Summary of the Singapore Arts Festival

Comparison of Similar Event – Festival of the Arts Boca

Product
Both the Singapore Arts Festival and the Festival of the Arts Boca are selling a similar product. They are both selling the experience for buyers to enjoy and appreciate the arts. Both product are intangible and perishable which is why it is important to understand the needs and wants of potential customers. It is very important for staff to provide quality service during the delivery of the product in order to encourage continued patronage of buyers. The service staff at the Singapore Arts Festival were very friendly and approachable to the audiences as well as the performers. For example, when i reached Marina Barrage for the opening, i was greeted with a warm welcome by the staff and then guided to the performance area. Another example i encountered was during The Glittering Bestiary performance where one of the staff personally fed the performers water with a straw.

The only difference between the product for the Singapore Arts Festival and the Festival of the Arts Boca was the length of the festival. The Singapore Arts Festival is a one month long event from 15th May to 14th June while the Festival of the Arts Boca only last for 11 days from March 5th to 15th.

Place
The Singapore Arts Festival is held in many locations in Singapore. From shopping centres to food centres as well as esplanade and LASALLE college of the Arts. The setting varies from the location so sufficient planning is needed to ensure that the performance held at the location is suitable in order to create the ambience for the performance. For example, Hélios ║is held at the Marina Barrage at night. This is because it has the wide open space needed for the props to move around the stage. It also creates the relaxing ambience for the performance and the light and music effects. On the other hand performances like the Moscow State Chamber Choir is held in the esplanade concert hall as many equipments such as microphones and amplifiers are required in order for the performance to run smoothly. A concert hall also creates the peaceful ambience needed for audiences to enjoy and appreciate the performance.

Most of the performances for the Festival of the Arts Boca is concentrated at the Count de Hoernle Amphitheater at Mizner Park. It is an open-air venue with a central viewing area and a two-level colonnade surrounding the stage. The stage is about 2440 square ft with approximately 3000 seats. Surrounded by greenery, the setting creates a more relaxing ambience for audiences to enjoy the performances.

Partnerships
The partners for the Singapore Arts Festival includes TV stations (channel 5 and okto), government agencies (Singapore Tourism Board and Tote Board), Education Institutes (PSB Academy) and other companies such as coca-cola and Shaw Foundation.

The partners for the Festival of the Arts Boca includes real estate investment firms (Woolbright Development), resorts (Boca Raton Resort and Club), magazines (Boca Raton Magazine) and government agencies (city of Boca Raton and Palm Beach County Tourist Development Council).
The partners for the Festival of the Arts Boca is more centralised within the city of Boca Raton itself. The Singapore Arts Festival on the other hand has a more diverse group of partners from the basic government agencies which both festival has to even beverage companies.

Promotion
The Singapore Arts Festival centralised most of its promotions for Art Fest Club members. By doing so, they are encouraging people to join the club for art performance benefits for the long term. This also helps promote the appreciation on arts in Singapore. All Art Fest Club members enjoy 10% discount for single ticket purchases. There are also promotions for group packages with more than 15 tickets for one production, there will be a 15% discount. This is to promote people to come in big groups. Full-Time students, NSFs and senior citizens above 60 years old also get 20% discount.

The Festival of the Arts Boca does not have any promotions for tickets. This could be due to the fact that they might already have a steady crowd visiting the festival every year. Or they believe that it is not necessary to do promotions for the arts as no price can be put on the arts.

Programming
Festival of the Arts Boca targets more on music audiences as on their home page under featured performances, all 3 were orchestra performances.

Singapore Arts Festival targets a wider variety of audiences as their main page is split into 6 different categories (dance, music, theatre, fest connect, visual arts and outreach) and there is a wider variety of performances from different categories under the featured section.

This shows that Festival of the Arts Boca has a more specific group of target audience while Singapore Arts Festival is trying to cater to audiences with different taste by showing them that they have a variety of different performances for all to enjoy.

People
As both festivals are organized by non-profit organizations, most of the staff are either volunteers or staff from partnering organizations. The audience for Festival of the Arts Boca are more targetted at those who already have an appreciation for arts. Singapore Arts Festival has a wider range of audience as they have a wider variety of programmes for all age groups.

