S'pore determined in its aim to be world art center
In conjunction with the 12th Singapore Festival of Arts which ran from May 28 to June 28, the Singapore Tourism Board invited The Jakarta Post reporter Ida Indawati Khouw to witness the event. She prepared the following report on her visit from June 3 to 6.
SINGAPORE (JP): Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong said in his 1996 new year message: "Let us now complement our economic achievements with our social, cultural and spiritual development. Then by the 21st century Singapore will be a truly successful and mature country with a developed economy and a gracious society."
Singapore has recently set out an agenda for changing its image as Asia's economic giant into "a global city for the arts".
The PM's message was echoed by the director of program development in the National Arts Council, Lew Chin Choy, who said: "We don't just want to be an economic animal".
The government has made serious efforts to cultivate the arts, from turning the Singapore Festival of Arts into an annual event, to building and renovating art centers and museums.
The 1998 Festival presented more than 680 musical and dance theater performances by more than 3,000 local and international artists.
From May 28, Singaporeans had a month long opportunity to see the colorful and energetic Flamenco XXI Danza troupe from Spain, the Bayanihan dance company from the Philippines, who presented the traditional pre-Hispanic dances of their native country, and the Australian troupe Strange Fruit, who dance weightlessly on flexible four meter high poles.
The St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, leading opera company Shanghai Beijing Troupe, and Teatr Biuro Podrozy with its terrifying reenactment of the reality of the Bosnian war in Carmen Funebre were also featured in the festival, which had an overall budget of S$7.7 million.
A parade featuring 20 dance troupes from Italy, Vietnam, Thailand, the Cook Islands and Singapore was held down the famous Orchard Road and a music festival called the World of Music, Arts and Dance, which presented family events, was also organized.
The country seems to be trying its best to make good on the claims of a book published by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB): "Visitors will find that the world is represented here through the arts".
Facilities
Regarding the development of facilities for the arts, general manager of The Necessary Stage arts center, Goh Su Lin, said that existing venues were far from sufficient.
Victoria Theater, Drama Center, Jubilee Hall, Guinness Theater and Kallang Theater each have approximately 100 seats and would be unable to accommodate a swelling interest in the arts, he said.
"The government should continue to upgrade these centers and plan to build new ones," she said.
The Tourism Board refers to plans to build world class arts centers and the National Heritage Board is developing at least three new museums.
Furthermore, the government is funding the development of a prestigious S$513 million venue called The Esplanade Theaters on The Bay. Scheduled for completion in 2001, the complex will have a 2,000 capacity theater, a 1,800 seat concert hall and several outdoor performance areas on a six hectare site at Marina Bay in the southern part of the island.
Lew Chin Choy said the government was also supporting the development of the arts through the National Arts Council. Its efforts include organizing a year round calendar of arts events, providing scholarships to aspiring artists and honoring distinguished artists with awards.
The Tourism Board has also encouraged 12 selected travel agencies to include art performances in their tourism programs.
So far Singapore seems to be successfully reaping the benefits of promoting the arts. The board revealed that art galleries currently have an annual turnover of S$100 million while the auction industry, in which Indonesian buyers have been reported to play a considerable role, now yields a further S$100 million each year.
"Our performing arts and entertainment industry stages about 2,000 performances annually, achieving a conservative estimate of S$80 million in sales turnover," the tourist board claimed.