Alecia Neo is the co-founder of Brack, an art collective and platform for socially engaged art, and Ubah Rumah Residency on Nikoi Island, Bintan. She also runs Unseen Art Initiatives, an art platform for professional and emerging disabled artists and cultural workers. As an artist, Alecia’s creative practice unfolds primarily through lens-based media, installation and participatory artworks. Ongoing projects include Care Index, an experimental platform that collects and features diverse practices of care performed by people from all walks of life. Conceived in late 2020, Care Index builds on a previous project titled, Between Earth and Sky, which was developed in collaboration with movement artists Sharda Harrison, Ajuntha Anwari, and a group of caregivers in Singapore.

Dr Azariah Tan is a well-known pianist and pedagogue in Singapore. As an educator, he conducts lecture-recitals at local and international conferences as a guest artist. He has taught on the piano faculty of Bluelake Fine Arts Camp in Muskegon, Michigan and regularly holds masterclasses at music institutions. A recipient of many awards and fellowships, Azariah has been extensively featured on international TV, radio and in print, as well as national news media, including internet video coverage and the Voice of America. In 2014, he was named Honoree at the Ten Outstanding Young People (TOYP) Singapore, as well as a finalist in 2017 for the Singapore Youth Award, the nation’s highest youth accolade, in recognition of the inspirational role he exemplifies. Azariah currently serves on the board of ART:DIS Singapore.

Claire Teo is the first visually impaired person to graduate from a professional theatre course in Singapore. An actor, director, singer, audio description advisor, lyricist, scriptwriter and advocate, she has led, conceptualised and directed two inclusive art projects including Move For?ward as part of the Light to Night festival 2022 at the National Gallery Singapore. She teaches speech and drama at the Movement for Intellectually Disabled of Singapore (MINDS), Lighthouse School (for the visually impaired and Deaf) and is directing the ‘Engaging Communities’ performance project at LASALLE. Currently the Programme Executive at Methodist Welfare Services, Claire creates and facilitates programmes for youths at risk and families going through divorce. Claire was a recipient of the Goh Chok Tong Enable Awards (UBS Promise) conferred by President Halimah Yacob.

Evelyn Ang is passionate about teaching young children and people with additional needs through art and exploration. A strong believer in student empowerment, she enables her students to unleash their imagination using a playful and interactive process of engagement, execution, and expansion by concentrating on the process, rather than the output. She has worked in the education sector for 17 years with two years in early childhood, and 15 years with students with additional needs in both general and special education schools. Currently, she is leading the art department at AWWA School @ Napiri in bringing innovative and ground-breaking approaches to the way visual arts are being offered.

Kelvin Koh spent 28 years in the public service, serving in several Ministries, agencies and the United Nations in the areas of strategic planning, education, strategic communications and human capital development and was the Deputy Executive Director of the Singapore Discovery Centre before joining MINDS in Oct 2019. A certified Organisation Development and Change Management practitioner, Kelvin lends his time to the public service to support their organisation development needs. He also currently volunteers as School Management Committee Chairman for two Government-aided schools and is also a member of National Library Board's Services and Engagement Committee. Besides championing for the underserved, Kelvin also advocates for strengthening marriages, families, and youth.

Maureen Goh was the Executive Director of ART:DIS from 2016 to 2022, formerly known as Very Special Arts Singapore. She had begun her career as a teacher and went on to do administrative and management functions. She loves to innovate and try new ideas. Her passion to work with persons with disabilities was ignited when an initiative allowed her to witness how art could inculcate patience, kindness and inclusion of people with different abilities and level playing fields. Through art, several participants found purpose, meaning and possible careers. Joining ART:DIS was a natural progression in her journey of confirming the therapeutic, social and rehabilitative qualities of the arts for persons with disabilities.

Roger Lee is a management consultant and is the parent of Timothy Lee who is a person with down syndrome. Roger and his wife Joyce have been caregivers to Timothy for the past 23 years and over the years have nurtured his potential in the arts. Timothy has excelled in areas such as dancing, music and acting. Most recently Timothy completed his acting engagement in the Mediacorp drama series “Kin” and performed in DANCE DRAMA: “Breakthrough Journey” in Tokyo. Roger and Joyce believe that youths with special needs are not guided by special parents, they make parents exceptionally special.

Singer-songwriter Sky Shen puts his feelings and stories into songs. The musician has performed and written music for the past decade, and released his debut EP, “Wheel You Love Me?” late last year. It contains songs in English and Mandarin, and is accompanied by four music videos. Sky engages the online community through regular live-streams on Twitch.tv. He is also active in the social service and disability advocacy fields as a staff, freelance content creator, emcee, and speaker-educator.

Haresh Sharma is the Resident Playwright of The Necessary Stage. He has written more than 120 plays which have been staged in over 20 cities. His play, Off Centre, was the first Singapore play selected by the Ministry of Education as a Literature text for GCE N- and O-Levels. In 2014, he was conferred the Southeast Asian Writers (or S.E.A. Write) Award (Singapore), which recognises and honours literary excellence in the ASEAN region. He was awarded the Cultural Medallion in 2015. He was a recipient of the National University of Singapore's FASS Distinguished Arts and Social Sciences Alumni Award 2021.

Since 1986, Verena Tay (www.verenatay.com) has acted, directed and written for local English language theatre. An Associate Artist with The Substation (2002 – 09), she has followed her passion over the years as a writer, editor and oral storyteller. She has published four volumes of plays and two collections of short stories, plus edited twelve story anthologies, including the bestselling Balik Kampung series published by Math Paper Press. Currently, she is completing her PhD studies in Creative Writing with Swansea University.