Packaging and Distribution
Bothe the Singapore Arts Festival and the Festival of the Arts Boca has a similar website layout where both home pages has a list of featured performances.

Both have a section for calendar of events which I feel is one of the most important key to the success of the event. The difference is that Festival of the Arts Boca's calendar of events comes in 2 modes - interactive schedule and text-only schedule. It caters to the more IT savvy as well as those who are just looking for a simple and straight-forward list of events. It can also be downloaded by pdf format.

Singapore’s Arts Festival’s calendar of events is very attractive with bold colours however I feel that they failed to cater to the needs of less IT savvy people or those who just want to have a simple view of it.

Tickets for the Singapore Arts Festival can be bought online, by phone, at the door, as well as overseas and local Sistic authorised agents. Tickets for the Festival of the Arts Boca can only be bought at the box office or online.

Price
Both the prices for Singapore Arts Festival and the Festival of the Arts Boca are generally affordable for all. Singapore Arts Festival tickets ranges from free of charge to $120 per performance. The Festival of the Arts Boca tickets ranges from $25 to $100 per performance which is still reasonably affordable. As both organizers are non=profit organization, thus their main motive is not to make a profit but to promote the appreciation of arts.

Best Practices
After attending 3 separate events namely the Hélios ║, The Glittering Bestiary and The Red during the Singapore Arts Festival, it has not only been an eye opener but also a new learning experience. There are several best practices I noticed while enjoying the arts that I wish will continue to become part of the Singapore Arts Festival’s legacy.

Firstly, I realise that unlike many other festivals, the Singapore Arts Festival brings the performance to people instead of bringing people to the performances. Many other festivals including Boca’s Festival of the arts, the performances are held in a theatre or concert hall. The Singapore Arts Festival also has performances in such locations but there are also performances held around Singapore where people might not be there intentionally just to watch the performances but still be able to enjoy the arts. For example, The Glittering Bestiary performance along Orchard Road as well as The Red performance outside Vivocity. I feel that this is very important especially for countries like Singapore which are still quite new to the arts and may not be willing to travel or be confined in a specific location just to enjoy the arts. This practice works as a platform to introduce new form of arts to Singaporeans.

On top of being incredible accessible, the Singapore Arts Festival also has programmes that are absolutely free for all to enjoy. In fact, all three performances I attended during the Singapore Arts Festival were free. As mentioned before that Singapore is still a country quite new to the arts, this is a very important first step to gain the interest of Singaporeans to the arts. Even programmes that have to be paid come in a huge range of prices from $16 to $120 depending on choice of performance as well individual’s willingness to pay. This practice also promotes the fact that the arts should be accessible and affordable for all to enjoy.

Thirdly, I really like how the National Arts Council categorized and market their programmes according to the interests of their audiences. The family themed programmes such as Sienta la Cabeza from Spain and The Big Game by Polyglot Puppet Theatre from Australia are held near housing estates like Toa Payoh HDB Hub. On top of that, the dates 29 to 31 May are during the weekends when families normally go out. This shows that the National Arts Council really looked out for the interests of their target audience making sure that families find it accessible and attractive to visit the performances.

On the other hand, programmes such as Anna Karenina Finnish National Ballet, Electra by The Suzuki Company of Toga and Invisible Room by The Observatory are held in the Esplanade Theatre, Victoria Theatre and LASALLE College of the Arts Flexible Space respectively. While marketing for the event, the National Arts Council not only saw the need of the performers in terms of how much space they need and what equipments are needed for the performances, they also saw the need of the specific target market in terms of what kind of environment they will be able enjoy the performances at its best.

Another practice I really liked about the Singapore Arts Festival was punctuality. This was something many event planners neglect for several reasons such as weather or even insufficient planning beforehand. All the performances I went to as well as the ones I heard from my friends all started on time. Except The Glittery Bestiary which started less than 5 minutes late due to the wet weather on that day. This practice not only shows adequate planning, it also forces audiences to be punctual for performances as well in order to get a good view.

