List of Delegates (2019)
For its inaugural run, AAMR welcomed arts media representatives from 10 countries in Asia to come together for a 2-day meeting in Singapore.
Cambodia
SO Phina is the Manager of the Knowledge, Networks and Policy Program at Cambodian Living Arts. She manages Living Arts Fellows program, a cultural leadership program for Cambodian artists, managers, researchers and policymakers with a strong component on developing knowledge and networks within South East Asia. Besides, her full time job, Phina is a short story fiction writer. She organizes regular reading events and literary festivals. She is now working on various writing projects with her peers.
India
Sadanand Menon, from Chennai, India, is a nationally reputed arts editor, columnist, photographer, arts curator andstage lights designer. He has had parallel careers in political and arts journalism. He has been in an executive/advisory capacity at the National Museum, Delhi; Lalit Kala Akademi, Delhi; National Gallery of Modern Art, Bengaluru; Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla; National School of Drama, Delhi and is Managing Trustee of the arts foundation, SPACES, Chennai. He has also contributed, in an advisory capacity, to the Kochi Muzhiris Biennale and the Chennai Photo Biennale. He has taught at the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai; the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and at Presidency University, Kolkata, besides a large number of universities. A long-time collaborator with the path-breaking dancer/choreographer Chandralekha, he is deeply involved with issues related to the creation of a contemporary Indian dance. Besides several art and photography exhibitions, he has curated landmark Retrospectives of senior artists Dashrath Patel (National Gallery of Modern Art, Delhi/Mumbai); Balan Nambiar (NGMA-Bengaluru) and S.G. Vasudev (NGMA-Bengaluru/ Mumbai & Lalit Kala Akademi, Chennai). In 2016, he contributed an essay, along with Romila Thapar and A.G. Noorani, for a best-selling book called ‘On Nationalism’. In 2012, he received the Government of Kerala’s award for lifetime contribution to writing on the arts.
Indonesia
Dede Pramayoza is a lecturer in theatre of Padangpanjang Art Institute. He has been taking his doctoral degree in Performing & Visual Art Studies at Postgraduate School of Gadjah Mada University since 2014. His recent activities are working for teraseni; Institute for Art and Culture Ekosystem, and managing an art and culture website www.teraseni.com. In 2016, he was one of the initiators of Pasa Harau Art & Culture Festival, at Harau Valley of West Sumatera. Now, he is managing Begawai Nusantara, a community-based festival networking, which consists of 9 festivals in Indonesia. Since 2018, he has been actively an expert team in production and curation field for Indonesiana Platform, Directorate General of Culture, Republic of Indonesia. His publishing book is Dramaturgi Sandiwara: Potret Teater Populer dalam Masyarakat Poskolonial (literally, Dramaturg of the Play: Portrait of Popular Theatre in Post-colonial Society), OMBAK Publishing, Yogyakarta (2013).
Nia Agustina is a co-founder and writer of gelaran.id (website for perfomance/ing art’s review) based in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. She also working as Artistic Director for Paradance Jogja (a platform for Indonesian young dance practitioners) as well as associate curator for Indonesian Dance Festival (IDF). Besides all of that she is also working as volunteer for gender and inclusivity issue, which affected her perspective to writing and curating performance.
Japan
Chikara Fujiwara was born in 1977. Based in Yokohama and acting in various cities as a critic/ artist/ curator/ dramaturg. He produced tour project called “ENGEKI QUEST” in Yokohama, Kinosaki, Manila, Düsseldorf, Ansan, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Bangkok. He co-manages the website “Engeki Saikyo-ron -ing” with Kyoko Tokunaga. Since 2017, he is the Senior Fellow of Saison Foundation and the East Asian Cultural Exchange Envoy of Japan Agency for Cultural Affairs.
Hiroyuki Takahashi is a Japanese critic of theatre, performing arts, and a researcher on modern and contemporary Japanese theatre. He belongs a Japanese college as a full-time lecturer of Toho Gakuen College of Drama and Music, a part-time lecturer of Waseda University, Japan Women’s University, Theatre Academy of Za-Koenji and Setagaya Public Theatre. He is a regular contributor to the Japanese theatre magazine Teatro, and a weekly cultural newspaper, Tosho Shinbun. His article “Pre-Underground Theatre and 1960 Ampo” “History of Nuclear Bomb Theatre and Nuclear Plant Theatre,” “The Curious Position of Minority: Tsuka Kohei,” “From Agora to Agon: A position of Hirata Oriza,” “Space, Animal, Narrative: Theater Generation of 2000-2010s.” etc.
