Academic leadership & faculty| LASALLE College of the Arts

Academic leadership

Academic excellence at LASALLE is shaped by an outstanding and diverse community of educators and mentors. Meet the minds behind the learning—artists, designers, educators and researchers from around the world who bring vision, rigour and heart to every programme.

Deputy President & Provost

Dr Venka Purushothaman

Senior Fellow

Milenko Prvački

Senior Fellow

Lord David Puttnam

Deans

Dean, Faculty of Fine Arts, Media & Creative Industries

Professor Adam Knee

Dean, Faculty of Performing Arts

Professor Leon Rubin

Dean, Faculty of Design

Nur Hidayah Bte Abu Bakar

Dean, Learning, Teaching & Research

Dr Wolfgang Muench

Heads of Schools

Head, School of Spatial & Product Design

Ang Xinwei

Head, Puttnam School of Film & Animation

Chris Shaw

Head, School of Fashion

Dr Circe Henestrosa

Head, McNally School of Fine Arts

Associate Professor Cissie Fu

Head, School of Creative Industries

Associate Professor Jonathan Gander

Head, School of Dance & Theatre

Melissa Quek

Head, School of Contemporary Music

Dr Timothy O’Dwyer

lasalle_headofschool_school_contemporary_music_tim_odwyer

Dr Venka Purushothaman is an internationally recognised academic, arts and cultural leader and award-winning writer with a distinguished career in arts higher education and the cultural and creative industries.

As Deputy President and Provost, Dr Venka has been instrumental in leading transformative academic and institutional developments that have elevated LASALLE’s global profile and ranking as a premier arts university. His leadership has positioned the institution at the forefront of cutting-edge arts pedagogy, intercultural and interdisciplinary learning, and integrating creative practice within the global knowledge economy.

Before entering academia, Dr Venka served in pivotal and pioneering roles at key cultural institutions, including The Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay, National Arts Council Singapore, and the Victorian Arts Centre in Melbourne, building institutional strategies and capacities. He continues in an advisory capacity in various national organisations today.

Renowned for his ability to forge enduring international partnerships, Dr Venka is a key figure cultivating artistic leaders who are attuned to cultural, social and ecological shifts of the 21st century. He founded the Asia-Pacific Network for Culture, Education, and Research (ANCER) to build cultural leadership and research capacities in Asia. He co-founded the Global Design Initiative—a cross-continental consortium advancing intercultural design education—and chairs the Board of Shared Campus, a collaborative network of leading arts institutions shaping new paradigms in global arts education.

Dr Venka’s thought leadership is globally recognised. He is affiliated with the International Cultural Relations Research Alliance (IFA, Germany) and is regularly invited to deliver keynote addresses and serve in advisory capacities worldwide. In recognition of his significant impact, he was conferred the Royal Order of Sahametri (Grand Knight Cross) by His Majesty the King of Cambodia in 2024 for his contributions to post-conflict Cambodia’s cultural development. Earlier, in 2017, he was named University Fellow by Musashino Art University, Japan, for advancing transnational higher arts education. He serves on international boards in the arts and education, and holds several prestigious appointments: Life Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (UK, since 2010), McNally Fellow of the Ireland Funds Singapore (since 2015), and member of the Association Internationale des Critiques d'Art (France, since 2006).

A prolific writer and cultural historian, Dr Venka has authored critically acclaimed monographs that serve as vital records of Southeast Asian arts and cultural leadership. His book The Art of Sukumar Bose: Reflections on South and Southeast Asia (2013) received the ICAS Best Art Book Accolade by the International Congress of Asian Scholars, Leiden University, in 2015. Making Visible the Invisible: Three Decades of the Singapore Arts Festival (2007) remains the definitive chronicle of Singapore’s performing arts history, while Narratives: Notes on a Cultural Journey (2002) pioneered the systematic study of Singapore’s Cultural Medallion recipients.

His current research focuses on international cultural relations, Singapore cultural histories, and contemporary art practices in South and Southeast Asia. He contributes to the global arts discourse through editorial roles in leading journals including Afterall (Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London), Culture: Policy, Management, Entrepreneurship (National Taiwan University of the Arts), and ISSUE (LASALLE College of the Arts, University of the Arts Singapore).

Dr Venka’s academic journey reflects a rare interdisciplinary depth. He holds a PhD in Cultural Policy and Asian Cultural Studies from the University of Melbourne, where his research advanced new perspectives on cultural history, festival cultures and identity formation in Singapore. He earned both his MA with a focus on Shakespeare and Postcolonial Studies and his BA (Hons) in English Literature and Communication Studies from York University, Toronto—demonstrating a foundational commitment to literary inquiry, critical theory and cultural analysis across diverse texts and contexts.

Academic leadership and faculty

Dr Venka Purushothaman

Milenko Prvački

Lord David Puttnam

Deans

Professor Adam Knee

Professor Leon Rubin

Nur Hidayah Bte Abu Bakar

Dr Wolfgang Muench

Heads of Schools

Ang Xinwei

Chris Shaw

Dr Circe Henestrosa

Associate Professor Cissie Fu

Associate Professor Jonathan Gander

Melissa Quek

Dr Timothy O’Dwyer

Join LASALLE College of the Arts' mailing list

Dr Venka Purushothaman

Join LASALLE College of the Arts' mailing list