First MA Music Therapy cohort from LASALLE graduates with degrees conferred by UAS

The University of the Arts Singapore (UAS) and its founding member, LASALLE College of the Arts (LASALLE), celebrated the graduation of 100 students at the Postgraduate Convocation 2026. The graduates included the first cohort of students from LASALLE’s Master of Arts (MA) Music Therapy programme.

The graduates received MA degrees conferred by UAS across nine programmes: Arts and Cultural Leadership, Arts and Ecology, Arts Pedagogy and Practice, Art Therapy, Asian Art Histories, Creative Writing, Design, Fine Arts and Music Therapy.

Held at the Singapore Airlines Theatre at LASALLE’s McNally Campus, the ceremony brought together graduates, their family members and guests, with close to 500 people in attendance. Mr Lee Suan Hiang, Member of LASALLE Board of Directors and UAS Board of Trustees, graced the ceremony as Guest of Honour.

First cohort of MA Music Therapy graduates
Twelve students graduated from LASALLE's pioneering MA Music Therapy programme, established in 2024 as the first and only programme of its kind in Singapore. During the course of their rigorous two-year training, graduates made important contributions to Singapore's healthcare scene through their research, community work and a total of 10,800 clinical placement hours across healthcare and community settings. A majority of the graduates have secured employment as music therapists.

The programme, together with LASALLE’s MA Art Therapy programme, partnered the Art Therapists’ Association (Singapore) and Association for Music Therapy (Singapore) to co-organise the inaugural Creative Arts Therapies Symposium 2025, Singapore’s first inclusive and interdisciplinary platform for professional exchange, community engagement and the advancement of the creative arts therapies. The symposium also led to several further interdisciplinary initiatives, translating dialogue into tangible opportunities for interdisciplinary education, professional collaboration and sector development.

Among the graduates is Lee Pui Yee Rosalind, who entered the programme with a background in classical performance. In the MA Music Therapy programme, Rosalind’s research explored music therapy interventions in adult oncology, examining existing evidence surrounding the psychosocial benefits of music therapy and its application within Singapore and broader Asian contexts. Through this work, she advanced understanding of how music therapy can support emotional well-being, coping, and quality of life for individuals navigating cancer care. Rosalind is now employed as a music therapist locum at a hospice.

Deepening practice, opening new paths
The wider cohort brings together practitioners, researchers, educators, cultural workers and creative professionals who embarked on postgraduate studies to build upon their skills and knowledge as well as further scholarly research.

One such graduate is Thomas Lim, an award-winning writer, director and arts educator, who graduated with a MA Arts Pedagogy and Practice and received the Postgraduate Excellence Award, awarded to the top-performing graduate who has excelled in their research and practice. At LASALLE, Thomas’s research set out to investigate the ways that playwriting pedagogy and the practice of collective playwriting can challenge the dominant structures that influence how plays are produced and valued in Singapore.

Another graduate is Masturah Maidin, who pursued her postgraduate studies after 13 years of industry experience and graduated today with a MA Design. Passionate about driving impactful, community-owned solutions, Masturah founded MalayMondays as part of her thesis project—a community movement that preserves colloquial Malay through digital, physical and discursive platforms. This includes an installation that connects youth and seniors as well as a podcast featuring practitioners, artists and policymakers.

Together, these graduates show how postgraduate arts education can prepare practitioners to apply specialist knowledge in new contexts, work across disciplines and respond to changing societal needs through practice-based research.

Professor Kwok Kian Woon, Vice-Chancellor, UAS, said: “Building on their foundational knowledge and skills, UAS postgraduate students engage deeply with the social dimensions and complex demands of creative practice. We look forward to the contributions of our graduates as reflective practitioners and cultural leaders in Singapore and beyond.”

Professor Venka Purushothaman, President, LASALLE and Deputy Vice-Chancellor, UAS, said: "Singapore needs creative thinkers who can imagine new possibilities in a rapidly changing world. Postgraduate study at LASALLE provides a vital space to question, experiment and deepen artistic practice through research. It encourages our postgraduates to examine their fields and the world critically, to connect across disciplines and communities, and to bring fresh thinking to the challenges shaping the future of our planet."

The Postgrad Experience 2026
The Convocation ceremony will be followed by the Postgrad Experience at LASALLE on 5, 6 and 11 November, where prospective postgraduate students can get a first-hand look at LASALLE’s MA programmes through engaging talks and inspiring exhibitions. For more information, please visit the University of the Arts Singapore, LASALLE Postgraduate Convocation 2026 website.