Shimanuki Taisuke is an art writer and editor born in 1980 and based in Tokyo and Kyoto. Be engaged in writing and editing at art and culture magazines and Web media, ‘BIJUTSU-TECHO’ and ‘CINRA.NET’ etc. Latest work is the production and writing of a book related to ‘Platana: The Portrait of Possession’ (Uthis Haemamool [Novelist]×Toshiki Okada[Chelfitsch] × Yuya Tsukahara[contact Gonzo])which will be performed in Tokyo in June 2019.
Malaysia
Fasyali Fadzly is a theatre-maker, writer, researcher and educator. He is an MFA graduate from University of Calgary, Canada. He wrote and directed his own plays and directed several plays from other playwrights as well. His works have been staged in Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Indonesia, Europe and Canada. He also writes theatre-related articles and reviews. Now he serves as an educator at National Academy of Arts, Culture and Heritage of Malaysia (ASWARA).
Sharmilla Ganesan is a radio presenter/producer with BFM 89.9. She is the host of Front Row (arts), and By the Book (books & literature). She is also a writer and critic, with in-depth experience covering and commenting on Malaysian arts and culture. She was a features journalist with The Star for over a decade, where she wrote on the arts, books, and film. Her articles appear in, among others, The Atlantic, South China Morning Post, NewNaratif, and ArtsEquator.
Myanmar
Phoo Myat Thwe is a 22 year old art enthusiast and an art writer. Since Art Writer as a profession is a lightly touched subject in Myanmar, she aims to put her writing skills to use in spreading Arts to a wider audience and starting artistic conversations with her writings. She curates Art talks, exhibitions and engages with Myanmar public through a social media platform. She is creating spaces for discussions, constructive criticism and she believes cultivating spaces (physically and virtually) where people can gather will have a profound effect on changing the Arts landscape of Myanmar.
Philippines
Katrina Stuart Santiago is an independent writer of the essay in its various permutations, from art, theater and movie reviews, to popular iconographies and culture criticism, all bound to Third World Philippines, its tragedies and successes, even more so its silences. She had her start as a contributing writer for the arts and books section of the Philippine Daily Inquirer in 2009, and built a body of work with GMA News Online for three years, from 2010 to 2013. She maintained both an opinion and an arts and culture column with The Manila Times from 2013 to 2017. She’s contributing writer for CNN Philippines and Art+ Magazine, and maintains an independent review website gaslight.online. She’s been writing at www.katrinasantiago.com since 2008, and is radikalchick online. She lives in Manila.
Pristine L. de Leon is an art writer and graduate student taking up Art Theory and Criticism at the University of Philippines. She served as an editor in Hinge Inquirer Publications where she produced features on visual art and design. In 2016, she won the Purita Kalaw-Ledesma Prize for Art Criticism. She is presently a columnist in the Arts and Culture section of The Philippine Star.
Singapore
Chloe Chotrani is a Manila-born and Singapore based movement artist, writer, and gardener. She holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Asian Art from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. Currently, she is a dance artist for P7:1SMA and an associate artist with Dance Nucleus. Occasionally, she reviews performances for arts publication Arts Equator. When she is not dancing or writing, she is immersed with nature. http://chloechotrani.com
Corrie Tan is a writer, editor and researcher from Singapore. She is into radical shifts in performance criticism – redefining the critic as dramaturg, collaborator, archivist, ethnographer and shapeshifter. She is resident critic and contributing editor at Arts Equator, and has written regularly about performance for The Guardian, Exeunt Magazine, and The Straits Times. Corrie is working on her PhD in Theatre Studies on the joint degree programme between the National University of Singapore and King’s College London.
Helmi Yusof is the Deputy Editor of the Lifestyle section of The Business Times, the leading financial daily of Singapore. Prior to this position, he was the newspaper’s Arts Correspondent from 2012 – 2018, covering primarily the performing and visual arts. He graduated from the National University of Singapore with a BA (Hons) from the faculty of Arts & Social Science.
