, and these people are part! Ultimately it is the board decision however and given the varying nature of feedback, surely some people won't be happy. But something we've learnt through this process is that it is impossible to please everyone all of the time... we can only do our best, filtered through our experience, knowledge, hopes and intentions.

The aim is to make a decision by the 27th of November.
From now until then, we'll be talking, emailing, asking more questions, debating (and probably arguing)...so you can rest assured the care is deep and significant.

Recovering from the stakeholders' presentations

It has taken a few days to be able to write about Monday night's stakeholders' meetings as the evening was very intense and thought-provoking.
The chairman, KC welcomed guests and commented on the changes taking place at The Substation before handing on to Peter Schoppert (Director) to explain the process of the search. Finally T. Sasitharan (Sasi, also a Director) explained how the evening would progress and laid down a few rules. Essentially, guests were asked to focus succinctly on questions and the future rather than commentary about the past. Confidentiality was reiterated.
It was clear that the 30 assembled stakeholders, representing artists, former board, government, policymakers and other arts' groups were very committed, knowledgeable and undeniably passionate. Each of the 4 candidates made a short summary presentation and a Q&A session followed moderated by Sasi.
Questioning was direct, succinct, charged and relevant.
The way the candidates responded gave the board an opportunity to know them more, see how they related to The Substation's stakeholders and how they communicated their thoughts.
We finished after 10.30 and the board reconvened to discuss the next steps. It was agreed that no decisions would be made on the night as we needed time to let everything sink in.
It was, no doubt about it, a huge night. Responses, comments and thoughts all confirmed the sense of 'public ownership' of The Substation....not unsurprising at all!

Monday night - stakeholders' presentations

The point of the final stage in the selection process is to get to know the candidates better. We need to see how people relate to a range of significant stakeholders. This will be challenging, no doubt about it!

This invitation-only presentation to stakeholders will be held at The Substation on Monday 16th November.

To keep the event focused, a small number of people representing significant groups have been invited to attend the stakeholders' presentation evening. Stakeholders include & represent artists, staff of The Substation, Board, Government, neighbours, partner institutions, donors, tenants and members of the broader policy-focused public.
Each candidate will deliver a short presentation, followed by a 20-25 minute Q&A session which will be moderated by Sasi. The audience will be invited to share concerns, thoughts and opinions in order to elicit responses from the candidates. The board hopes to see a robust discussion, which will give us a clearer idea as to a) what people expect or hope of us and b)how the candidates respond to the various challenges.

A major condition of this event is confidentiality. At this point, perhaps it is not even so much the importance of the confidentiality itself as respect for our process and for those (the candidates) who have trusted us.

Beyond the night...what next?
It may be clear to the board immediately who is the right person...it may not.
Either way, watch this space for an update from Tuesday!

Down to 4

We'd originally aimed to be considering only 3 candidates after the third stage, but this proved to be much more difficult than we'd imagined. So, rather than making a cut - which would be based on a vote - we are allowing 4 candidates to progress to the next stage.

Again, decisions have been difficult. It is surprising to us that at this late stage, we still do not know 'who' the new Artistic Director will be. It is still wide open and so is the future direction of The Substation. Each of the remaining 4 candidates represents something different and so our ultimate decision will be based on which person presents the clearest and best artistic direction for the organisation. It is also as much about the person as about the plan; moral integrity has always been fundamental to the people of The Substation and in a small and totally hectic office, 'personality' is very important!

Getting closer

It has been a long couple of weeks. Following meeting all the candidates of the first round, the subcommittee of the board met to decide which candidates they’d like to meet again. Discussions were deep and considerable. The subcommittee talked about each candidate and their ‘offering’ to The Substation, as well as considering where candidates are personally & professionally…whether the ‘intersection’ of journeys is obvious. Cutting people out was very difficult. Without exception, all the meetings were significant with people offering us insights to The Substation, the arts community, the landscape and organisational opportunities so it was difficult to make decisions.

In the end it came down to that ‘intersection’; where The Substation is now & where the candidates are going. Does a combined journey make sense?

The new shortlist of candidates to be interviewed by the larger board was finalised last week and this group are in the process of being interviewed again. Sasi’s participation in this round is key. As former Artistic Director and long-serving member of the board, he is well-placed to ask pointed questions to enlighten both board and candidate.

The purpose of this round of discussions is to further get to know the candidates, their vision, their capacity and purpose – as well as give them the opportunity to question the board more closely.

We are still holding the process tightly, trusting that all the checks and balances we’ve built into it work well and guide us to the next stage clearly!