The creative and media sector here continues to offer thriving opportunities for our professionals. Based on data from the Economic Development Board and Department of Statistics in 2010, the creative media industry alone employed some 70,000 workers. As part of the National Trades Union Congress’ (NTUC) outreach to Professionals, Managers and Executives (PMEs) at the sectoral level, it has launched a new Future Leaders Programme, targeted at media and creative professionals in this industry.
The creative media workforce is rising in prominence as the infocomm, digital media and social media industries grow. Over the last two years, NTUC has been engaging creative media professionals through a range of events and seminars under the NTUC’s Future Leaders Programme. These engagements create new platforms for like-minded PMEs to share ideas and garner expertise to explore new collaborations within the industry. Under the programme, there are three main initiatives for the PMEs in this industry:
a) The Future Leaders Mentorship Session facilitates close interaction between industry veterans and working professionals in a small-group setting for deeper sharing of experiences and exchanging of ideas. The first session held in December 2014, in conjunction with Singapore International Film Festival 2014, had award-winning Egyptian Film director Ahmad Abdallah share about his film work and challenges with 30 professionals.
b) The Future Leaders Series is an initiative where NTUC works with industry stakeholders to bring in talented practitioners to share success stories. Seven engagements under the Series have been held thus far.
For example, John Clang, a renowned Singapore photographer based in New York joined a session last year to speak about his career challenges.
The series held in February this year focused on women in the film industry – a sharing session with women film practitioners working in the Singapore film industry such as Ms Shireen Choo, a professional camerawoman and female Steadicam operator in Singapore, Ms Chen Jun Bin, a professional freelance colourist, and Ms Gabrielle Kelly, film professor and author of the book ‘Celluloid Ceiling’.
The next in the series – The Art of making People Laugh – will be held today. Independent filmmaker Mr Han Yew Kwang, together with producer Mr Lau Chee Nien and actor Mr Alaric Tay, will talk about their latest film “Rubbers” and share with over 70 participants on their collaboration.
c) Moving forward, NTUC will continue to strengthen its efforts to reach out to the creative media industry with a new initiative – Future Leaders Summit for the creative media industry, to be held on 3 June 2015, in partnership with the LaSalle College of the Arts.
International concept artist and author Jake Parker will be speaker for the event. As the first Summit to be held solely for PMEs in the creative media industry, 500 professionals are expected to attend. We have close to 400 participants who have already registered for the Summit.
“Singapore has established itself as a key media centre in the region. However, changes in the media landscape mean new challenges for our professionals to stay ahead of the curve and be globally competitive. NTUC is keen to support the growth of our professionals in the sector – the Future Leaders Programme for Creative Media Professionals strives to expand their engagement with celebrated practitioners and master craftsmen. There is much more to be done and we plan to work together with the stakeholders in the industry so more of our professionals will have the network and opportunities to expand their expertise and experiences”, said Mr Vivek Kumar, Secretary of the NTUC Membership Council.
"The speakers were all very friendly and approachable. They shared from their personal experience which is something I appreciate. It was a very casual session and the content was dictated by the questions the audience asked,” said Charmaine Koh, a film student who participated in the previous Future Leaders Series for women film practitioners.
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