Joella Kiu is an art historian, researcher, and independent curator, whose research and practice is driven by the symbiotic relationship between art history and contemporary art practices. She has curated multiple exhibitions, and runs the art educational archive and platform Object Lessons Space. She read History of Art at the Courtauld Institute of Art and the University of York. She was a Finalist for the 2019 IMPART Awards (Curator).
Thailand
Amitha Amranand is a Bangkok-based writer, translator, and teacher. She has been writing about theatre in Thailand and performing arts festivals in Asia and Europe since 2006. Her arts and culture writing has appeared in both Thai- and English-language publications in Southeast Asia, including Art4D, BK, and ArtsEquator. She is currently a contributing theatre critic for the Bangkok Post and sits on the artistic board of the Bangkok International Performing Arts Meeting (BIPAM).
Kaewta Ketbungkan is a writer, translator and content creator with strong knowledge in Thai cinema, theatre and culture from her nine-year experience in broadcast journalism. She has been an active member of the International Association of Theatre Critics — Thailand Center, since 2016. She graduated from Chulalongkorn University with a bachelor degree in English. Currently, she enjoys developing her website www.AnnKaewta.com and is starting an arts and culture podcast.
Pawit Mahasaranand was the first president of the Thailand centre of International Association of Theatre Critics (IATC) and performing arts critic for The Nation newspaper. He is also the director of Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC), an independently run multi-disciplinary arts centre, welcoming 1.8 million visitors annually. Previously, he ran Sodsai Pantoomkomol Centre for Dramatic Arts, presenting works by Globe Theatre, Pascal Rambert, Oriza Hirata, Toshiki Okada, Hiroaki Umeda, Pichet Klunchun, etc.
Vietnam
Quyen Nguyen, after graduating from Stanford University, now translates, writes and curates visual art. Based in Vietnam, she works with poetic and artistic collectives out of a desire to labor with words and images, whether in an institutional context or an underground flow
Moderators
Bilqis Hijjas writes about contemporary dance in Malaysia. She is also the president of MyDance Alliance, a non profit organisation supporting Malaysian dance, and runs the Dance Program at private arts residency Rimbun Dahan. As editor of website Critics Republic, she commissions reviews about Malaysian arts, and teaches dance criticism at University of Malaya.
Kathy Rowland works as a writer, editor and producer. Her articles on the politics of culture have appeared in publications in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, the US and South Korea. Kathy edited and introduced Staging History: Selected Plays from Five Arts Centre 1984 – 2014 (2015), Huzir Sulaiman: Collected Plays 1998 – 2012 (2013) and Krishen Jit: An Uncommon Position, Selected Writings (2003). Kathy has produced theatre and visual arts events in Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, New York, Australia and Thailand. She is the Lead Researcher in a theatre archive project run by Five Arts Centre Malaysia. She is a member of the International Programme Advisory Committee of the 8th World Summit on Arts and Culture, which was held in Kuala Lumpur in 2019.
Nabilah Said is a playwright, poet and the editor of ArtsEquator. Nabilah is a former arts correspondent and critic for The Straits Times and has six years’ experience as a communications professional in the arts and cultural sector. Her plays have been presented in Singapore and London by Teater Ekamatra, The Necessary Stage and Bhumi Collective. She is the co-founder of international theatre collective Lazy Native and founder of playwright collective Main Tulis Group. Nabilah holds an M.A. in Writing for Performance from Goldsmiths, University of London.
Sunitha Janamohanan has been an arts manager, curator, producer, venue manager and heritage manager. She has an MA in Arts Administration from Columbia University, New York, and is now teaching in the Programme in Arts and Cultural Management at LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore. Her research interests include community or socially engaged arts practice, and local arts management models in developing Southeast Asia.
Yuka Sugiyama is the director of Karakoa based in Tokyo, exploring ways of curating, researching and creating performing arts in the intersection of international art and culture. After completing MA in Performance at Queen Mary University of London, she worked at Festival/Tokyo being in charge of program research and international program (2012-14). She worked as a project manager at Y okohama Paratriennale 2017. She recently formed Karakoa, a collective of independent creators from Southeast Asia and Japan.