27 May 2017
It was recently revealed that as many as 70 percent of graduates of the School of the Arts Singapore (SOTA) eventually pursued a university course in a non-arts related field.
This was revealed by Culture, Community and Youth Minister Grace Fu, in an address at SOTA’s fifth annual Awards Day.
For example, Ms Cheri Wee, who received the Prime Minister’s Valedictorian award as the school’s most outstanding student in her cohort, once thought of becoming a ballerina, but has now decided to pursue a degree in psychology and philosophy at the University of Oxford.
In her own words, “(I) found that my place isn’t as a dancer onstage”.
A former SOTA student, Gabbi Wenyi Ayane Virk, explained on Facebook that arts imposes enormous challenges on students both mentally and physically, and that the stereotype about arts “being the easy way out” is false.
She also explained that SOTA graduates may continue to have an impact on Singapore’s art scene even if they pursue a non-arts degree.