SAF Festival Village 2012

Initially, I intended to go to an event at Marina Bay Sands Event Plaza, called the Concerts by the Bay. I got to know the event from a website and it was stated that the event would be held on 1 June from 4pm to 8pm. However, I realised that the information given on the website was actually false. Thus, I have wasted my trip down to MBS.

Later on that day, I found out that there was a festival event going on at the Esplanade Park. Thus, I decided to go over to participate in the Singapore Arts Festival.

As Singapore is a multi-ethnic country, it has diverse and high level of richness in its arts, cultures and communities. The objective and purpose of the Singapore Arts Festival is to showcase these interesting local arts to the people in the country and also to the world. 

In addition, the Festival organised by the National Arts Council, has played a part in the development of the artistic and cultural life of Singapore. Similarly to music, the arts is not differentiated by nationalities and boundaries. It is a universal language that creates a relationship and brings everyone together. 

Thus, the organiser would like to use these existing dimensions to promote and share the local arts to the world.



Key components:

Arts Entertainment

The SAF 2012 comprises of two villages. One of which is the “Festival Village’ whereby it is driven by the Arts Entertainment concept.

The Arts Performances and Music Shows are held in the Festival Village where the main stage is located. International and local music artists like Nick Luscombe and the Micappella are invited to perform on stage. A Flea Market and various Café and Bar can also be found in the Festival Village. It is a platform that allows relaxation and satisfaction of senses in the arts space.

Arts Experience

On the other hand, the “Kids Arts Village’ is driven by the Arts Experience concept whereby participants are indulge in the arts in a fun way and engage in hands on experiences. Some of the activities include Tangle, Spooky Stories by Children and Splash Art and Crafts. These fun arts activities help to create healthy learning and experiences for the participants.

Programming:

As the theme of SAF 2012, ‘Our Lost Poems’ stated, the event was about looking at myths and legends, having space for wandering thoughts and reflections, and discovering hidden stories.

It was a platform to showcase strong artistic works, local arts talents and also to involve the local arts community. Not only these, the event was also selling emotions and connections. This was done through engaging the audiences with projects that were able to impact many lives and from which, connected with the arts.

In addition, the event also promoted family bonding. The entertainments, performances and activities were designed for audiences of all ages, from the young to the elderly in the family. Thus, all members of the family were able to participate in the programmes and spend time with their family.

Elements of the program:

Dance

Some examples of the dance element were the ‘Bridge Café Project’ and the ‘Dream Country – A Monologue’. The ‘Bridge Café Project’ was a performance whereby Café crews transformed into dancers and offered the audiences with entertainment experience.

 Image from http://www.singaporeartsfest.com/event/bridge-cafe-project/

Music
The music element involved the performances and music shows brought by the special guests such as Bora Yoon and the Black Forest. The special guests who were invited to perform on stage were those artists with aspirations towards music, have strong interests in the arts of music, and whom music had caused an impact in their life. Thus, the performers and audiences were able to connect with one another through the passion towards arts and music.

Theatre
The theatre element referred to theatre performances. 

Experiential
On the other hand, the experiential element referred to the activities which allowed the participants to have a hands-on experience. One example would be ‘An Umbrella for 2’

Film
The film element consisted of the arts production films. One of which is the ‘Young@Heart Film’ which showcased the concert performed by the senior citizens averaging 80 years.

Others
Other programmes included ‘Public Garden Flea Market’ and activities such as ‘Tangle’ and ‘Splash Art’.

By looking at the richness of the programming and the different elements supporting it, SAF Festival Village’s programming is a strength that enhance the event as a whole.

Observations:

Date of event

The SAF was held from 18 May to 2 June 2012. This allowed the people to have enough time to explore the festival. It also allowed participants to choose whether to go on a weekday so as to avoid the crowd or to go on a weekend to feel the festival atmosphere.

Target market

SAF targeted a range of market segments. They are the local audiences, specifically families, youths, adults looking to explore the arts and the young at heart. This showed that the event appealed to people of all ages and engaged them in the activities and performances provided by the event.

