Singapore Arts Festival 2009

INTRODUCTION
The Singapore Arts Festival 2009, held from 15th to 14th June, was a tremendously amusing and eye opening event. Never am I an artistic endeavor, I attended my first ever Art Festival, which showcases 26 remarkable core productions in the 31 days festival.

This blog will lead you through my explorations of such significant event in Singapore, and you would be able to discover the brilliant gems in arts from all around the world!

In relation to that, Marketing Strategy that brings about the success of the event will be reviewed in this blog with comparison with other Art Festivals held in other countries. Moving on, it will also identify the stakeholders in the festival, as well as the purpose of such a festival. Best practices as well as the tourism benefits received by the host city, Singapore, will also be explained to you in depth as I undergo the various spectacular range of performances.

Get ready to set your focus on the marvellously display on the beauty of arts as it presents to you in various forms such as Dance, Theatre, and Music!

THE GRAND OPENING

Forget Beer Fest. Asia or Audi Fashion. Music, Dance and Theatre are now the latest hit in town! Sometimes it is easy to get over the dates, but 15th May 2009, which may seem to be a perfectly normal day for everyone meant a whole lot to the performers from worldwide, who had contributed their time and effort to make this event happen. Yes, Singapore Arts Festival 2009 has descend upon this little red dot, presenting the grand opening at the latest downtown icon in Singapore - The Marina Barrage!

As the grand opening of the Singapore Arts Festival 2009 requires no entrance fees, it allows access to wide range of artwork for everybody. As such, it explains the over thousands of people from all walks of life heading to Marina Barrage to join in the fun of arts.

The festival opening featured Hélios II by La Compagnie Malabar(France) - proud to be known as "the world leaders in circus and street theatre".
While being there for the first time, the volunteers for the Arts Festival delivered a whole host of information for my friends and I as they give out brochures and free bottle of mineral water for all.
Thousands of art lovers Pre-show performances were a treat indeed!
So there my friends and I were, at the greatest spot of the venue (an area which allows us to get a helicopter view of the whole performances), waiting for the grand opening to start. Being there early, the thunderous sound of the drums drew our attention towards the crowd which surrounded a group of chinese youths. It is known to be the pre-show performances that started as early as 6:30p.m. As the clock ticked down to 8pm...
Credits to: Singapore Arts Festival 2009 - Opening Show - Helios II by market2garden

For a clearer view, check out: http://www.razortv.sg/site/servlet/segment/main/entertainment/29650.html

Reaching out towards the crowds
The giant preying mantis, Hélios

Musical band in the body of Hélios
According to http://www.ambafrance.ie/article.php3?id_article=976:
"A giant creature, Hélios, comes to the city to tell the story of the birth of the sun. Strange immortals, worshippers of the sun, builders of light, accompany this golden insect, all the while putting to flight the dark, the silence and the empty night. Swaying rhythmically through the streets, Hélios makes his way towards the most striking backdrop imaginable. At the stunning setting of Kilkenny Castle, using all the glory of his stature to bring his tale to the world, he evokes the construction of the sun, born ¬ according to legend ¬ of an egg created from chaos. As the story reaches its finale, at the dawn of a thousand setting suns, an explosion of light exposes the limits of the night in a supernatural blaze."

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Curious about the performances that were to come, we waited patiently and were surprised by the sudden firework displays at the very end of the opening of Singapore Arts Festival. Among the highlights on the grand opening of Singapore Arts Festival, firework displays I must say, were two thumbs up! The eagerly waiting eyes in Marina Barrage all raised their heads up to the spectacular displays of firework as it explode in the air to fill the sky with amazing colourful lighting and sparkles...



The performance was really interesting and impressive as I applaud any effort by the artists. Moreover, Marina Barrage is a really nice venue for an event like this, with plenty of viewing areas, and of course, good spots for photo-taking. You wouldn't want to miss that, do you?

"It was a promising beginning to the Singapore Arts Festival of 2009."

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A GOOD START
Everything starts off with a purpose. For over three decades, the Singapore Arts Festival has been organised annually with effort to enhance the development of arts.

