NIE Art Facilities

Home to world-class Art, Music and Drama creation facilities that support deep content learning. The NIE's Visual and Performing Arts Academic Group houses The Art Gallery, Singapore's only purpose built free standing art gallery, The Nanyang Playhouse and music performance rooms.
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Singapore’s first purpose-built free-standing Art Gallery situated next to the Nanyang Playhouse along Nanyang Crescent houses a generous and unobstructed space for visual art exhibitions. The Visual and Performing Arts Academic Group’s role, in being host to this space, is to support curatorial practices of the Visual Arts which cultivate and sustain practices and practice-led research with pedagogical implications for Art classrooms through specialist endeavours in Visual Arts.

The NIE Art Gallery features exhibitions by graduating students from the National Institute of Education, exhibitions by local and international artists, local schools as well as the NIE permanent collection. These forms of curatorship aim to encourage and engage the National Institute of Education with the wider Visual Arts communities of practice and to facilitate discourses pertaining to Visual art, art education and contemporary practices of visual culture. Gallery programming includes exhibitions, talks, workshops, and other events.

The Art Gallery Committee welcomes exhibition proposals from schools, teachers/art practitioners, NIE/NTU staff members, emerging artists as well as established practitioners both locally and from abroad. The proposals are selected based on their merits and contributions to the teacher education programme in visual and performing arts.

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Mac Lab

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Ceramics Studio

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Sculpture Studio

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Printmaking Studio

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Drawing Studio

The academic group offers a wide range of music facilities to cater to the diverse interests and needs of our students who aspire to become music teachers in the future.

Our fully equipped studios with pop band instruments are designed for students who are interested in creating contemporary music. It is equipped with a complete set of instruments including drums, electric guitar, bass guitar, keyboard, and synthesizer. With the latest technology in sound engineering, students can learn to produce high quality recordings and experiment with various music styles.

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Recital Room

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Studio 5

For those who prefer traditional music, we have studios equipped with unique instruments such as the Indonesian Gamelan, Chinese Gu Zheng, and Malay Kompang. These studios offer unique opportunities for students to learn about traditional music from different cultures and explore the possibilities of blending traditional and contemporary music.
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World Music Room

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Gu Zheng Room

We also offer several practice rooms that are equipped with upright pianos, providing students with a conducive environment to practice and refine their skills. These practice rooms are designed to be soundproof, ensuring that students can focus on their music without distractions.
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Practice Room

Our studio with orchestra band instruments is equipped with a variety of instruments including violins, cellos, brass and woodwind instruments, percussion, and piano. This studio is designed for students who are interested in orchestral music and provides them with the opportunity to learn how to play and arrange music for a full orchestra.
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Band Room

The Keyboard Studio at VPA has 25 iMacs connected to MIDI keyboards, enabling students to use apps like GarageBand and Logic to create music. Equipped with high-quality speakers, the lab helps prepare future music teachers to create accessible and engaging music for their students. Additionally, students can learn music production and sound engineering skills. Overall, the lab provides a rich and immersive environment to explore the creative possibilities of music.
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Keyboard Room

All of our music facilities are designed to provide our students with a comprehensive music education that is aligned with the latest pedagogical practices. With the guidance of our experienced music educators, students can hone their musical talents, develop their creative expression, and gain the skills and knowledge needed to become inspiring music teachers.

Overall, our music facilities provide a dynamic and engaging learning environment for aspiring music teachers. Whether students are interested in contemporary or traditional music, solo or ensemble performance, our facilities are designed to cater to their diverse interests and help them realize their full musical potential.

The Nanyang Playhouse

The Nanyang Playhouse is a free-standing building close to the Arts Building. It houses purpose-built spaces for the Drama programme - performance area, workshop, rehearsal room, wardrobe, classroom and office. The performance area is a 'black box' - that is, it is predominantly black to minimise interference with all-round lighting design capacity and has no fixed seating.

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A flexible system of portable risers and platforms allows for many configurations of audience seating and temporary stage arrangements. Seating numbers vary according to the setup used: the maximum is around 150 and 120 could be regarded as optimal. The spaces constitute the Drama programme's teaching areas as well as being used for performance. Other programmes and groups may request use of the theatre; the main considerations will be whether the space can be made free at the requested times and the limits of available technical manpower. The Drama programme operates from within the Visual and Performing Arts Academic Group.
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The Visual and Performing Arts is the custodian of the NIE Permanent Art Collection which dates back to the days of the Teachers' Training College (TTC). The collection holds important local and regional masterpieces that include works by Chen Wen Hsi, Cheong Soo Pieng, Goh Beng Kuan, Han Sai Por and more. It is an invaluable resource in the training of art teachers.

Most of the collection is available for viewing at the NIE Library.
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This collection consists of ceramic works by Dr Iskandar Jalil.
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About Dr Iskandar Jalil
  • Singapore’s Master Potter
  • Leading educator-mentor in ceramics art
  • Started his art practice since his Teachers' Training College (TTC) days in the early 1960s
  • Enjoyed numerous accolades including the Cultural Medallion for Visual Arts in 1988 and Japanese Foreign Minister’s Commendation Award in 2014 
  • Conferred an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters (honoris causa) from the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in 2016
About his works
  • His works are known for the use of one-hand techniques and bears influences of different pottery cultures across the world – especially in Japanese philosophy and aesthetics.
  • Characteristics of his works are simple but strong structures with distinctly tactile and rich surfaces, often with twigs or branches as handles.
  • Use of clays unique to particular locales or regions.

His exhibit can be found at NIE Library, level 4, Left Wing.

For more information, please visit: http://iskandarjalil.nie.edu.sg
Applications to use / exhibit at the NIE Gallery maybe submitted to the email address below. Acceptance of applications will be based on the artistic merits of the proposed activity and the benefit to the NIE NTU student community. Daily rated fees may apply

Reach out to us at:
[email protected]

The NIE Art Gallery
National Institute of Education
Blk 3C, Visual & Performing Arts
1 Nanyang Walk

Singapore 637616