The National Arts Council (NAC)’s Arts Resource Hub (ARH) aims to support arts Self-Employed Persons (SEPs) and freelance practitioners in Singapore to unlock new opportunities and grow meaningful careers for the long term. Here is a glossary of common key terms to understand how to brand your work effectively, along with samples for reference to adapt and use at your discretion.
Curriculum Vitae is Latin for “the course of my life” and hence, should detail your most notable work experience, skills and achievements. It is recommended for a CV to keep within two A4 pages and to be written simply and clearly. A CV is not the same as an Artist Bio or Artist Statement, and should include the following points:
a) Personal information like your full name, citizenship, home address, mobile number, email address and other online presence like LinkedIn;
b) Short profile of three sentences summarising your uniqueness – who you are, what you love to do, your beliefs, your proudest accomplishment;
c) Employment history by year (latest on top), the time you spent doing that project or job (e.g. March 2019 – August 2019 and some highlights from that job);
d) Education qualifications by year (latest on top) and highlight any awards you may have received;
e) Skills listings e.g. good with Powerpoint, speak fluent Polish, can reach a High C note easily;
f) References, such as past hirers or mentors who are willing to be contacted by your potential hirers.
Below are a few CV samples as starting points to think about your CV:
An Artist Bio is a one-paragraph summary of your career written in the third person that may be included inside publicity collaterals such as a programme booklet or website. Below are a few articles sharing tips on how to write a succinct artist bio:
An Artist Statement is a proclamation of what you believe in and is a clear communication to those experiencing your work to understand your intentions. If you are creating a new body of work, an accompanying Artist Statement would be helpful. It should preferably be 150 – 200 words in length.
A Personal Statement is similar to an Artist Statement but written by a non-artist like an arts administrator. A Personal Statement is usually written for grant applications or scholarship applications.
Click the link below for some tips on structuring an Artist Statement:
A Marketing Blurb is a short, punchy piece of writing that is akin to an elevator pitch for your artistic work. You may be asked to write this for promotional collaterals such as a programme booklet or website.
A Press Release is a longer piece of writing that provides more details about an artistic work, usually a new piece of work. This would be disseminated to media for potential coverage in print, broadcast or online platforms. Here are some tips for working with media for reference.