As the Singapore Arts Festival is organised by the National Arts Council, it has been focusing on the cultural arts in Singapore as well as internationally, so as to create a unique cultural landscape in the country. In addition, I believed that the Singapore Arts Festival provides an opportunity for artists and art lovers to meet and share the same passion for arts. Promoting the expansion of arts through such a festival will also reach out to the younger generations, by widening their exposures towards social issues other than the usual, dull studying in schools. Besides entertaining, the Singapore Arts Festival at the same time also inspires and enriches its audiences in a different angle with a meaning behind every performances. Fun and entertainments, which are the top listed must-have in most festivals, are of course, can be found in the Singapore Arts Festival 2009. Not one for normalcy, Singapore Arts Festival presented the latest, unique artwork from all over the world to satisfy the enthusiastic lovers of art.

From http://www.singaporeartsfest.com/aboutus/:
"Mission:
to nurture the arts and make it an integral part of people’s lives in Singapore.

Aim:
to build a vibrant arts sector by creating a conducive environment where the arts is accessible to all and artistic talents have the necessary resources and capabilities to excel and achieve sustainability in the long term. "

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KILKENNY ARTS FESTIVAL 2008"The Kilkenny Arts Festival is committed to the presentation of a unique, distinctive and inspiring programme in a range of artistic disciplines to as wide an audience as possible.

Now in its 35th year, the festival was originally founded by a group of classical music enthusiasts. In recent years the festival has broadened its programming remit and now programmes the following art forms; theatre & dance, classical music, jazz/new world & trad, visual art, film, literature, street and a young people’s programme. Underpinning the presentation of events is the commitment to bring work to Kilkenny that would not be seen outside the festival context, and a desire to commission and produce new work from Ireland and abroad.

Every year, for 10 days in August, Kilkenny comes alive with a feast of artistic entertainment for all. The city’s oldest and largest non profit festival now draws more than 80,000 visitors annually who come and partake in all that Kilkenny has to offer."
Source from: http://www.kilkennyarts.ie/about/

Kilkenny, Where?Situated on the banks of River Nore in the South East of Ireland, Kilkenny is a beautiful city and a popular travel destination due to its rich cultural life and historic buildings. Commonly known internationally as "a centre for craft and design", Kilkenny has hosted countless cultural festivals and events such as the Cats Laughs Comedy Festival, The Kilkenny Rhythm and Roots Festival, and of course, Kilkenny Arts Festival!

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BEHIND THE SUCCESS

We all know how wonderfully Singapore Arts Festival, as well as Kilkenny Arts Festival has been committing to present a wide range of creative, entertaining and stunning performances of arts to all. However, behind all these successes, have you ever wonder who contributed to make these happen? Cool artists, great organisers, supportive audiences. But wait, there's more.

Relating to the diagram above, Host Organisation, Host Community, Sponsor, Media, Co-workers, and Participants and Spectators are stakeholders who played a major role in bringing out the success of the festival.

(a) Host Organisation
Commonly known as NAC, the National Arts Council is the host organisation of the Singapore Arts Festival. As mentioned earlier under the main purpose of the festival, it is known to all that NAC had contributed loads of effort to introduce and promote the wonders of art to all. The brilliant artworks from all over the worlds that are presented during the festival are brought in by NAC and with its passion towards the festival, the Singapore Arts Festival has always been a great success.

(b) Host Community
Hosting the festival opening over at the waterfront icon of Singapore - Marina Barrage has allowed a huge number of participants and spectators to be involved in this three day opening event. Well-designed, the Marina Barrage provides a unqiue space for a wide range of events and activities. Having located at the central-south of Singapore also provides easy accessibility to the people as the availablility of public transports like MRT and Buses will help ease transport hassles. With that, people are also introduced to this newly established icon of Singapore.

(b) Sponsor
Being the working business partners of the Singapore Arts Festival, the sponsors contribute the financial fundings and/or in-kind-services to the event. Having just the host organisation alone would not be able to contribute a large amount of funds to the festival and thus, support is the main purpose for having sponsors. Of course, nobody gives you things for nothing. Exisitng for a purpose, sponsors can be contributing to the festival in hope to boost its brand name, or treating their contribution as a financial investment. For instances, Vivo city being one of the sponsors, helps to promote the Singapore Arts Festival. In return, various performances are held over at the shopping mall in which attracted many people to visit.

