Jasmine (Jassy)
eighteen on 21 Feb
TP-LRM 2K08
she just LOVES electric blue

NOTE:best viewed on Mozilla Firefox

June 2009 click

On 7th June 2009, I went to Esplanade for the Singapore Arts Festival which lasted from 15th May to 14th June. During the visit, I watched the Flipside free performances, which was organized by Esplanade in conjunction to the Arts Festival.

Comparison with Similar Festival
The event that I am using to compare the Singapore Arts Festival with would be 35th Kilkenny Arts Festival held in Ireland.

Price
Both events consisted of performances with free and ticketed admissions. However, Kilkenny Arts Festival had packages for several performances from the same performing group. For example, the Belarus Free Theatre and the Dresden Group. Not only that, some of the ticketed performances from Kilkenny Arts Festival had two different prices available for purchase.

Place
These two Arts Festivals had performances on various locations such as theatres and on the streets. However, Owing to the fact that Ireland is a much bigger country than Singapore, it is able to provide more locations for the performances. Furthermore, the atmosphere of the performances in Kilkenny Arts Festival was better than that of Singapore. This was because the locations for Kilkenny Arts Festival were more historic which gave the audiences an artistic atmosphere. Some of the locations for Kilkenny Arts Festival were the St Canice's Cathedral and the Kilkenny Castle.

Promotion
In terms of public relations, there were several news articles that reported about the two Arts Festivals. For example, Channel News Asia reported about the performances by the monks from Shaolin Temple, and the news articles in Waterford Today which talked about Kilkenny Arts Festival.
As for advertisements, both events have publicized themselves on various websites and on their own websites as well. For example, the Singapore Arts Festival has created a group on Facebook for the users to be able to view information about the event. Other than that, the National Arts Council of Singapore promoted the event to schools and tertiary institutions through letters. There were also advertisements about the Singapore Arts Festival on Channel 5 and Okto during commercial breaks.
For the sales promotions, there are many more promotions and discounts for the Singapore Arts Festival as compared to the one in Kilkenny. Some of the promotions for Singapore Arts Festival were 30% discounts on tickets for ArtsFest Club members from 4-8 March, and the ticket prices were also lowered by about 20 per cent. Additionally, Artfest members also stand a chance to go Edinburgh when they purchase the tickets. There were also special discounts for schools who book tickets to the event.
On the other hand, not many promotions and discounts were available for the Kilkenny Arts Festival except for special accommodation packages offered by various hotels.

Product
These two events are similar in terms of their product. The products are the ambiance and experience that the audiences acquired from attending the events. It is not a regular occurrence to be able to feel the artistic atmosphere. Hence, it would entice people to attend the event in order to feel and enjoy the different ambiance. Not only that, most performances were from the overseas and it is a rare chance to be able to witness and experience the professional performances by the foreign talents.

People
The Arts Festivals have invited well-known groups and celebrities to perform during the event. For example, famous celebrities and bands like Mercury Rev, Lisa Hannigan and Spiritualized were invited to Kilkenny Arts Festival. The Singapore Arts Festival also invited groups such as the South African group Ladysmith Black Mambazo and the monks from Shaolin Temple to perform during the event.
Not only do these events targeted music and art lovers as their audiences, they also had a similar group of people involved in the event. Some of them would be the dancers, photographers, artists, and the staffs.

Packaging and distribution
There are similarities and differences in the modes of distribution of both events. The tickets for Kilkenny Arts Festival were available for sale at festival box office and through its website. However, there were more methods of ticket purchase for Singapore Arts Festival. Some of them would be through telephone and Sistic authorized agents in both Singapore and overseas like Penang and Indonesia.
As for its packaging, Kilkenny Arts Festival has packaged itself with various hotels and came up with accommodation packages at a cheaper price rate. On the other hand, the Singapore Arts Festival only offered package discounts with purchase of 4 or more performances and group or school bookings.

Partnership
Both events had stakeholders which helped out in advertising and sponsoring the events. These two arts festivals had media partners that provide publicity through the media. For example, Channel 5 and Okto for the Singapore Arts Festival, and The Irish Times for Kilkenny Arts Festival. They also had other stakeholders which contributed their products or in-kind services to the events. For example, the Coca Cola Company was the official sparkling beverage for Singapore Arts Festival, and Kilkenny Arts Festival had the Kilkenny River Court Hotel as its hotel sponsor.

Programming
The Arts Festivals in Singapore and Kilkenny both had a wide diversity of programmes arranged to cater to the different needs and interests their audiences. For instance, there are dances, musicals, art exhibitions and street performances.
Additionally, the qualities of their programmes were extremely high. The reason for this was that there were many international performances by famous performers, such as world renowned classical musicians.

