University for the Creative Arts

By the time Singapore celebrated 25 years of nation building in 1984, the city-state was being praised for its “good governance” and economic achievements. However, what has constantly been overlooked is that these achievements were the result of a compliant civil service. After the People’s Action Party (PAP) was elected to office in 1959, it cracked down on its leftist political opponents and the press, while introducing “attitudinal reform” of the civil service. Civil servants learned very quickly that they were not supposed to question the wisdom of the ruling party. While Singapore today continues to highlight the Westminster system of government as a positive legacy of British colonialism, the reality is that the civil service is no longer politically neutral. This article explains how the PAP government worked to dominate the civil service in the 1960s before using it to serve its own political interests by the 1980s.

This study examined basic education teacher trainers' exposure to music-related training and their competency in integrating traditional Ghanaian music (such as Kpanlogo, Adowa, and Agbadza) into basic school teaching. Using a quantitative descriptive design, a 28-item questionnaire (α = .85) was administered to 30 teacher trainers at Abetifi Presbyterian College of Education. Descriptive statistics summarized exposure and competency, while chi-square tests explored demographic differences. The findings revealed limited exposure to music-related training, with trainers averaging 3.47 hours of music instruction per semester and minimal engagement with traditional Ghanaian music. Competency was moderate, with lower confidence in teaching traditional forms. No significant demographic differences were found, though the small sample size limited statistical power. The single-site focus restricts generalization, and self-reported competency may reflect social desirability bias. These findings underscore the need for structured training in traditional music to support national curriculum expectations. Teacher education programs may benefit from increasing music training hours, providing traditional music workshops, and supplying resources to strengthen culturally relevant teaching. Addressing these gaps is vital for fostering a pedagogical civilizational cycle that preserves and promotes Ghanaian musical heritage.

BackgroundPopulation aging has intensified the need for innovative approaches to support health and well-being among older adults. Interactive interfaces and wearable technologies have been proposed as promising tools for enhancing engagement in digital health management, yet evidence regarding their effectiveness and adoption remains inconsistent.ObjectiveThis study aimed to systematically review and synthesize current evidence on the types of interactive interfaces and wearable technologies used with older adults, their impact on health engagement and management, and the barriers affecting adoption.MethodsThis study conducted a mixed-methods systematic review to synthesize empirical evidence on interactive interfaces and wearable technologies for older adults. Two reviewers (A and B) independently screened and appraised all records, with a third reviewer (C) resolving disagreements. Database searches were conducted between January 2021 and August 2025 across PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and CINAHL. A total of 1,474 records were identified, of which 101 full-text articles were assessed, and 48 studies met inclusion criteria. The review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and employed the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT) for quality assessment. Thematic analysis was applied to extract and integrate findings across diverse study designs.ResultsFive categories of technologies were identified: commercial wearable devices, custom-built systems, mobile health platforms, age-friendly interface designs, and immersive or alternative modalities. These technologies influenced health engagement through four main pathways: usability and ease of learning, self-monitoring and adherence, motivational support, and psychosocial empowerment. Nevertheless, multiple barriers constrained adoption, including usability limitations, low digital literacy, privacy and trust concerns, and financial and sustainability challenges. Quality assessment revealed considerable methodological variability, with only a subset of studies achieving high rigor.ConclusionOverall, the findings demonstrate that while interactive interfaces and wearable technologies can empower older adults in managing their health, their broader impact depends on user-centered design, training and support mechanisms, transparent data practices, and equitable access models. The review provides an integrative framework that connects interface and wearable design to health management outcomes, offering practical guidance for inclusive and sustainable digital-health innovation for aging populations.

Abstract This article examines emerging practices in large language model (LLM) integration within game writing, focusing on how these technologies reshape narrative design, creative workflows, and professional roles. Drawing on evolving industry experimentation and academic research, it outlines the relationship between traditional game writing and LLM-driven approaches, surveys new forms of interactive storytelling such as conversational NPCs, multi-agent simulations, adaptive commentators, and LLM-based text adventures, and identifies their narrative affordances and constraints. The article analyses core challenges, including hallucination, bias, narrative incoherence, and control, and discusses current strategies to address them, such as fine-tuning, prompt engineering, and new authoring tools that position writers as system-level narrative architects. It argues that LLM integration represents not automation but a reconfiguration of co-creative authorship between writers, machines, and players, and calls for further research into ethical design, player reception, and the evolving responsibilities of narrative professionals in LLM-augmented game development.

This paper proposes the integration of mask work within the next phase of the Inclusive Treatment Experimental Ritual Performance (In TERiPe) model - a culturally grounded therapeutic framework rooted in the Bajau-Sama Igal dance tradition. While the first two In TERiPe pilot workshops (2023–2025) with forty-one People with Different Abilities (PwDA) successfully explored the healing dimensions of Igal-dramatherapy without the use of masks, new insights from practice-based research suggest that masking can deepen emotional accessibility and symbolic transformation in participants. The proposed phase, supported by the Ministry of Education Malaysia grant (2025–2026), aims to develop and test mask-integrated movement sequences through smaller pilot rehearsals and at the International Mask Festival (IMF) 2025, leading up to a major inclusive workshop scheduled within nine months from August 2025. Drawing from theories of ritual performance, dramatherapy, and Southeast Asian aesthetics, this article articulates the cultural rationale, psychophysical potential, and humanistic implications of introducing masks into Igal-based therapy. It positions mask work as a bridge between tradition and innovation, body and psyche, personal emotion and communal empathy — proposing a new, inclusive grammar for Malaysian performing-arts-based therapy.

This paper provides a reality check on circular economy (CE) transitions in the creative industries. Climate change has become a dominant theme across the sector, yet the CE has not emerged as a coherent or widely adopted agenda. While manufacturing and construction are increasingly central to CE policy frameworks, creative production remains marginal and inconsistently represented. Drawing on academic literature (2018–2024), national policy strategies, grey sources, and an exploratory online survey, this study identifies recurring patterns across macro-level drivers, sector norms, and niche innovations. Circular activity is concentrated in downstream, material-focused strategies such as recycling and reuse, whereas more transformative approaches (redesign, refusal, and regenerative practice) remain limited. National government CE strategies largely overlook the sector, resulting in weak policy pressure. Sub-sectors such as advertising, gaming, film, and Createch are notably under-researched despite rising digital resource intensity and environmental impacts. Niche innovations rarely scale, and landscape pressures are not translated into regime change. This paper contributes to CE scholarship by offering the first multi-strand, sector-wide analysis of how circular principles are interpreted, applied, and governed across the creative industries, advancing the understanding of CE transitions in non-industrial, hybrid material–digital contexts.