(c) Media
Usually used as a distribution channel for marketing purposes, the media is the most effective way to promote. It help to reach out to the people by spreading out the message through areas like newspapers and television advertisements. Providing plenty of informations, it answers all questions to the people regarding the event. Example of such will be the official TV station and supporting TV station, Channel 5 and Okto.

(d) Co-workers
Managing the festival is really tough and i really take my hat off to the co-workers who are responsible in dealing and solving the complexities during the festival. Allocating to different tasks, each and every co-worker serves an important role and has to be skilled to handle any difficulties faced during the period of the festival. Their contributions can determine the outcome of the event and thus, their roles are equally important as the performancers.

(e) Participants and Spectators
Any event or festival will not be possible without the participants and spectators. Devoting the time and effort towards every performances, the participants need the support and recognitions from their spectators to achieve self-actualisation. The festival, on the other hand, needs the participants' contribtutions in order to be organised.

Closely interrelated, it is difficult to imagine the success of the festival without the stakeholers.

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FROM ARTS TO MARKETING

The 8 ‘Ps’ in Marketing events that are commonly known as: Product, Place, Partnerships, Promotion (Communications), Programming, People, Packaging and Distribution, and Price will be applied to compare its marketing strategy between the success of the Singapore Arts Festival and Kilkenny Arts Festival.

i. Product
I would say the key products of both the Singapore Arts Festival and Kilkenny Arts Festival will be the services, as well as the experiences it provide for its people. Speaking of service quality, here are the 5 determinants I looked out for during the festival to judge the quality of a service: RATER – Reliability, Assurance, Tangibles, Empathy, and lastly, Responsiveness.

Judging on Reliability and Assurances, staffs and volunteers over at the Singapore Arts Festival are helpful and attentive towards requests, possessing the willingness and flexibility to provide the best for all with accurate information. The beauty of the performances, as well as the brochures and programme lists filled with loads of information regarding the festival, are ample to commend on the Tangibility of the services during the Singapore Arts Festival. Not forgetting patience and friendliness, the staffs possessed empathy and responsiveness as they served the right service attitude and provide caring attention to all. In addition, the availability and approachability of the services are perhaps the strongest point of the services the festival provided as evidenced by the large pool of volunteers and staffs.

Amazed by the efficiency of the services as well as the devotion to the Singapore Arts Festival of the volunteers and staffs, I must say that I am very appreciative towards the help they have supplied me with on the day when my friends and I headed down to the Marina Barrage for the festival opening few weeks back. Great experiences the Singapore Arts Festival has offered me with, other than just the key performances of the festival.

Having not attended the Kilkenny Arts Festival, I believed the service provision over there can be comparable to the one here in Singapore as researches showed countless of positive feedbacks in regard to the festival.

Moving on, the wonders of artwork showcased during both the Singapore and Kilkenny Arts Festival give its spectators a full experience of art in which even non art lover would also be greatly inspired by the influential atmosphere.

ii. Place
Place consists of the location where the festivals are being held at, as well as where the tickets to the performances are sold. Speaking of the first point where the festival is being held, the Singapore Arts Festival has arranged a wide range of performances from dances, to music and theatres at areas all around the island with efforts to encourage people to pursue their artistic interest.Considering that these performances are only in specific timings, that might seem a bit inconvenient for those with busy schedules, but hey, it's totally freeeeeeeeee! Too short for a show? At least you get a good taste of the rich cultural arts from worldwide!

Similarly, the Kilkenny Arts Festival too, showcases their artwork at various locations in the city. However, as mentioned that Kilkenny is situated in the South-east of Ireland, unlike Singapore, it is not easy to travel around the country with just mintues of travelling time. Therefore, the location where the Kilkenny Arts Festival is being held at, are over at a limited venues as compared to Singapore.

The locations where tickets are sold at during the Singapore Arts Festival are mainly through SISTIC Authorised Agents (Singapore) which has several ticket counters island-wide to allow art lovers to purchase their tickets convienently. "at the door" is another way whereby spectators are able to purchase their tickets over at the performance venues.

