Introduction
The festival which I chose to visit was the Singapore Arts Festival. The festival, organized by the National Arts Council has played a crucial role for Singaporeans to understand culture and arts better. The festival lasted for 1 month, from 15th May to 14th June. Throughout this one month, the country was abuzz of activities, with artists from more than 20 countries offering more than 400 different activities.
The reason why I decided to do my field trip report on the Arts Festival is firstly, I myself am not a person who is very into ‘Arts’. This is a good opportunity for me to explore another dimension. Also, there are so many activities for me to choose from to visit. I was definitely spoiled for choice!
Compare the selected festival with a similar festival that has been successful in another city in terms of its marketing strategy
The festival which I will be comparing with is the Galway Arts Festival. Galway is located in west of
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Product | Arts in the form of Dance, Music, Theatre and Visual Arts both local based and also international based. |
| Showcases Irish arts and international arts. Has more forms of Arts showcased. Eg: Comedy and Talks/Literature. |
Place | Activities abuzz all over the island. From the city (Esplanade) to the heartlands (Tampines open field). Performance mostly held in theatres or on the streets. |
| It seems rather concentrated in one area. (Refer to google map in appendix.) Venues could range from hotels, churches and even the streets. |
Partnership | Organised by the National Arts Council. Funded by various non-government bodies such as Shaw Foundation. Joint marketing with several companies such as Coca-Cola and Starhub. Also supported by other countries org. such as Australian High Embassy. |
| Also supported by their Arts Council. Funded by many gvt. Councils such as |
Promotion | Advertising : TVCs, Taxi ads. Direct Mailers: Brochure of the SAF calendar mail to Artsfest club members. Promotion : 1,000 exclusive artfest 2009 ez-link cards to give away with every sistic receipt to the fest. Banners. Facebook. Blogs. Website. |
| Advertising: TVCs. Brochures given to ‘Friends’ of the festival. Facebook profile. Website. |
Programming | 6 categories of Arts Classified- Dance, Music, Theatre, Fest Connect, Visual Arts and Outreach. |
| 10 categories classified including Children’s events, Festival BigTop and Street. |
People | 500,000 attendees. Artists from more 20 different countries. Performers bring their own crew. Majority of staff are volunteers. Guests are mostly locals with tourists taking up quite a percentage as well. |
| 100,000 attendees. Volunteers are asked to help out as well. Attended by locals mostly. |
Packaging | Online. Telephone. Sistic Authorised Agents. Overseas Sistic Agents. At the door. |
| Online. In person/Box office sales. Telephone. Mail. |
Price | Majority are free performances. Special prices available for Arts Fest Members. Packages available for groups. |
| Paid performances with some free ones.
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One of the things I liked most about the Arts Fest was that majority of the performances was made free to the public. Being students, many of us are unable to afford the ticket prices for the paid performances. We would have the mentality that the Arts Fest is for all the rich people who can afford to go to this kind of performances and it’s just another passing term for us.
However, with the many free performances available, I felt being part of the Arts Festival as well.
As for the people who had some cash to “invest” in an exclusive experience, there were also paid performances ranging from prices in tens to hundreds. This showed that the planners catered to the needs of various groups of people with different spending power.
Another thing which I found good about the Arts Fest was the ‘Arts Fest Club’. This is a free club for members of the public to join in which they’ll enjoy a number of privileges such as first hand information about the festival, priority booking with heavily-discounted prices and regular email updates, just to name a few. What I found this good was that according to my research, for example, the Galway Arts Festival charges it’s customers to be a ‘Friend’ of the festival. The price is not cheap! It ranges from 150£ for the Bronze membership to 1500£ for the Platinum one. In
Next, there is a good mixture. Some are traditional arts performance and some are collaboration performance with the local artists. The performances are from our local arts group such as the Toy Factory Productions Ltd and Singapore Festival Orchestra. It gives the local arts group a chance to be part of our very own arts festival as well as working with national performing group to perform, giving our local artist a great exposure and exchange in culture.
