NATIONAL Museum of Singapore curator Jason Toh's childhood ambition was to become an architect. But by the time he went to university, he knew his passion lay elsewhere.

"In junior college, I followed my family's wishes and went into science," recalls Mr Toh.

"But that was not what I truly wanted, which in turn led me to decide on majoring in art history - without my family's knowledge - in college."

While he was studying at Middlebury College in Vermont, United States, the prospect of working in a museum did not interest him - until he completed his internships at auction house Christie's and the Singapore Art Museum.

The 30-year-old says: "My awareness of how a museum functioned was through my art history education, but my interest to work in a museum started after completing both my summer internships."

In 2004, Mr Toh joined the National Heritage Board as an assistant curator.

"I joined the National Museum when it was undergoing a major redevelopment, so I got to be in charge of the curation of two permanent galleries, which was a very rare and good learning opportunity for a newbie," he says.

For two years, he concentrated on researching, producing and installing a section on the late 19th century in the Singapore History Gallery, as well as the Photography Gallery, which examines the history of the Singapore family through archival photographs.

Past and present
Since the opening of the permanent galleries in 2006, Mr Toh has moved on to other projects.

"Increasingly, I liaise with other departments in the museum, including programming, marketing communications, sponsorship and facilities in the course of my work," he explains.

"I give tours to local and foreign VIPs, visiting museum professionals and sometimes corporate groups. I present public lectures and organise forums in support of educational projects."

He is also responsible for maintaining his permanent exhibitions and putting together temporary ones.

With such a varied job scope, no two days are the same.

He says: "I spend about half my time outside the office researching on artefacts, checking acquisitions or meeting with dealers, photographers, collectors or potential sponsors."

One challenge he faced initially was keeping himself up-to-date with Singapore history.

"I had to read up quickly and as much as possible on the topic to meet deadlines," he says.

"The challenge now is to balance the expectations and opinions of the various people whom I work with without compromising my visions and ideas for my galleries," he adds.

Passion and patience
Mr Toh says his education and career path to date have equipped him with the skills to tackle the rigours of the job.

"My liberal arts education instilled in me a passion to learn and embrace new ideas. A curator needs to have an inquiring mind to try out different ideas for exhibitions.

"My patience level has also improved - you need a lot of patience to go through reels of microfilms of old newspapers for research, or stay up till 3am sticking labels in the gallery before it opens," he quips.

Far from being cooped up among musty artefacts and documents, curatorial work continues to excite and interest him daily.

"As museum professionals, we are always experimenting with new ways to present history to engage our visitors and grow new audiences," he says.

"What drives me to go on every day is the constant reminder that I have a close-to-perfect job in an imperfect world."

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