24 Sep 2025

A New Chapter in Cultural Education: Our Partnership with P.E.N.T.A.S. Foundation

by | posted in: Culture, Education | 0

A New Chapter in Cultural Education: Our Partnership with P.E.N.T.A.S. Foundation

Here at By Definition, we’ve always prided ourselves on being a social enterprise dedicated to the sustainability and innovation of arts, culture, and heritage education. Our mission is simple: to develop and deliver well-researched, high-quality programs that meet the specific needs of our clients. With a team of experts in research, education, and youth engagement, we strive to be the leading training and consulting organization in the region. Our core values of honesty, integrity, timeliness, and customization guide us in everything we do.

Working Together for a Shared Vision

We are thrilled to announce our strengthened partnership with P.E.N.T.A.S. Foundation Ltd., a non-profit organization that shares our commitment to cultural preservation and community empowerment. P.E.N.T.A.S. Foundation works to foster the performing arts and cultural heritage of the Nusantara region, enriching communities through creative expression, collaboration, and lifelong learning. Their vision to “empower communities through cultural education and social innovation” aligns perfectly with our own.

Our Exciting New Collaboration with PUI Javanologi

This collaborative spirit recently led to a significant milestone: the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with PUI Javanologi, an organization focused on Javanese heritage. For By Definition, this MOA is a major step forward, focusing on international collaboration in cultural education and community empowerment through the rich heritage of Java and social innovation.

This partnership is a testament to what we can achieve when we unite for a common purpose. Together, with P.E.N.T.A.S. Foundation and PUI Javanologi, we are committed to creating meaningful, impactful programs that celebrate our cultural heritage and build stronger, more connected communities for the future.

8 May 2019

Wayang Kulit Programmes

by | posted in: Arts, Education | 0

Wayang Kulit, a popular theatrical art form involving the use of shadow play and puppetry usually performed in Indonesia.

Wayang, meaning show/performance and Kulit, meaning skin, is simply a performance of puppets made from cow hide/skin.

The performance is accompanied by a gamelan troupe to further enhance the mood and setting whilst the dalang or puppetmaster tells the story.

Over the past few years, we’ve received plenty of requests from schools for Wayang Kulit to be part of the Mother Tongue Fortnight and while we have had a proper setup for Wayang Kulit brought down to the schools, for students to be wowed over, we also understood the challenges in conducting the programme for schools with budget being a sole concern.

The cost for a Wayang Kulit setup for a programme is costly as it requires major logistics even without a gamelan ensemble and even so, students could only afford to sit and watch as the puppets are too fragile and expensive to be played with the risk of damage.

As such, we innovated and developed our very own Wayang Kulit programme which is age-appropriate for students to undergo the process of learning, making and performing.

Through our Wayang Kulit programme, students will be given the opportunity to learn about the History and background of Wayang Kulit as well as be given the opportunity to make their own Wayang Kulit puppets with our very own ready-made puppets which allows students to simulate the process of assembly of puppets before finally learning how to perform it. Students can also take home the puppets with them!

For schools who gravitate more towards conducting programmes on their own, you can purchase our Wayang Kulit puppets and conduct your own lessons with it.

For more information on how to purchase your own Wayang Kulit puppets, email [email protected]

21 Dec 2018

Welcoming 2019

by | posted in: Education | 0

2019 is coming fast and we at By Definition Pte Ltd are extremely excited to begin the year!

But before the year end festivities come and take all your attention away, we’d like to convey our thanks to all our clients, supporters and volunteers who have continuously supported us by engaging us to run your programmes and activities as well as helping us to spread the word to your friends and contacts!

Without you, we wouldn’t continue to exist and because of you, we are dedicated and committed to continue to provide you with the best that we can offer!

Now, before 2019 sets in and before all our friends from the Ministry of Education heads back to work and begin the search for vendors, we’d like to share a little about our processes so you have a clearer idea on how we operate and how we keep things running!

Slide1
By Definition Programme Cycle

The diagram above is By Definition’s Programme Cycle. Each part of the cycle plays a very important role in ensuring that programmes that we deliver meet your expectations.

