Kennie Ting has always been curious about his roots. From a young age, he wondered about what it meant to be Singaporean. This innate curiosity would guide him throughout his career, first as a student of culture and history, and now as the director of the Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM) and the Peranakan Museum.

In early 2023, the Peranakan Museum reopened, with a new approach of spotlighting people and micro-histories. This concludes almost a decade of major revamps and gallery refreshes for the museum.

Meanwhile, the ACM celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2023 with the opening of the retrospective Andrew Gn: Fashioning Singapore and the World, in celebration of the Paris-based Singaporean fashion designer. The museum is one of the first and most prominent museums in Southeast Asia to specialise in pan-Asian cultures and civilisations. Specifically, it specialises in the material history of China, Southeast Asia, South Asia and West Asia—all regions from which Singapore’s cultural diversity originates. As the ACM’s director, Ting deals in everything from acquisitions and curation to marketing and operations.

Ting has also applied his expertise as an author. His book, Singapore 1819, which was published in 2019, is a comprehensive account of Singapore’s cultural history. Meanwhile, his 2015 book entitled The Romance of the Grand Tour: 100 Years of Travel in South East Asia explores not just Singapore, but the living heritage of the entire Southeast Asian region.

Ting is also simultaneously a group director at Singapore’s National Heritage Board. Previously, he worked for Singapore’s Ministry of Information for Communication and the Arts from 2003 to 2010.