Environment and Venue

The SAF 2012 Festival Village is conducted at the Esplanade Park. The venue is fairly conducive. Firstly, it is an open venue that is spacious. This creates a sense of freedom for the audiences as they are not restricted by boundaries. Secondly, Esplanade Park is located along the river. Thus, it builds a great atmosphere where the people can enjoy the scenery, and at the same time, participating in the event. 

Logistics

At the entrance of the SAF 2012 Festival Village, there was an information counter where brochures and guidebooks were distributed. The booth was at a good location and was highly visible which allowed the production materials to be distributed widely and efficiently.

As Esplanade Park is an outdoor venue, traffic management was efficient. The human traffic flow was smooth due to the spacious and large venue space. Also, all the activity booths were spaced out widely and there were more than one pathway leading the audiences to the respective booths. Thus, the event was not too crowded.

In addition, the event signage was simple and highly visible to the audiences. It successfully led them to the respective activities venues.

Manpower allocation

In my opinion, the manpower allocated was not sufficient. Although there were a few crews walking around, I barely see their presence as their code of attire was not visible. They should have worn vibrant and slightly exaggerating costumes to attract people’s attentions. Also, they should have allocated more crews walking around the event to facilitate and guide the audiences around. In addition, they could allocate crews at the entrance or front of each booth to welcome the participants and answer their enquiries.

Environment and Venue

Although Esplanade Park is a suitable and favourable venue to hold an event, it has its downside. An open venue like Esplanade Park is always vulnerable to unforeseen weather. When the weather is wet, it hinders the progress and production of the event.

Partnership

There were limited programme partners. Some of its programme partners included Cold Stone Ice Cream, Tully’s Coffee and Quiznos Sub. They seemed to only cater to the youths and children 

Recommendations:

Date of event

The event period was from 18 May to 2 June. It could be laid back a week so that the dates of the event will be during the school holidays. By holding back the event dates, it will be able to attract more youths and their families to the event. This in turn will lead to a higher visitor’s attendance.

Logistics

The event could employ crews at the nearby places such as Marina Square, Marina Bay Sands, Suntec City and City Link Mall to create awareness of the event. This could be done by giving out brochures, flyers or set up an information booth to answer enquiries. Thus, this will generate interests and attracts more visitors.

Event as a business

As the Festival Village was a community event, the price was charged at minimal. In order to generate higher revenue, the event could transform to a business by creating merchandises to sell. For example, Singapore Arts Festival T-Shirts, key chains, artists’ masterpieces etc.

Environment and Venue

Events organise at outdoors and open areas involve high level of risk. This is mainly due to the weather climate. In order to prevent this factor from hindering the success of the Festival Village, they could build shelters at the Esplanade Park where the activities and performances were taken place. In addition, the great atmosphere brought by the outdoor venue would still be present.

Partnership

As the target segmentation of the event is broad, the food and beverages available in the event are limited and it does not satisfy the needs of all the visitors. For example, the Quiznos Sub might satisfy the craving of a youth in a family but it might not be to the liking of the elderlies in the family. In order to minimise this weakness, the event could find more partnerships brand selling localised food such as Old Chang Kee, Mr Bean and Lee Wee Brothers Nasi Lemak.

 Images from www.google.com

 

In conclusion, SAF Festival Village 2012 was a certified success where it drew more than 100,000 of attendance. The objective was met as it had successfully influenced the people through the work of artists and created hype amongst the public. In addition, it had achieved the objective of bringing people together, especially families. SAF Festival Village 2012 is definitely one of the most impressive and fun events that I'd went.

References:

Singapore Arts Festival Website. Available: http://www.singaporeartsfest.com/2012-festival/. Last Accessed 27 June 2012.

S'pore Arts Fest on hiatus. Available: http://www.todayonline.com/ArtsandDesign/Arts/EDC120606-0000009/Spore-Arts-Fest-on-hiatus. Last Accessed 27 June 2012.

National Arts Council Singapore Website. Available: http://www.nac.gov.sg/media-centre/news-releases/news-detail?id=55b0c3c8-6936-4396-912a-2a4b151e41c6. Last Accessed 27 June 2012.