Mae Anderson, chairman, Art Outreach Singapore

Nominated by Ning Chong, director, The culture story

HELMING NON-PROFIT ORGANISATION

Art Outreach Singapore as chairman since 2007,

Mae Anderson is committed to championing the Singapore art community. But her passion for supporting both budding and established artists isn’t confined to our little red dot – as evinced by ARTery. ARTery was Anderson’s brainchild following the Art Stage 2019 debacle, which was unexpectedly called off nine days before its opening. This left many local and international Art Stage artists stranded in the city with no place to exhibit their works.

Anderson’s ARTery was a saving grace, conceived within just five days. The four-day pop-up art fair, which was held at Marina Sands Expo and Convention

Centre, became a platform that was created at the eleventh hour for the Art Stage artists to showcase their works. “There was a lot of goodwill and support from us, as the organisers, to these exhibitors and in return, we were met with such patience and grace from them when they realised that we were not at all in the business of running art fairs, but were instead a local art education charity.

“This undertaking was a sign that many in the local art community were standing in solidarity with the stranded exhibitors. I hope that many will be inspired by how we coalesced around rendering support for the stranded galleries, and raising the banner for Singapore’s can-do spirit,” says Anderson.