During the conduction of the performances, some of you might also notice a staff walking around with a board and clicking away. Out of curiousity, i asked the staff what she was doing. I was later told she was actually trying to count the number of audience present. I feel that this is a useful tool for future planning of events. By doing so, management will be able to have a better idea on what events are more popular among Singaporeans and organise more of such events in the future.

Lastly, which is also my favourite practice of the Singapore Arts Festivals was the interaction with audiences. Many arts performances I attended in the past involved me sitting at least 10 metres from the stage watching the performance and slowly dozing off. But the Singapore Arts Festival has really showed me how arts have evolved over the years. All the performances I attended were held in close proximity to the audience. Of which the one I enjoyed most was The Glittering Bestiary performance along Orchard Road. The performers were standing on high sticks but never found it too much of a trouble to smile for the camera or even fool around with the audiences with their long white drapes. It was really a one-of-a –kind performance compared to all the other performances I have attended over the years.

Stakeholders
· Organiser
The Singapore Arts Festival is organised by the National Arts Council Singapore.

· Sponsors
Sponsorship is a cash and/or in-kind payment to a property which in this case is for an arts event, in exchange to gain access to the exploitable commercial potential associated with the property.

The major sponsors of the Singapore Arts Festival are Lee Foundation, Raffles City Shopping Mall, Public Utilities Board, Urban Redevelopment Authority, Hong Leong Foundation, Vivocity Shopping Mall, WingTai Asia, Suntec Singapore and SMRT.

Other sponsors include Marina Mandarin Singapore, Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Starhub Cable Vision and Yahoo!.

· Government Agencies
Government agencies are the most common partners for events. The government agencies involved in the Singapore Arts Festival are Public Utilities Board, Singapore Tourism Board, Tote Board, Housing Development Board and National Environment Agency. All of them can play very different roles in the event.

· Tourism Agencies
The Singapore Arts Festival worked with many tourism agencies to attract tourists to come to Singapore to attend the festival. These includes the French Embassy, Embassy of Sweeden, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Embassy of the Kingdom of Spain and the Australian High Commission. These tourism agencies help promote the Singapore Arts Festival as well as Singapore as a country.

· Partners
Partners are stakeholders that are involved in producing the event or festival in different ways. In the case of the Singapore Arts Festival, there are 3 categories of partners – official, premier and venue.

The official partners include official TV station Channel 5, supporting TV station okto and official sparkling beverage Coca-Cola Light.
The premier partners include Singapore Tourism Board, Tote Board, Shaw Foundation, University of Western Australia and PSB Academy.
Lastly, the venue partners are Dôme Marina Square, LASALLE College of the Arts, National Parks Board, Housing and Development Board and SBS Transit.

· Supporters
Supporters are people who promote or advocates for the event. The supporters of the Singapore Arts Festival includes Australian High Commission, Business Traveller, Creative Eateries, Culture France and the French Embassy, Embassy of Sweden, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Embassy of the Kingdom of Spain, Esplanade, EZ-Link, GameAxis, Goethe-Institut Singapore, Harry’s, Hasbro Singapore, The Heeren Shops, Italian Cultural Institute Singapore, JCDecaux Singapore, National Environment Agency, Rendezvous Singapore and Tan Ean Kiam Foundation.

· Staff/ Volunteers
Also known as the “cast”, staff are very important to any event. Staff can be hired professionally or volunteers from schools or organisations. Staff can take different roles from ushers to performers.

· Spectators/ Audiences
Singaporeans as well as tourists who take part in the festival regardless of whether it’s intentional or not.

Main Purpose
The main purpose of the Singapore Art Festival which started in 1977 is to celebrate the local arts activities of our country's diverse communities.

Over the years, the festival has transformed into a festival characterised by its boldness and innovative spirit.

With performers from over 20 countries, the National Arts Council is trying to expand the horizons of Singaporeans' outlook on the arts and also to feed the demand of increasing number of people who appreciate the arts in SIngapore.