The box offices over at Kilkenny Arts Festival are lesser and least convienent for people to purchase their tickets as compared to Singapore where various counters are accessible through well developed infrastructures.

iii. Partnership
There are 3 main partners. First of all, the official partners, who are the official TV station Channel 5, Supporting TV station Okto, and official sparkling beverage CocaCola Light. Next, the premier partners, who are Singapore Tourism Board, Tote Board, Shaw Foundation, and PSB Academy. The last will be venue partners, who are Dome Marina Square, Housing and Development Board, National Parks Board, SBS Transit, and LASALLE College of Arts. Together with other sponsors, these make up the whole partnership of Singapore Arts Festival.

With support from these partners and sponsors, the Singapore Arts Festival gained more funding in organising the programmmes and that explained why some of the performances can be of free entrance fees, opening up to the public. Furthermore, with the Singapore Tourism Board as the premier partner, it can help promote the festival to the tourists and attract them to join in the fun of arts. Venue Partners like SBS Transit for instance, provide shuttle bus services to various performance venues. With easy accessibility and much convienences, it will attract more people to the festival. TV partners on the other hand helps to reach out to the public as reported that many favourite past times are watching television shows. It create awareness to the festival and supply a host of information for the public.

Kilkenny Arts Festival, on the other hand, classifies its partnership into 6 categories. They are: Funding Bodies, Programme Sponsors, Media Partners, General Sponsors, Hotel Sponsors, and last but not least, Embassy and Cultural Institutions Sponsors. From the above pictures of the partnership of both Singapore and Kilkenny Arts Festival, it is easy to see that there are more partnerships for Singapore Arts Festival as compared to Kilkenny's. One main difference could be the Hotel Sponsors. There is only one hotel sponsor which is the Rendezvous Hotel in the partnership of Singapore Arts Festival, as compared to the eight in Kilkenny Arts Festival. Same goes for Programme Sponsors, there are more of it in Kilkenny as to Singapore. I believed such a difference could be due to the different targets of the festival. From this, I can depict that the locals are the main target of the festival in Singapore, due to the lack of hotel sponsors. While Kilkenny on the other hand, uses the branding of the hotels to attract tourists or promote in-bound tourism for the attendance of the festival.

To sum it all, both Singapore Arts Festival and Kilkenny Arts Festival have found the right organisation for partnership, who are able to fulfil their marketing strategies.

iv. Promotion (Communication)

With effort to reach out to its potential market, promotion is the communication between these two parties: organiser and market. Singapore Arts Festival has utilsed various marketing tools such as, advertisements through various media channels like newspapers, television, radio broadcasts, and etc. Banners and posters in regards to the festival can also be found island-wide. Such methods are the fastest and most effective in creating awareness of the festival as it reaches out to everybody in all walks of life. For instance, way back even before the start of the festival, articles of Singapore Arts Festival starts to appear in daily newspaper, promoting the festival.

Kilkenny Arts Festival has also adopted the same marketing strategy as can be evidenced by the video below.
This video is found in the official site of Kilkenny Arts Festival. Emphasising on K.A.F. in the video, such term will leave an impression to its viewer and K.A.F. that meant Kilkenny Arts Festival, in this way, was introduced creatively. Short and sweet the video is, in my personal opinion, was not enough. Still, we are greedy. People like to watch and enjoy videos which are entertaining and interesting. That explains the hits in youtube isn't it? Therefore, there are still rooms for improvement on the video that can further attract more hits.

Not forgetting the cyber world, both Singapore and Kilkenny Arts Festival have make full use of it in terms of their marketing strategies. Official websites are both created, but I must say, Singapore has did a better job on the web page designs, and the sources of informations were superb. Kilkenny in this case was rather disappointing as more time is needed to obtain the information about the festival due to the limited sources in the website.

v. Programming
If you happen to visit the official website of Singapore Arts Festival 2009, you will notice the 6 navigations on the top left of the site. Yes, Dance, Music, Theatre, Fest Connect, Visual Arts, and Outreach are the various types of programmes available during the festival. Does the last three rouse your curiosity? They are additonal art programmes that reach out to different makets other than the three common ones: Dance, Music and Theatre.




