2019 ENCATC-TACPS Academy on Cultural Relations and Diplomacy

Venka Purushothaman is Provost at LASALLE College of the Arts Singapore. He is an award-winning art writer and academic with a distinguished career in the cultural and creative industries in Singapore. Venka holds a PhD is Cultural Policy and Asian Cultural Studies from The University of Melbourne. 

Venka advances artistic and cultural networks and cultivates arts and cultural leaders, sensitive to emerging shifts in culture and society while promoting the rethink of learning objectives for an evolving student body in an increasingly borderless, culturally diverse and tech-driven twenty-first century. He has steered the development of numerous path-breaking programmes and founded the collective, Asia-Pacific Network for Culture, Education and Research (ANCER) to facilitate cultural leadership and research in Asia. Venka speaks internationally on cultural and economic transformation through the arts, shaping of arts higher education for the future and on emerging practices in contemporary art. He provides advisory support on these areas through participation in various arts, educational and cultural boards in Singapore and internationally.

Besides published books and essays, he is currently editor of Issue, an annual international peer-reviewed art journal.  Venka is a member of the Association Internationale des Critiques d’Art, France/Singapore, Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts, UK and University Fellow at Musashino Art University, Japan.