Sean Tobin hails from Perth, West Australia but has worked in Singapore’s theatre and education landscapes since 1993. He is currently the Artistic Director of the M1 Singapore Fringe Festival and has four instalments of the festival under his belt. Sean has also been Head of Theatre at School of the Arts (SOTA) for 10 years and he writes, directs, performs and teaches.

Prior to that, Sean was Associate Artistic Director with The Necessary Stage (2001-2004) and Associate Artistic Director with the now defunct TOUCH Arts (1996-2000). He was formerly Artistic Director of M1 Theatre Connect (2002-2004) and was also the Artistic Director for SOTA Arts Festival (2011) and SOTA’s 10th Anniversary celebration (2008) among others.  We are delighted to interview Sean as part of the 2019 edition of Singapore’s M1 Fringe Festival.

Joyce Loo’s love of clay began in 1998 but she didn’t start her creative career until 2008 when she gave up a lucrative job as a stock broker, to pursue her passion for the arts. She now works as a ceramic artist in her studio (and gallery) on the beautiful Wessex Estate in Singapore and has a deep affinity to nature and the earth, reflected in her clay sculptural forms. Joyce is a self-taught artist of great ingenuity and her works are a visual harmony of colour, texture and her appreciation for flora and fauna.

Since 2005, Joyce’s work has been represented in several local and international exhibitions in Japan, Turkey, New York, Taiwan, China and New Delhi, India.  Her first solo exhibitions, My Eden and Embrace were both held in Singapore. Joyce’s work has been bought and collected by museums in Singapore and China and by government agencies and corporate and private collectors.

After 6 years in the museum industry, Gwen Lee decided to pursue her first love; photography.  Since then she has tumbled down the rabbit hole into the Wonderland of silver halides. Along with friends Gwen established a biennale photo festival in 2008, now known as the Singapore International Photography Festival (SIPF), an international platform in South East Asia.  In 2010, she was awarded for her contribution to the Singapore arts community by the Japanese Chamber of Commerce & Trade.

In 2014, Gwen created a brand new creative container art space, called DECK, to provide a platform and residency programme for photographers. DECK was awarded the President’s Design Award in 2015 in Singapore for its innovative design and impact on the arts community. Since 2008, Gwen has curated and organised over 45 photography exhibitions in Singapore and overseas.  On a regular basis she gives talks on professional development for photographers and participates as a jury and portfolio reviewer in Asia and Europe.

A former actress, founder of Cartoons Underground, a power organizer of a global award-winning non-profit female empowerment organization, SheSays, Vicky is one of the most dynamic people you will meet. At 21 she received her certified elephant driver’s license (Mahout license), crossed the Arctic Circle at 23, had breakfast with the creator and director of The Minions, Kyle Balda at 25.  Over the past five years, Vicky has worked in the digital space, in Asia and Europe, across different fields such as SEO, social media, public relations and in 2017 she was also a finalist for the Women Leading Change – Rising Star award.

Mark Neville is an English artist, working at the intersection of art and documentary, investigating the social function of photography. His work consistently looks to subvert the traditional role of social documentary practice, seeking to find authentic ways of empowering the position of its subject over that of the author. Neville often works with closely knit communities, in a collaborative process intended to be of direct, practical benefit to the subject.  His photographic projects to date, such as Deeds not Words, Fancy Pictures and the Port Glasgow Book Project have frequently made the towns he portrays the primary audience for the work. His lens based projects have been actualised in many forms; still photography, non-commercially available giveaway books and slow motion film.