Furthermore some of the paid performances are outdoor such as MRT station and open space. The unpaid performances are known as “outreach”. It brings performing arts to Singaporeans, from shopping mall, to neighbourhood open field and food centre during the lunch time where working adults get to enjoy arts while having lunch. The outreach covers performing arts as well and visual arts. I feel this is good as it engages the locals to be involved in the festival one way or another. Instead of them going to see the performance, the performance is coming to see them!
The one which I saw was The Agency from The DCP (
They puzzled me with their weird actions too!
They seem to be doing yoga here!
I also caught a very interesting and enticing percussion performance. It drew a large crowd as well!
Take a look at the crowd!
Singaporeans sure do enjoy performances- FREE ONES OF COURSE! :p
The performers- They were so energetic and full of live!
They managed to capture so much response from the audience.
Identify the stakeholders in these festivals
There are several stakeholders which contribute to the success of the Singapore Arts Festival. I will list it down in point form followed by a short explanation.
1. The visitors- They are the most important stakeholders. Without these visitors, the Arts Festival will be performed but not watched by anyone. Also, for the paid performances, the visitors are the ones which will bring in revenue for the show.
2. The performers & their entire crew – Without the performers, there will not even be an arts festival in the first place. They are what makes up the whole festival. Their crew is important as they are needed to help the performers dress up and prepare their costumes.
3. Production crew – They are the people who product the sets on the performance venues.
4. Sponsors – Sponsors like Coca-Cola who sponsored drinks such a Coke Zero for the patrons before the performance. These sponsors use the festival as a marketing tool to reach out to the mass.
5. Volunteers – They engage the public, hand out brochures and encourage people to participate in the interactive activities available. (http://www.singaporeartsfest.com/festivalbloggers/?p=115)
6. National Arts Council – The organization behind the SAF.
7. Marina Mandarin Hotel – Helped with accommodation for the artistes this year.
8. The Media Industry – The journalists/reporters who represented the television, radio, newspapers and magazines to bring the event highlights to the public.
9. Local trade and industry – The suppliers and manufacturers of the products and services required to mould the entire festival product.
Reflect on the main purpose of the festival
There are several main purposes of the Singapore Arts Festival (SAF). Primarily, since the festival is organized by the National Arts Council (NAC), the main purpose is to promote Arts and Culture in the country. The mission of the NAC is to ‘nurture the arts and make it an integral part of people’s lives in
Secondly, there are various forms of Arts- Dance, Music, Theatre and Visual Arts. The Arts Fest is a good platform for all this forms of arts to come together and showcase themselves.
Also,
I realized that one of the Arts Fest partners is the Singapore Tourism Board (STB). The STB wants to make use of the Arts Fest to promote a positive place image for Singapore so tourists will come back even after the Arts Fest. When tourists come for a festival, they are bound to tour around the country as well. This is a good chance for
Next, the SAF has a new initiative called ‘Fest Connect’. It aims to engage schools, arts colleges and the public in a more cohesive manner. They have specially moved the festival one week earlier in which they will provide workshops, appreciation classes. It is a great way them to cultivate our audiences from young and open up a new platform so that they can enjoy better access to the arts.
Lastly, SAF purpose is not just to engage and entertain the public, but it also has a strategic and developmental role in developing the arts. They want to place
Comment on the amount of tourism benefits received by the host city
There are many benefits which can be derived from the SAF. The examples which I am going to give are all related to the tourism industry.
Politically, it could be a medium to strengthen ties between different countries that are interested in collaborating with
Through the Singapore Arts Festival, more people would be aware of the different art forms and its subgroups here. This could also act as a platform for more people or art lovers coming locally or from overseas to be part of this festival, and bring people who share common interests together. With more awareness for the different art forms, people may come to learn to appreciate the arts and possibly more people might be willing to invest further in the arts industry in
The tourism industry is one of the sectors in
Conclusion
Going to the Singapore Arts Festival has been a great experience for me. I will definitely look forward to next year’s festival and probably go for more paid performances as well. It is good that
http://www.singaporeartsfest.com/
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/358582/1/.html
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/358582/1/.html
http://www.galwayartsfestival.com/
