Cultural Medallion 2025
Theatre maker Goh Boon Teck and artist Nai Swee Leng honoured with Cultural Medallions
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The Cultural Medallion was presented to Toy Factory Productions’ Goh Boon Teck (left) and painter Nai Swee Leng.
ST PHOTOS: BRIAN TEO
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SINGAPORE – The Cultural Medallion, Singapore’s highest honour in the arts, was presented to two artists by President Tharman Shanmugaratnam, on Nov 27. Five other artists aged 35 and below were also conferred the Young Artist Award at a ceremony held at the Istana.
Toy Factory Productions’ Goh Boon Teck builds on family legacy in theatre
Artistic director Goh Boon Teck has put on showpieces such as Titoudao (1994), The Crab Flower Club (2009) and Moonlit City (2025).
ST PHOTO: BRIAN TEO
Theatre company Toy Factory Productions was founded by Goh Boon Teck and 13 others in 1990. As the 3½ decades elapsed, people switched careers or started their own artistic initiatives, but Goh has kept stolidly on.
“I am the silly one,” the 54-year-old immediately counters when this reporter remarks on his persistence. “When I do something, I want to do it consistently and religiously. I’m still learning how to do theatre.”
The powers-that-be have evidently decided that he has earned his laurels. At the Istana on Nov 27, the veteran creator of showpieces like Titoudao (1994), inspired by his opera actress mother Oon Ah Chiam, and The Crab Flower Club (2009) was conferred the highest cultural honour in the land, the Cultural Medallion. He is one of two honourees in 2025.
Painter Nai Swee Leng believes ink as abstract and vital as Western art
Cultural Medallion recipient Nai Swee Leng, who has been painting for nearly 60 years, has seen a surge in younger Singaporeans interested in Chinese ink.
ST PHOTO: BRIAN TEO
Ink painter Nai Swee Leng, 79, has been a keen observer of the chirping bird and swaying branch for nearly 60 years. Though he has taught hundreds of students, he still says: “I’m still in search of the essence of ink.”
One of Singapore’s more neglected second-generation artists – as has been the fate of many working in the traditional medium – Nai is one of two honorees conferred the Cultural Medallion at the Istana on Nov 27.
The soft-spoken Nai was still coming to terms with the award when speaking to The Straits Times. He was at a loss for words after receiving the call a few weeks earlier at home, informing him he was receiving the nation’s highest honour for artists: “It’s a difficult prize because so many people are competing for it.”
Five recipients, from film-maker to lighting designer, for the Young Artist Award 2025
(Clockwise from left) Mr Alvin Lee Chang Rong, Ms He Yingshu, Ms Genevieve Peck Jing Yi, Ms Syafiqah 'Adha Sallehin and Mr Daryl Qilin Yam.
PHOTOS: NATIONAL ARTS COUNCIL
Five artists aged 35 and below were conferred the Young Artist Award at a ceremony held at the Istana on Nov 27. They were film-maker Alvin Lee Chang Rong, writer-educator He Yingshu, lighting and projector designer Genevieve Peck Jing Yi, composer-educator Syafiqah ‘Adha Sallehin and arts organiser-author Daryl Qilin Yam.
Introduced in 1992, the award comes with a $20,000 grant in support of their artistic pursuits. The Straits Times finds out what the award means to them and what they intend to do with the grant.