Fest Connect introduces school programmes, Festival Chats, Forums, and Workshops. These activities allow the public to engage in the art festivals, allowing them to learn more about arts. Charging at a reasonable price, the workshop introduces its participants to different forms of art, depending on the choice of workshop. Besides that, participants can also interact with the famous directors of art from different countries. School programmes provide art education to students through interactive talks and workshops.

Visual Arts on the other hand, are exhibitions centred on different themes which are totally free of charge, enabling anybody to connect with arts. Lastly, Outreach highlights the special event which includes Festival Opening and Closing, Asian Showcases, Family Funfest, Arts on the move, and associated programmes like Singapore Street Festival and CLAP! other than just the programmes itself Singapore Arts Festival provided.

Comparing the programming in Singapore and Kilkenny Arts Festival, Singapore was of a better advantage in planning the programmes as the arts festival held in Kilkenny from the 8th to the 17th August 2008 was only a 10 days event. Thus, the programming for Kilkenny Arts Festival will not be as wide range as compared to Singapore's, whose festival lasts 3 times longer. In addition, the programming list found in Singapore Arts Festival has stated clearly on the time, venue, and charges for the programmes whereas for Kilkenny Arts Festival, it does not.

vi. People
The successes of the festival often credit to the people involved. With the contributions of numerous established and talented artists from all over the world, it will help attract the supporters of these individual to come join in the festival. As mentioned about the different programmes Singapore Arts Festival has catered, it have targetted various age groups from kids, to families, to adults. Through this, it will also attract more people (of these different age group) to join in the festival. Bedsides the organisers and supporting partners, volunteer performers and volunteers in the festival are also given a chance to relate to the art as they assist the festival and learn more about the various forms of arts. The last point to note will be the interactions between the participants and spectators of the festival. Having some of the performances charged at no costs, spectators are able to take pictures as and when they want during the performances. As such, those enthusiastic lovers of art will make use of such opportunities to get close contacts with the artists they admire. The Kilkeeny Arts Festival, in this case, shared the same strategy as Singapore Arts Festival with only exception that the programming and free performances are of a smaller range over at Kilkenny.

I would like to share some of my experiences during the Singapore Arts Festival to further explain the importance of people to marketing strategy. The hospitality I received on the festival opening was great from the staffs and volunteers. Such positive initial experience I gained has its effect in making me want to join in the other programmes of the festival and I believed this works on the other spectators as well. Therefore, the key for consumers' repeat supports will be, Interaction.

vii. Packaging and Distribution
Singapore Arts Festival has packaged itself into serveral forms of promotions with great offers and discounts one would not resist! Examples of packaging that can be identified in the Singapore Arts Festival will be the ArtsFest Club Members and packages for groups and schools. At a heavily discounted price, ticket holders are able to enjoy a range of discounts and offers from the partners of the Singapore Arts Festival. For instance, by presenting your ticket over at The Heeren Shops Customer Service counter, one will be entitled to a Heeren Privilege Card. Other than that, as there are shuttle bus services available at certain performance venues, it will attract spectators who are concern about the accessibilities to and fro the venues. With different types of entertainment and F&B, it allows the event consumer to have a "all-in-one" experiences with no need to worry about their hungry stomach and the programmes awaitng them. Unfortunately, having not been to Kilkenny Arts Festival, I do not have a full view on how the festival there bundle the services and its programmes together, like how Singapore did with the shuttle bus services and various promotions.