  1. DISCUSS
    The first stage is where we sit down and conduct an initial assessment to understand your needs, expectations and objectives. At the same time, it provides us with an opportunity to clarify with you any concerns that we may have or foresee at the execution phase.
  2. DESIGN
    Once the terms have been agreed upon, we can then proceed to design a programme that specifically meets your needs, expectations and objectives. We believe that there the ‘One Size Fits All’ or in this case, ‘One Programme Fits All’ theory, does not apply to training methodology.
  3. PLAN
    Having designed the programme to meet your needs, manpower planning is the next phase. In Human Resource training, we learn about Job Fit and Job Description, as a training and development organisation, we do the same.

    And as certified professional trainers and adult educators, we understand how important having the right trainer could make or break the programme and we want to make it the best for you!

  4. EXECUTE
    Once the programme/activity has begun to run, we don’t have a hands-off approach. We closely monitor and evaluate the programme and activities through consultations and feedback sessions with our trainers as well as from you, our client, to understand and see if there’s any area that we can improve on and make those improvements along the way rather than wait it out till the end.
  5. EVALUATE
    Once the programme is completed, we evaluate the whole entire programme and the processes to look at areas for improvement either in resources, manpower and even in how we communicated with you!

    That way, we can factor in these the next time we run a similar programme.

And that’s all that we want to share with you before the year ends!

If you’re wondering where to get a copy of our programme booklet for 2019, you can download them here should you not receive them via your school admin!

BD_2019_MALAYProgrammesOfferings

BD_2019_ENGProgrammesOfferings

We look forward to hearing from you!

[email protected]

30 Dec 2017

Update your CV, email your Resume

by | posted in: Corporate, Education, Training | 0

Everyone should update your Curriculum Vitae (CV) on a regular basis, and email your resume according to the job required.

iStock_000005894692Medium

If you’re confused at this point, well, you’re not alone.

A lot of people often get confused between the two and believe that the two are interchangeable, BUT THEY AREN’T!

To put it simply, a CV list the details of every single job experience you’ve had, every single skill you possess and everything about you.

A resume on the other hand, list only the relevant information required tailored to the job that you are applying for.

In our CV & Resume writing programme, we like to use simple examples such as this.

Imagine this, you were a student studying performing arts and was also working in the Customer Service/Retail/F&B Industry.  This is as typical as it gets isn’t it?

So when you apply for a job as an actor, do you think the director needs to know that you have experience in Customer Service/Retail/F&B or would the director prefer to know the number of shows you’ve performed in and the roles you’ve played?

Cutting down on irrelevant information and keeping it focused only on what’s necessary is what a resume is all about.

So, how often do you need to update your CV and Resume?

Because most of us don’t have wonderful memory, it is recommended that you update your CV as often as possible – after every milestone achieved or after every project completed. And update your resume as and when required – when you are applying for a new job or a new position within the company.

It doesn’t matter what kind of a job you have, be it full-time position or a freelance or part-time position, update your CV regularly so that when the need arises, you don’t need to rush to prepare your resume for application. You can refer to your CV, and keep the resume short and sweet.

To learn more about how to write a comprehensive CV & prepare a stunning resume, email us at [email protected].

26 Dec 2017

What’s New for 2018?

by | posted in: Arts, Education, Training | 0

2017 continues to be a year of renewed friendship, partnership and collaboration with many of our associate trainers and clients who continue to show immense support and confidence in our programmes, activities and management.

We have also acted on feedback received by clients to provide a booklet of our programmes. We have printed copies of the booklet and have mailed them out to all schools in Singapore, addressed to the Mother Tongue Departments.

If you haven’t received a copy of our booklet, you can download them here. [BD_2018_ProgrammesOfferings_FINAL]

For 2018, we have redesigned and developed some of our programmes to meet the educational needs of our participants as well as to support the teaching resources of fellow teachers in schools.

One programme that we have focused our attention on is our ‘Saya Penulis!’ programme, our Creative Writing programme.

In the newly redesigned programme, students will be exposed to more hands-on scaffolding activities that will be extremely engaging to their senses, and at the same time, encourage them to build on their vocabulary – a sore point expressed by many teachers that students struggle with.

The newly redesigned ‘Saya Penulis!’ was conducted for the public as part of Bulan Bahasa 2017 and was a huge success with parents and students who participated. Many of whom expressed, they wanted longer sessions and were keen to send their child to more of such programmes conducted by us.

So, do email [email protected] to book your ‘Saya Penulis!’ programme to get your students to learn more than just writing creatively, but also, expand their vocabulary and have fun at the same time!

We look forward to working with you this 2018!

From all of us here at By Definition, we wish you HAPPY NEW YEAR!