Grooming of local talent in arts management is still in its infancy, and at present, there is no special degree in arts management offered at local universities. Currently, only SMU School of Social Sciences (SoSS) offers a second major in Arts and Culture Management (ACM). In order to encourage others to join the arts management profession, a group of SMU alumni explored the idea of offering arts management scholarships in 2018, to be awarded to SMU students who endeavour to pursue a career in Arts and Cultural Management. As many amongst them were formerly with the SMU Chinese Orchestra and were inspired by its resident conductor Quek Ling Kiong, they decided to name the scholarship after him. The Quek Ling Kiong Arts and Culture Scholarship was established in 2019, which coincided with the 10th anniversary of the Orchestra. The recipient of this year’s Quek Ling Kiong Arts and Culture Scholarship is SMU third year SoSS student Huang Ya Ting.