Tourism Benefits

Political Benefits
There are several political benefits Singapore can receive from the Singapore Arts Festival. Firstly, the Singapore Arts Festival is able to attract visitors from other countries to come to Singapore. It helps create economic benefits by creating employment opportunities for the locals. It also improves the profile of Singapore as a city of arts which might be new to many. As many government agencies are also directly or indirectly involved in the event, the Singapore Arts Festival also helps to increase the profile of politicians as well as the organisation itself. The Singapore Arts Festival also promotes Singapore to the world and encourages foreign investments in our country.

Economic Benefits
The Singapore Arts Festival attracts visitors to Singapore and when tourists come to Singapore, they spend money here generating tourism revenue for Singapore. Visitors could also extend their stay for the Singapore Arts Festival or after the Singapore Arts Festival. This will help create more tourism revenue for the country as they might visit local attractions during their stay here. The Singapore Arts Festival can also increase Singapore’s gross domestic product from increased tax revenue. Lastly, the Singapore Arts Festival could also open doors to more business opportunities for companies in Singapore. This is because the festival acts as a strong platform for local companies to showcase their expertise and host potential investors.

Social & Cultural Benefits
The Singapore Arts Festival has given Singapore many social and cultural benefits. Firstly, it increases Singaporeans’ pride for their country as well as their race. This is important for Singapore as we are a country with many different races and religions. For example, performances by local artistes The triqnaqi which includes Sheikh Haikel, Aaron Aziz, Anna Belle Francis and Diyana Halik not only gives them a playform to showcase their talents but Singaporeans watching the performance will also feel the pride of being a Singaporean. The Singapore Arts Festival also revitalize traditions. For example, performances featuring Iswarya Jayakumar and The Kirana Seni allows Singaporeans to learn more about the Indian and Malay traditions respectively.

Performers from all over the world also help broaden people’s culture horizon giving them a chance to be exposed to different cultures, customs and unique form of arts. For example, Hélios ║ performance by La Compagnie Malabar from France was a very different form of art that many Singaporeans might not have the chance to enjoy till now. Most importantly, the Singapore Arts Festival is a shared entertainment experience for all.

Physical and Environmental Benefits
The Singapore Arts Festival has several performances that are held outdoors such as The Glittering Bestiary which is held along Orchard Road and Red which is held outside Vivocity. By holding it outdoors, it doesn’t create much pollution or wastage of resources. It also allows audience to take the time to enjoy the surroundings amidst their busy daily lives while enjoying the performance. For example, there are so many people walking in and out of vivocity everyday but how many people actually take the time to admire the architectural infrastructure of the massive building. By having a performance outside Vivocity, it gives people time to appreciate the performance as well as to admire the surroundings.

By holding a performance outdoors it also transforms the whole ambience of the place. For example, Orchard Road is normally filled with passersby, but with the performances it livens up the ambience of the street and showcase a side of Orchard Road that we rarely see on regular days, bustling with excitement.


Appendix
http://www.festivaloftheartsboca.org/
http://www.ciemalabar.com/anglais/site1024Ang.htm
http://www.singaporeartsfest.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/11695720@N06

The Glittering Bestiary

The clock is ticking, it’s already 1pm, where is The Glittering Bestiary? Could the performance I heard so much buzz about be cancelled due to the wet weather? Of course not!

Just when I was heading for the train station in disappointment, I see a group of really tall people all dressed in white crossing the road from Wheelock Place. Everybody on Orchard Road turned to look. Some took a quick glance but many were simply enchanted. The music coming from a small trishaw-like white vehicle with eyes got all of us hyped up just in time for the performance.

The Glittering Bestiary is actually a group of circus acrobats from La Compagnie Malabar, France. They have performed in more than 35 countries and 1153 towns since 1981and Singapore is very honoured to be one of them.
As they got closer, we realised that the reason for their tall statures was because most of them were walking on sticks. Watching them prance around effortlessly in their glittery white dream-like costumes was indeed enchanting. Their faces were painted in white and black paint, so much that you can barely imagine how they would look like without all the makeup. All their costumes were very detailed, even right down to the silver eyelashes of the music vehicle. One of my favourite costumes was the one covered in spikes just like a porcupine.



