I was really honoured to have worked alongside my fellow curators Seok Lin and Wendy during the 11th Leaders in Governance Programme that just came to a close last week in Civil Service College. We had a group of emminent public service leaders from 18 countries gathered to share on the emerging governance challenges.
Content aside, it was the level of curation that excited me. Seok Lin has an eye for details, a genuine care for others and a generous heart. Wendy is an awesome visual recorder and has a constant flow of creative ideas. Together, our works helped to bring the sessions and classroom alive.
After a hectic 2 weeks of curation, I am now beginning to have a new appreciation of what curation truly means.
Curation is to care, to build up and to look after. It is about providing a quality of experience for the participant. It is also about bringing meaning of the content to the class. Tall order perhaps but its certainly something we strive to provide for.
From making sure a right pen is there to be used, every participant has a buddy to share with, or structuring the right framing question for discussion, curation has a role to play. No details are too small.
As the participants left and the room falls silent, several WhatsApp messages started coming in. One participant thanked us saying it was certainly “a memorable and enriching one for all of us”. Another echoed the comment and said, “ It’s been an enriching and endearing experience, a great reminder of why we do what we do.” Another added,”I am sure I am not the only participant who wishes we were still on course.” They, the participants, are the very reason why we do what we do.
I think our curation did add to that quality of experience in the class.
To the wonderful participants of the programme, “You are awesome!”.
To my fellow curators, “I truly enjoyed the journey.”