Reaping the dividends of liminality

I breathe in an arts academy with professional artist-educators who cultivate imagination in themselves and in the lives of their learners. As we live in the challenges of unsettling permanence through this pandemic, I reflect on the necessary discourse about discursive practices in academic development. I am driven to think about my positionality to build capacity at a higher arts education institution that is presently in transition towards the formation of Singapore’s first arts university. In academic development towards artistic excellence, we relish the state of liminality. Liminality is a rite of passage that recognises the need for change. Here, questions are invited over answers, and process is preferred over product. To offer a few insights into the Singaporean context, I present three vignettes, by way of provocation. Picture Zac, a veteran artist, whose exhibitions have received public accolades. He struggles to appropriate digital tools and technologies that can engage students in the tactile making of sculpture, but secretly experiments with new media in the metaverse. During the coronavirus confinement, all practical classes had to be conducted remotely. What did an accelerated pace towards digital engagement look like in his online studio, and what would he choose to adopt in a post-pandemic future? Picture David, an experienced architect who manages the academic affairs of the arts school. Arising from pressing academic and administrative concerns in the programs, he misses the joy of creating new practice in his design studio. He faces the silent dissent of a neo-liberal arts fraternity that frowns upon an incessant need to document and figure out how art translates into something that can be formalised into peer-reviewed publications. To compound issues, the academy needs to meet international benchmarks and external audits that may not always resonate with local artistic contexts. What could his involvement with communities of practice do to achieve the new lexicon for artistic practitioners? And lastly, picture Sarah, a musician advocating for transformative educational practices, and the relevance of an education through the arts. As a young and aspiring colleague prized for teaching excellence and daring initiatives, she responds to a crescendo of student voices who desire more interstitial moments to broaden artistry. Yet her push to emancipate learning beyond the walls of the academy is crushed by tenured colleagues – once her very mentors – who uphold mastery through traditional apprenticeship models. What can she do for students to broaden and add value to the arts?