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Drama Box ‘disappointed’ at apology by National Youth Council over appropriation of arts performance

Drama Box was ‘disappointed’ by the National Youth Council apology. (Photo: Matthew Wong/Drama Box)
Drama Box was ‘disappointed’ by the National Youth Council apology. (Photo: Matthew Wong/Drama Box)

Drama Box artistic director Kok Heng Leung said on Thursday (7 September) he was “disappointed” by National Youth Council CEO David Chua’s note of apology for adapting the drama group’s work “The Lesson” for a youth engagement programme.

In a note on his Facebook page on Wednesday, Chua said they “were too hasty in putting into action what we had learnt and did not consult with Drama Box and its partners. This was not right – please accept our apology.”

In a public post on Facebook in response, Leung, the Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) representing the arts sector, said the note “reflects greatly the lack of understanding of the issues at hand”.

“I understand that some people from NYC attended THE LESSON and were excited by it. If it is about having watched The LESSON and hence ‘learnt’ the engagement approach, then it is deeply troubling,” said Kok, who also accused NYC of being “ignorant” for emulating their work without understanding their work completely.

The LESSON is a result of more than one year of hard work by a team of very committed artists who went through very deep and critical process to design an engagement that is meaningful, challenging, and thought-provoking, hence exciting,” said Kok.

Kok noted that the most upsetting part of the matter was that NYC had set up an engagement programme that perpetuated “prejudices and discriminations” towards the elderly, single parents, childless married couples and people from the local LGBTQ community.

“The hurt that you mentioned in your posting, is just not inflicted on artists but also to those ‘left-out’ families,” said Kok, referring to the part in Chua’s note in which the NYC CEO said he would be taking responsibility for his team’s actions as well as the “hurt” caused to the drama group.

In his apology note addressed to Kok, associate artistic director Koh Hui Ling and arts practitioner Li Xie, Chua had also expressed his desire to continue collaborating with various arts groups to “co-curate and co-deliver” programmes.

Hours after Kok’s response, Drama Box issued a statement on their Facebook page stating that they will be meeting with NYC as soon as possible to “work a way forward”.

Drama Box debuted “THE LESSON” at the Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA) in 2015. The concept of the performance allows the audience to participate in the decision-making process under the guidance of facilitators based on the various scenarios presented to them during the performance.

According to the website, this piece was piloted as a theatre programme for youths at three local secondary schools in 2016. In July, it was brought to three community spaces in Singapore. However, according to artistic director Kok Heng Leun, Drama Box was not consulted for the format used in the public engagement programme that was recently hosted by the government agency.

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