Independent Director 独立董事

Mr. Choo Thiam Siew 朱添寿先生

Mr Choo Thiam Siew is the Chief Executive Officer of the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre. The Centre aims to develop and promote local Chinese arts and cultural activities, with the objective to enhance and strengthen social cohesion.

Mr Choo was the President of Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) from 2003 to March 2014, he dedicated his efforts to improving NAFA’s quality of arts education thus contributed substantially to the development of arts education in Singapore.

During his tenure as the Chief Executive Officer of the National Arts Council from 1996 to 2003, he focused on promoting and developing the local arts scene by further expanding the demographics of the local arts-going population and providing local arts group with financial assistance. He also gave support to the local design and creative industries. His work had help laid the foundation in building up Singapore as an international arts hub.

In 1976, he entered public service with the Parks & Recreation Department, after graduating with an honours bachelor’s degree in horticultural science from Lincoln College of University of Canterbury in 1973. He went on to obtain his master’s degree at the Australian National University in 1981. He was one of the pioneers who helped shape Singapore into the well-known garden city of the world. He was the Deputy Chief Executive Officer when he left National Parks Board in 1996.

Mr Choo has a passion for both Chinese and Western classical music, and is also well-versed in Chinese calligraphy, Chinese classical poetry and Chinese opera. He is actively involved with the arts and cultural community and occasionally writes for the local press. He published his first Chinese classical poetry collection in 2001.

He is a member on the board of many local arts organisations and holds appointments in numerous arts and cultural committees; such as the Tote Board Arts Fund Committee (Chairman); Singapore Chinese Orchestra Company Ltd (Director); Ding Yi Music Company Ltd (Director), Singapore Centre for Chinese Language Ltd (Director), Singapore Chinese Music Federation (Advisor), Musicians Society of Singapore (Advisor), Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan Cultural Committee (Chairman), Singapore Press Holdings Ltd Chinese Newspaper Division Advisory Panel (Member) etc. He is also an Honorary Member of the Asia Theatre Education Centre, Beijing.

Other Appointments:

• Director of the Singapore Symphonia Company Limited
• Director of the Singapore Chinese Orchestra Company Limited
• Director of the Singapore Arts School Limited
• Independent Director of the Composers And Authors Society of Singapore Limited (COMPASS)
• Vice Chairman of the MICA Broadcast/ Publication/ Arts Appeal Committee
• Member of the MICA GPC Resource Panel
• Member of the Executive Committee for Interactive and Digital Media of the National Research Foundation
• Member of the Land Transport Authority Art Review Panel
• Member of the Promote Mandarin Council
• 中华语言文化基金遴选委员会委员
• 新加坡报业控股华文报咨询团成员
• Honorary Fellow of Institute of Parks & Recreation
• Member of the Chou Sing Chu Foundation (Popular Holdings Ltd)
• Director of the Asia Theatre Education Centre, China
• 丁晓燕阮族协会顾问
• 湘灵音乐协会艺术顾问
• 全球汉诗学会会长
• 心海书法协会主席
• 狮城书法篆刻会会务顾问
• 新加坡厦门公会艺术顾问
• 亚洲艺术家杂志顾问
• 居銮中华中学吴东土文物管委员会艺术顾问（马来西亚 ）