Introduction

May, 2023

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Hi there! It's a pleasure to meet your acquaintance, my name is Jolene. I am a 24-year-old, third-year student at the Singapore Institute of Management, University at Buffalo pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Sociology (SIM-UB). Growing up with a few family members in the art and media industries, it has always been a dream of mine to pursue a career in the arts.

Their involvement and support of the arts inspired me to follow in their footsteps, which is why, after completing Singapore's basic formal education, I pursued a Diploma in Arts and Theatre Management at Republic Polytechnic. Following that, I chose to continue my studies at the University at Buffalo (UB), majoring in Sociology with the ultimate goal of landing a job in a museum or theater company and a career in Art Outreach Programmes in the future.

Having always been a creative, curious, and adventurous person, looking for new and exciting experiences, this has led to various hobbies and hands-on skills such as dancing, singing, and making leather products. You may be wondering why I chose Sociology at UB over another university and pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Arts Management or something related to the Arts. Going from Arts and Theatre Management to Social Sciences is an unusual choice. Prompting me to apply to SIM-UB. 

My secondary school volunteering experiences, as well as knowing how fortunate I am to have the support to pursue what I want when the arts are such a niche in Singapore with a stereotype that the arts make no money in Singapore, have inspired me to do outreach so that future generations will have the opportunities that I have had. In addition to understanding that the arts can be used to express oneself, outreach programs for both the young and the elderly can be further developed. I felt that studying Sociology would provide me with many opportunities to not only understand the society in which I live, but also to understand why and what artists do, what inspires them, and how their society has affected them. Continuing my studies at UB has allowed me to experience a new learning environment and style with experienced professors, which has been very interesting and enriching, which is very different from the basic Singapore education system.

Beyond the Classroom

I am also involved in arts-related club activities. I currently serve as the Marketing Director for SIM Salsa En Soul. In my spare time, I take additional West Coast Swing dance classes, read, stitch leather products, and go on solo trips to museums, which I refer to as my solo adventures. 

   (SIM Salsa En Soul marketing poster used during recruitment drive 2022 and recruitment drive 2022 booth)

(Laptop stickers that I designed for recruitment drive 2022)

Aside from my academic pursuits, I am currently working part-time as a Gallery Sitter at Singapore Art Museum, a contemporary art museum. This part-time job requires me to maintain the gallery, act as a semi-tour guide informing visitors about art pieces in the exhibition, ensure that works are presentable, and switching on and off the gallery's media pieces. Due to the things I've been able to study in Sociology, I've had the opportunity to better understand and explain works in depth.

(Exhibition: Dance in the destruction dance, Joo Choon Lin, 2023)

In my time as a part-time Gallery Sitter at Singapore Art Museum and as the Marketing head of the dance club, I have realized that modules that I have taken as a Sociology Major in UB has proved to be very useful to me. For instance:

Urban Sociology

This course taught me about the effects of urbanization and how it came to be.

Kanitha Tith's painting, for example, depicts the artist's childhood hut in Cambodia with high skyscrapers in the background.

This has led me to understand the urbanization process, which involves the replacement of Kampung huts with high-rise buildings, thanks to modules like Urban Sociology. Resulting in an understanding as well as the ability to explain to visitors what and why the artist painted the building in the manner that she did, and why she chose to recreate it in a space where people in an urbanized society do not get to see something like this. This then conveys how much urbanization has impacted and inspired the artist.

(Kanitha Tith, Singapore Biennale;Natasha, 2022)

Classical Sociological Theories

This course has helped me understand the world around me. It has demonstrated how the world works in some ways. From the sociological perspectives of Karl Marx, Max Weber, Durheim, and a plethora of others. This has contributed to a better understanding of artists in terms of how the world inspires artists and how artists interpret and express the world around them in their work. As a result, it makes it easier for visitors and patrons to connect with the pieces. Apart from artists and patrons, it has also helped me understand and interpret the world around me.  A good example of this is product consumerism in a capitalist society, where there is alienation in the assembly lines that produce things that are used, in a world where we have to sell ourselves in order to survive while also allowing us to relate with shared experiences in different points of view to different ethics and different perspectives.  

Jae-art Joo Hwan's works incorporate commonplace items manufactured on an assembly line, implying that anything can be used as art. His works are profoundly insightful but generously humorous observations of life made with found objects and detritus from his daily life. Patrons can relate to his work in some ways because the objects used are everyday, especially in a world where prices are rising. It is a way for patrons to learn and understand that anything can be used to express themselves and anything can be used to make art. He incorporates pill packaging, coffee packets and pots, and stickers into his works.

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(Joo Jae-Hwan, Singapore Biennale;Natasha, 2022)

Sociology of Popular Culture

This course has taught me that there is always a hegemonic (dominant force of power) power that influences the world around us, creating trends, rules, and regulations that people must adhere to. It is what people are always looking for, a distraction and a reflection of oneself. It is expressions of escape, resonation, reality, identity, and expectation. This is due to the fact that everything matters, everything changes, and there is a power behind the scenes when it comes to creating a business. This then gives meaning to things because it is internalized. Working in a Contemporary Arts space, I know that Contemporary art, which is diverse and eclectic, is distinguished by the absence of a unified organizing principle, ideology. It can be abstract, breaking rules and norms with works that are globally and culturally influenced as well as technological advances. Hence, contemporary artists break or use social norms and hegemonic powers in their pieces as they are influenced by it and express it in their works.

These are some courses that have aided me not only at work but also in my daily life, as I am now able to comprehend, interpret, express, and relate to the world and what is going on around me. This has then enabled me to adapt in order to put what I learned as a student in school into action and context. My additional experience includes working part-time at the Singapore Art Museum, and while I aspire to work in the arts industry in outreach and exhibition as a career, I am open to exploring other options. As a sociology student, I realize how broad it is, and having the skills and knowledge that I have as both an arts and a sociology student allows me to work in a variety of industries such as government, healthcare, human resources, marketing, and education.