Born deaf and reliant on hearing aids and lip-reading, Grace Ng loves to read manga, take photos and watch movies. Inspired by Deaf actress Marlee Matlin, Grace began to explore opportunities in acting through online courses and further enrolled into ART:DIS's theatre training programme where she can use Singapore Sign Language (SgSL) for artistic expression. This opened up an opportunity for her to write and perform Between Us for Singapore Writers Festival 2020. She plans to pursue further studies at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (UK) in BA Performance in British Sign Language and English.

Peter Sau is an artist-educator, director and performer. He holds a Professional Diploma in Intercultural Theatre (Acting) and a Master of Arts in Advanced Theatre Practice from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (UK). In 2017, he founded Project Tandem and worked with D/deaf and disabled artists to provide mentorship and performance-making collaborations. In 2020, he joined ART:DIS as Head of Artistic Development, Performing Arts where he expanded the pool of performing arts programmes, and established key theatre training programmes such as BEYOND DIS:PLAY.

Tan Beng Tian is a disciple of the late renowned traditional hand puppet master Li Bofen and is a recipient of the JCCI Singapore Foundation Culture Award in 2005. Major companies she has worked with in her twenty-seven-year-old career are Checkpoint Theatre, Drama Box, Esplanade Theatres on the Bay, The Finger Players, The Necessary Stage, The Theatre Practice, Toy Factory Productions, Wild Rice and Zuni Icosahedron (Hong Kong). As a multifaceted independent theatre practitioner, Beng Tian has been actively promoting theatre making and passing on her puppetry knowledge through Masterclass Workshops and talks.

Francis Poon is a multi-disciplinary artist and curator who has exhibited in Singapore and Hong Kong, and is also an art educator for disabled people. Francis is the founder of OCCASIANS LLP (2011) and AN OTHER-SPACE LLP (2019). The former a collective of artists using different mediums and the latter “a collective of artists curating for artists in alternative spaces.” His ceramic works are currently retailing at The Clueless Goat Speciality Coffee House, Eat and Sip Tableware Curators, The Elephant Room, Analogue Initiative, and ‘Hay, Gelato’. He graduated from NAFA Singapore with a Diploma in Fine Art (Ceramics) in 2007.

Weng Jiaying is a diversely abled artist and co-trainer of workshops and dance classes from the Diverse Abilities Dance Collective (DADC), a community initiative of Maya Dance Theatre. She has worked with award winning choreographer Liz Lea from Australia and artistic director Kavitha Krishnan for DADC's production Speaking with Hands (2019) where she debuted a full length performance. Presently, Jiaying is learning Bharatanatyam and she aspires to present her own solo performance in the near future. She is also very keen to pursue her learning journey in dance through other dance forms, exchanges, international collaborations and performance opportunities. Jiaying is employed part time as administrative support in Apsara Asia Pte Ltd, a social enterprise that supports employment of diversely abled individuals.

Luqman B As’ad is trained in Hip Hop, Popping, Locking, Breaking and House. His craft has been recognised in both the local and international freestyle scene. In more recent years, Luqman has expanded his craft into theatrical work. He has been exploring the vast possibilities of what movement can be outside of the street dance scene. Luqman plans to use his craft to continually explore the endless possibilities of how movement and intentions can be portrayed. By fusing genres and playing around within the grey areas in dance, he hopes to discover new vocabulary and approaches to movement.

Mei Tan attained her Diploma in Music from LASALLE College of the Arts with the award from National Arts Council, Georgette Chen Scholarship and further attained her Bachelor of Music Performance with honours from the Kingston University Upon Thames, London where her studies was supported by the National Arts Council (NAC) Overseas Bursary. Active in performance, Mei currently plays in Braddell Heights Symphony Orchestra. She has also performed with the flute orchestra, chamber ensemble, percussion ensemble and gamelan ensemble in Singapore and overseas. Mei is also a music instructor for local schools and charities – having taught instruments such as angklungs, ethnic percussion on Chinese drums, Indian Dhol and Malay kompang; keyboard, Cajon, recorder, xylophones, ukulele, handbells and GarageBand (digital music creation on iPads) – and presently teaches at the United World College South East Asia (UWCSEA) as a music cover teacher.

Sivaranjini Das is the Founding Director of Drum Prodigy Singapore, which facilitates the use of rhythm-based tools for special needs in the community since 2007. She has 16 years of teaching experience working closely with special needs children and youth-at-risk. She uses drumming as a vehicle for empowerment and transformation, and provides individual and group percussion intervention to students with physical and intellectual disabilities such as Down Syndrome, ADHD, ASD, and children/youth-at-risk. Sivaranjini is a trained REMO HealthRHYTHMS Adolescent Protocol facilitator and HealthRHYTHMS Group Empowerment Drumming facilitator. She has a Diploma in Learning Disorders Management & Child Psychology, and is certified by the NTU-NIE Singapore in ‘Essentials of Teaching and Learning’. Sivaranjini recently completed her Specialist Certificate in Teaching and Learning of Preschool Arts Education by SEED Institute.

Wesley Seah is a Chinese ink artist and an experienced DiDsg guide who currently drives Business Development for DiDsg at the Office of Service-Learning, Ngee Ann Polytechnic. A series of medical consultations concluded that Wesley could have developed a rare condition of glaucoma at 35, which left him completely blind in his right eye and less than 40 per cent vision field left in his left eye. Despite that, he did not let his disabilities hold him back from pursuing his dreams. Thanks to the Ngee Ann Star Grant award, Wesley was able to continue and advance his training at LASALLE to expand his skills in Chinese Ink. His passion led him to develop his style using organic mediums and colour pigments for semi-abstract concepts and illustrative calligraphy. Wesley continues to create artworks which inspire not only the public majority, but also the disabled community to go beyond their limits.