SINGAPORE — A lot took place on the visual arts front: The Singapore Art Museum announced its new director, artist-academic Susie Lingham. One of Gillman Barracks’ supposedly marquee galleries, hotshot Japanese artist Takashi Murakami’s Kaikai Kiki, scrapped plans to open there. The Artists Village simultaneously had an exhibition and a book launch about its Pulau Ubin artist residency programme. The Art Apart Fair took place at PARKROYAL on Pickering. Over on the theatre front, W!ld Rice launched its festival focusing on the works of playwright Alfian Sa’at, and Michael Chiang’s latest play High Class also opened (with actress Elizabeth Lazan, who contracted dengue, being temporarily replaced). Meanwhile, to boost arts education in Singapore, the National Arts Council and the National Institute Of Education announced the first batch of graduates of the Specialist Diploma in Arts Education. Finally, two artists won the Singapore Youth Award: Drama Box’s Koh Hui Ling and musician Muhammad Riduan Bin Zalani. MAYO MARTIN