Catch-all platform, Singaporean music movement, buskers, lively precincts – NAC unveils five-year roadmap to create city with soul
The link between arts and tourism is well-proven. Cities like New York and London, beyond Broadway and West End respectively, have an always-on arts scene, where a sense of the arts is literally is everywhere, and millions of visitors flock to these cities just to soak in the vibe of a creative place.
That is the ambition and aspiration of Singapore – to create a “connected society through the creative economy”, where a sense of the arts is literally everywhere, to take it out of the main venues, into the streets, public transport and communal spaces within what is known as the Heartland – the Housing Development Board estates – which house the majority of Singapore’s population.
Following almost two years of engagement with more than 16,500 stakeholders on their hope for the arts scene in Singapore, the National Arts Council rolled out its Our SG Arts Plan (2023 – 2027) yesterday, which aims to make the arts accessible to everyone, including visitors, everywhere anytime.
There are eight initiatives being rolled out under the five-year road map – here are the key ones that we believe will influence the appeal of Singapore as a destination to the arts-interested traveller.
One, a super aggregator of events called Catch.sg which aims to be a one-stop shop for arts and culture for everyone, locals and travellers. Artists can list upcoming shows, while visitors can browse events for things to do and shows to watch. The website, currently in beta mode, will offer members-only privileges such as ticketing discounts, behind-the-scenes tours and other perks.
As with any marketplace, customer acquisition abroad will be a key challenge – how to get visitors to Singapore to go to another site, so the secret sauce will be in the user interface and usefulness and relevance of the content. Clearly, some level of curation and personalisation will be needed because if you check out the site now, it’s packed with events and users could end up with event fatigue.
Artist Marian Carmel performing at the launch of ‘I Play SG Music’ campaign. Credit Hear65
Local music will be given wider airing with a partnership with SMRT Trains, which will play from a curated playlist of local music, put together by Clarence Chan, founder of Bandwagon. Chan, himself a musician, who started “The I Play SG Music” campaign, has curated 7,000 albums from 3,000 artists in a Hear65 playlist. “This is to make it easy for public places to play and it’s ground breaking to have 125 MRT stations play Singaporean music.”
In time too, visitors will see buskers everywhere – including performers with disabilities, at stations, and to showcase Singaporean poetry and prose in the four official languages in trains. The NAC is licensing buskers to perform in other public areas and today, you can walk along the river and catch a couple of buskers, mostly singers, making your walks a tad more enjoyable.
Beyond the main tourist precincts, arts is also being taken to the people and into the Heartland through working with the Housing Board and Urban Redevelopment Authority to promote the Lively Places fund, introduced in 2019. Under the fund, residents can apply for a grant of up to $25,000 to commission art to brighten their neighbourhood. A budget has been set aside for 60 commissions over three years for this project.
Said Clement Lim, director, architecture and urban design excellence, URA, “The idea is simple – to turn simple unused spaces into vibrant spaces. We will give money to the public to work with artists. Let’s fill Singapore with art everywhere.”
Hidden Gem at Upper Thomson Road. Credit: National Arts Council
He cited the example of the Upper Thomson Road Staircase Mural where an unused staircase was turned into a stairway of art, a campaign led by Joanne Teh, a resident of Yew Lian Park and president of the Yew Lian Park Residents’ Association.
With visitors showing more of an appetite for local, authentic experiences and wanting to discover more of Singapore’s Heartland, this initiative could well uplift their experience.
Beyond bringing arts to the grassroots, the plan also wants to take it into the virtual world with Project Arts Metaverse, supported by an industry-led Alliance for Action, which will support arts companies’ experiments in the digital realm, and the Esplanade’s Arts x Tech Lab incubation series, which brings practitioners together with technology professionals in workshops.
Lynette Pang, deputy CEO of the NAC, said the plan basically covered three thrusts – “a connected society – arts everywhere, at every lifestage; distinctive city with iconic, inspiring physical scapes and lively precincts, layering them with poetry, music and arts, adding depth and soul; and a creative economy by creating a thriving arts sector through manpower excellence that is recognised worldwide.”