Moving on, given the high end technology the society is now blessed with, we can easily purchase tickets through serveral ways such as: internet, telephone and ticketing counters for Singapore and Kilkenny Arts Festivals. One thing to commend about Singapore Arts Festival in terms of its distribution will be the overseas SISTIC agents available. Although countries are limited for such overseas SISTIC agents, still, it do help in bringing in conveniences to the market both locally and internationally. In addition, Singapore Arts Festival even utilise Facebook, Twitter, and Blogd to connect with the potential event consumers. Kilkenny Arts Festival on the hand, utilised the mailing list.

viii. Price
In terms of price, Singapore Arts Festival, together with Kilkenny Arts Festival has a common strategy whereby both provides different prices for different target market. For instance, students and senior citizens both will get to enjoy a discounted rate on the tickets for both festivals. In this way, the festival has the potential in attracting their target market. Setting more than 1 price will give the market a perception of the tickets being cheaper (perceived cost) and with that, it will attract them to purhcase the tickets. Other than that, taking the Early Bird tickets as an example, it will allow organisers to predict the turn ups for the programmes, as well as enabling them to set the budgets. As ticket price varies depending on various factors, it is considered as affordable for event consumer like me. With effort to promote cultural arts to the community as one of the purpose for such festival in Singapore, the prices set come to match in terms of singaporean purchasing power. Moreover, as mentioned earlier that serveral promotions and discounts are available, it will further allow the event consumers to feel that the experiences they gained are worth the price they paid for. This incudes the free shuttle bus services and other supporting services entitled to them too.

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BEST PRACTICES
With purpose to promote cultural arts in the community, interactions at the same time are created between both the artists and art lovers, as well as, spectators and spectators. Sharing the same interest and passion, common topics are natuarally up for these people. As the program goes on, the positive interactions will help to promote social cohension in the soceity. Being a multi-cultural country, social cohension is very important and should not be neglect at all times. With that, the Singapore Arts Festival has helped promote this key value to the people involved. Volunteering work during the festival also help promote community services to the public, letting peole know that while enjoying the festive of arts, one can also contribute to the soceity by signing up as a volunteer. Moving on to the last point, the locations used during the festival I must say, have been fully utilised effectively with the right choice of locations for the different types of performances. For example Marina Barrage for the festival opening, it has been a success as the area spaces are big enough for all to have a full view of the performances with minimum blockages.

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TOURISM BENEFITS

As Singapore aims to develop and champion tourism, it is unquestionably true that the Singapore Arts Festival has aided Singapore one step forward towards her goal. Why do we say so?

First of all, the tourists arrival rate will naturally increase as mentioned that the Singapore Arts Festival has gathered artists and art lovers from all around the world to Singapore. Joining in the fun of arts will at the same time, increase the tourists' spendings as accommodation wise and other travelling expenses are unaviodable. Tickets fees to various performances during the festival are also included in the growth of tourist's receipts in Singapore. Moreover, as the Singapore Arts Festival clashes with GSS - the Great Singapore Sales, with some of the performances held in shopping district like Orchard Road, it is hard to resist the urge for a great bargain.

In addition, as the Singapore Arts Festival brought together diverse acts from worldwide, it will enhance a better understanding of different cultural arts across the globe. Despite being a small country, singaporean still, are able to have a wider exposure to various global issues. Having organised annually for 30 decades, the Singapore Arts Festival has gained recognitions from worldwide. With interactions, art lovers from different backgrounds are able to connect with each other even if they are complete strangers just because of their shared passion for arts. As such, these people are able to learn from each other, sharing their knowledges, upgrading themselves.

Through the anually organised Singapore Arts Festival, it encourages and preserves such meaningful cultural festival. While having supports from various organisations both locally and internationally, funds are brought in to support the development of the festival in which indirectly, benefits the host country. For example, by providing shuttle bus services to and fro the performances venue, the transport services in Singapore will leave an impression on the spectators. The Singapore Arts Festival also promotes civic involvement and pride as people volunteered to help assist the festival.

With the significant successes on the Singapore Arts Festival, the lion city will come into awareness of countries worldwide as they realise our potentials economically and socially. Golden opportunities will be awaiting ahead for us. This, I'm glad to say, is something we singaporeans should be proud of.

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CONCLUSION

To sum it all, this year being my first time attending Singapore Arts Festival, I was pretty satisfied with the performances it showcased, and appreciate the creation of such festival as it supplied me with a great deal of event informations and unique experiences. I was proud for the fact that, while having limited scale of lands in the country, Singapore nevertheless served up a pack of programmes and performances from across the globe, spreading out from shopping malls, to prominent landmarks in the country.