My favourite part of the entire performance was the interaction they shared with the audiences. Not only did they took pictures with the audiences, they also fooled around with them. For example, chasing after the audiences with their long white drapes and covering them. Some people were frantically looking for a way out beneath those white drapes while some just waited patiently to be let out. It was really fascinating to watch the expressions of the audiences and how much they enjoyed the performance. They even shook “hands” with the audiences see the pictures below and you’ll get what I mean.

Haven’t seen an exciting acrobatic performance along Orchard Road? That’s because you have not seen The Glittering Bestiary!

Truly my favourite performance of the Singapore Arts Festival.

Singapore Arts Festival 2009 Opening

After reading so much about the Singapore Arts Festival, the grand opening which also marks the start of the month-long event is finally here. Unknown to many, this is also my first time to the Marina Barrage. No doubt getting there was quite a chore but thanks to the shuttle bus provided it made things a whole lot easier. Without further ado let me start blogging on how it all started.
After dinner at Cityhall, a few of my friends and I made our way to the Marina Barrage via the shuttle bus service provided from Marina Bay MRT station. As soon as we got off the bus, we were greeted by friendly and enthusiastic staff who guided us into the main arena. However to our disappointment there seem to be an absence of crowd for such a major event. We were not left disappointed for long though, as we approached the main arena we saw a huge crowd gathered at the stage as well as above it.
Before rushing to reserve a good view just like all Singaporeans do, we took a sneak peek at a Chinese drum performance. It had caught our attention the moment we got in due to the loud booming sound coming from it. Below is a short clip on it although its not very clear. The drummers were very coordinated both in the sound as well as their actions. This proved to be the result of numerous practices during the preparation for this event. Although it was only a brief performance, it was applauded by many spectators.

As the clock strikes 8pm commencing the start of the Hélios II performance, we quickly rushed to get the best view we could find. Ok firstly a little intro about Hélios , it is actually a performance about the creation of the Greek ancient sun god by the French urban theatre extraordinaires La Compagnie Malabar.

The performance started off with the entrance of a giant mythical insect which looked like a praying mantis, accompanied by acrobats dressed in fanciful outfits walking on sticks. The scene was also blurred by a large amount of red smoke which was probably to enhance the mysterious atmosphere. After which, the team of performers paraded around the main stage. Many of us will not deny that we didn’t quite get what they were doing until we read through brochure that was given to us. The main gist of the performance was the construction of the Greek sun god at its highest point. The acrobats walking on sticks were actually the builders of light and worshippers of the sun. This astonishing performance was then taken on to the main stage as spectators watch in excitement.

As the performance continued on stage, one of the acrobats was actually suspended from the mouth of the insect with a string and a large hoop. The video below is not very clear but she basically performed some gymnastics stunts just by making use of her body’s flexibility and the large hoop. It was very amusing to watch her perform as she was not only able to perfect such challenging stunts effortlessly while being hanged in mid air and still be able to display such elegance.

The last 2 photohraphs above were taken from http://www.flickr.com/photos/11695720@N06 due to poor quality of my camera.

Overall, I felt that it was an excellent performance with class and elegance. The symphony of lights, sound and smoke effect also adds up to the entire experience.
Last but not least, was the fireworks display. Strangely enough, this was also the time where most of the crowd were anticipating. The booming sound of fireworks was paired with the cheers and screams of the spectators which to me was the peak of the entire ceremony. I had the privilege to be really close to the fireworks as my friends and I were standing nearby thus explaining the great quality of the video below. I felt that the opening ceremony of the Singapore Arts Festival 2009 was a great success in many ways and I look forward to enjoying more of it in the month ahead. So do look out for more of my posts on the other events during the Singapore Arts Festival 2009!!!

PREVIEW!!!

A 1 month long event everyone is waiting for.

Indulge your eyes in the various form of arts from dance to music to theatre.

It will be held along Orchard road, at the esplanade and in shopping malls all around Singapore.

Stay tuned for my next post on the grand opening of Singapore Arts Festival 2009 at the Marina Barrage, featuring Hélios II all the way from FRANCE!!!!