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In 2026 the Culture Futures Lab at LASALLE achieved extraordinary global acclaim at the 2026 Ars Electronica Festival in Austria, securing a prestigious Honorable Mention in the Campus Exhibition for their co-created virtual reality installation Echoes of the Bay, co-designed and led by BA Arts Management students. Beyond this professional milestone, the international study tour functioned as a deeply transformative experiential learning journey, radically reshaping how emerging arts managers conceptualize technology, festival curation, and ethical leadership. Immersed in the festival’s vast, decentralized urban footprint, students received an unmatched masterclass in large-scale arts infrastructure, observing how thoughtful curation turns an entire city into an active canvas for discovery. Through direct engagement with boundary-pushing installations and peer-to-peer dialogues with global creators, students unlearned passive consumption, discovering that digital tools, artificial intelligence, and interactive media must serve as vehicles for empathy, critical self-reflection, and systemic critique rather than mere technological spectacle. By confronting complex socio-political issues—from algorithmic fragmentation and online radicalization to ecological communication—students learned to push past comfortable formats and approach cultural management with heightened ethical responsibility. This immersive international initiative exemplifies transformative education in action.
In October 2025, five BA (Hons) Arts Management students from LASALLE College of the Arts embarked on a transformative cultural and academic journey to the Osaka World Expo. This tour centered on active participation in global cultural discourse, moving beyond passive observation to meaningful contribution. First, the students engaged in a curated exploration of the Expo itself. By analyzing diverse National Pavilions and receiving a behind-the-scenes tour of the Singapore Pavilion from the Singapore Tourism Board, they gained firsthand insight into nation branding, cultural diplomacy, and the political economy of mega-events. This direct exposure bridged the gap between academic theory and real-world practice. Second, the students transitioned from observers to scholars as they took the global stage at the academic forum. The delegation's primary mission was to present the panel “Singapore as a Global Arts Hub” at the prestigious Osaka World Expo Forum, hosted by the Urban Resilience Research Center at Osaka Metropolitan University. Their panel critically analyzed Singapore's dynamic arts ecosystem, delving into cultural policy, sustainable arts entrepreneurship, and the role of heritage in global-city branding.
In the summer of 2025, Associate Professor Natalia Grincheva organized a transformative international study trip for BA Arts Management students from LASALLE College of the Arts to the prestigious Sibiu International Theatre Festival (FITS) in Romania. As one of the world's most complex multi-arts festivals, FITS served as an immersive, real-world laboratory where students actively participated as conference presenters and dedicated festival volunteers. This high-impact study tour offered Singaporean arts management students an eye-opening exposure to bold, boundary-pushing public art—from spontaneous square circus acts to large-scale street puppetry—demonstrating how creative expression can redefine urban spaces and foster deep community unity. By observing the delicate balance of logistical precision and organic artistic freedom, students gained invaluable firsthand insights into cultural diplomacy, public space curation, and large-scale event management. The experience highlighted the vital role of civic pride and audience trust in sustaining world-class cultural ecosystems. Through this immersive international initiative, the trip offered students an unforgettable experiential learning opportunity, reinforcing the Programme commitment to cultivating agile, globally conscious creative leaders equipped for the international stage.
The international study trip to Seoul: Exploring the power of Korean Wave industries was designed to expose students to successful arts management strategies applied to the creative industries developments in South Korea, associated with the Korean Wave. This visit was based on the academic and professional networks and developments of the Research Project “Mapping the Global Impact of Hallyu, The Korean Wave.” Activities on the tour included attendance of a half-day International Conference “Mapping and Theorizing Hallyu” at the Center for Hallyu Studies at Seoul National University. It also was based on multiple site visits to creative producers in the industry sector (Space Oddity, World K-pop Center, HiKR Ground) and government agencies in Seoul (Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange, Korea Culture Information Service Agency, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cultural Cooperation Division)[cite: 12]. The tour provided a robust platform to facilitate students' connections and learning to develop their Dissertation projects for the next academic year. Moreover students shared their research findings with larger international audiences through the Undergraduate Research Interactive Digital Posters Showcase: Hallyu through the Eyes of Generation Z.