Best Practices
The best practice by Singapore Arts Festival would be its promotions. This was because it covered more areas in terms of its public relations, advertisements and sales promotion as compared to Kilkenny Arts Festival. Besides, there were many different promotions and discounts specially provided for different people such as students and the ArtsFest Club members. Moreover, it also organized a contest specially for the Artfest members to further entice them to purchase the tickets. It also made use of widely used websites such as Facebook to publicize the event.

Alternatively, the best practice by Kilkenny Arts Festival would be its pricing. As compared to Singapore Arts Festival, it had a wider range of prices for admission tickets as well as packages, which Singapore Arts Festival did not have. Hence, it was capable of providing more options for the audiences to select from.

Stakeholders
The host community for the Arts Festival would be the people of Singapore as the event would bring in both positive and negative impacts to the public. Not only that, the Arts Festival was also crafted in a sense that it would fit into the environment of the community in order to interest the people.

The participants of the event would be the performers from countries like France, Australia and Thailand, as well as artists and photographers who contributed to the exhibits. Similarly, the spectators who went for the Arts Festival would be the arts and music lovers, Singapore residents and the tourists.

The host organization would naturally be the National Arts Council Singapore, as it was the organiser of the Arts Festival.

The co-workers would be the people and organizations who supported and contributed their labour for the Arts Festival. For example, LASALLE College of the Arts, Esplanade and SBS Transit supported the event by providing venues for the performances. Not only that, the staffs that helped out in managing the event, as well as companies which provided the required equipments.

Channel 5 and Okto would be the sources of media for promoting and advertising the Arts Festival.

The sponsors would be the organizations that provided money or in-kind services to the Arts Festival in return for recognition or monetary profits. For example, Coca Cola Company as the event’s official sponsor by providing its beverages, SMRT as its major sponsor, and the Singapore Tourism Board as its premier partner.

Main Purpose
I personally believe that the main purpose of the Arts Festival was to allow the individuals to appreciate the arts, and also to respond to the growing trend of the world. As the Singaporeans’ lifestyles are largely hectic and fast-paced, the introduction of the Arts Festival annually would allow them to enjoy and immerse themselves into the world of arts and cultures. They would then be able to understand the importance of arts, and subsequently be more accepting to the global trend.

Similarly, with events like Arts Festival that are in favour of the arts appreciation, Singapore would be able to attract foreign talents such as dancers and artists into the country to expand their career opportunities. Furthermore, we would also be able to add value to the needs of our local artists.

As most of the performances were from various countries such as France, United Kingdom and Belgium, it would allow the spectators to broaden their knowledge and also get a chance to discover the arts and cultures of other countries. Moreover, with performances and artworks from the overseas, the local students from the arts colleges would be able to expose themselves to the international and professional artwork.

In addition, with educational activities such as community arts which bonds people of different races and generations, it would be an opportunity to cultivate the younger generations and also to create a harmonious and cosmopolitan community. Hence, the importance of having good relations between generations and races would not be disregarded.

Amount of Tourism Benefits Received
The various tourism benefits stated below are categorized into economical, social and environmental benefits.

Economical
As the Singapore Arts Festival includes performances by well-known performing groups and individuals, it would attract audiences from neighbouring countries like Malaysia and Indonesia. With overseas Sistic authorized agents whom the tourists can purchase their tickets from, it would increase the tourist receipts.
In addition, when tourists attended the Arts Festival, they would not return to their countries straight after the event. They would naturally extend their stay in Singapore to tour around and visit the other attractions available, such as Sentosa and Singapore Flyer.
Furthermore, with the annual occurrence of Singapore Arts Festival, it would also provide business opportunities for the entrepreneurs in Singapore.

Social
As the styles and cultures of different countries could be seen from the international performances and artwork, it would help to broaden Singaporean’s cultural horizon as they discover the various cultures.
The Arts Festival would also be able to cultivate the younger generations as they can expose themselves to the artistic work since young. This would facilitate the character development of the youngsters and allow them to be more refined and appreciative towards the arts.

Environmental
Through some performances which were held in the outdoors, the Arts Festival was able to showcase the well-managed environment to the audiences. This would provide the tourist with an impression that Singapore is an environmental friendly country, and that its events complement with its environment instead of damaging it.

References:
http://www.singaporeartsfest.com/ (Singapore Arts Festival website)
http://www.singaporesights.com/sight/singapore-arts-festival-2009
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/entertainment/view/431392/1/.html (Article about SAF on Channel News Asia)
http://www.facebook.com/notes.php?id=13493009561 (SAF page on Facebook)
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/breaking-news/ireland/35th-kilkenny-arts-festival-to-get-underway-today-13934438.html
http://www.kilkennyarts.ie/ (Kilkenny Arts Festival website)
http://www.waterford-today.ie/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3879&Itemid=10352&ed=375 (Article about KAF on Waterford Today)
http://www.metro.co.uk/fame/article.html?in_article_id=256711&in_page_id=7&in_a_source

Pictures: