Founded in 1999 by academician and arts practitioner Janet Pillai, Arts-ED’s first programme involved artists leading a variety of non-formal workshops for students and teachers due to the lack of arts and culture education in schools.
Its second programme launched in 2001 and aimed to provide George Town’s young residents with heritage education to complement conservation efforts by adult heritage groups. This was in response to the government’s removal of rent control, which allowed owners to increase rent to fund the upkeep of dilapidated buildings. Soon, many owners evicted low-income residents and began renovations of historical shophouses.
Chen explains that Arts-ED’s approach to education was an effort to mend the fragmented social fabric caused by these circumstances, as interactions between generations and cultures, much needed for the exchange of knowledge, skills and values, slowly diminished. Meanwhile, art was used as a non-intimidating medium to allow communication and expression, at the same time provoking self-reflection based on issues or topics presented. Despite changing times, these remain Arts-ED’s main tools in the work that it does today.