Ethel Pang is a Singapore-based cultural worker and community weaver. She moves between the roles of writer, researcher, facilitator, curator and space-maker. Embedding herself within diverse communities and geographies across Singapore and the wider Southeast Asia, she has worked on issues like environmentalism, women empowerment, alternative education, and migrant worker rights.

In recent years, Ethel has been most invested in designing spaces and experiences for collective learning, her most recent body of work being running an an art collective space and residency project titled ‘A Piece of Peace Centre’.

Ethel holding a plate of freshly harvested flowers and greens from GreenCircle Eco Farm. Photo by Marvin Montefrio.

As an educational designer and facilitator,

I curate, design and facilitate immersive learning experiences for people to gather to learn, discuss, and (re)connect with their respective communities and geographies.

A group of participants decompressing from their walking experience, led by Terence. Photo by Mae Hweei.

Students from Yale-NUS preparing a meal at Huay E Khang village, as part of Land to Life Experiential Learning Trip

• This practice started with years of organising in uni for Chili Padi Academy, an environmental education accelerator programme for and by Southeast Asian youths. This built my foundation in facilitation and programme design.
• In 2023, I organised the Land to Life Experiential Learning Trip for Yale-NUS students, the latest form of collaboration between myself and My Thailand Network—a team of farmers, women leaders, alternative educators and Indigenous activists.
• Between 2023-2024, for the first time, I had the opportunity to manage and run my own “community centre” in the form of A Piece of Peace Centre (APPC). In this space, we explored the of urban (re)development and alternative creative spaces in Singapore, as well as how to co-exist and co-create together.

As writer and researcher,

I use ****storytelling as a tool for advocacy. My writing ‘method’ or practice focuses on ethnographic approaches, where I draw on my personal experiences with communities in Singapore and across Southeast Asia to highlight the work being done on the frontiers of social and environmental change-making.

Layering the tools honed from my social science background, managing communications in a professional institutional context, and writing editorial pieces, I am developing the capacitites of a multidisciplinary writer, researcher and storyteller.

<aside> <img src="/icons/pencil_gray.svg" alt="/icons/pencil_gray.svg" width="40px" /> Selected Writings

• Essay for Singapore Art Museum’s Design Collection, as part of my work as interlocuteur/researcher with design, tech collective Hothouse.
• Essay for Jom Media on GreenCircle Eco Farm. (Green Circle documentation project for more)

Portfolio and writing samples available upon request.

</aside>

As a community organiser/weaver,

I embed mysef within diverse communities across Singapore and Southeast Asia. Together, we have worked and organised on issues like environmentalism, alternative education, women empowerment, and migrant worker rights.

People, Places, & Projects