Singapore Arts Festival 2012

“The Singapore Arts Festival 2012 not only offers audiences performances that touch the heart and stimulate the senses, it also provides a platform to engage with different communities in Singapore by providing them with unique opportunities to take part in the process of art-creation. We want the festival to continue to push the boundaries of how stories could be told and challenge our audience’s perceptions of the arts. All productions this year are shaped by that approach, together with elements of myths and legends, completing a three-year journey to address our collective memories and historical past.” -
-- Low Kee Hong, General Manager of the Singapore Arts Festival
Source: Huney'z World

During my trip to the Asian Civilization Museum, I grabbed the Singapore Arts Festival 2012 guide, and this year's theme is Our Last Poems, the last part of the trilogy that started in 2010. Being a local and community event, the Singapore Arts Festival is already into its 35th year of bringing audiences on a journey of self re-discovery!

Expectations

To tell you the truth, the cover of the guide did not entice me at all, but the contents of it were very appealing! From the eye-pleasing fonts and well organised paragraphs, to the content of the articles which were accompanied with delightful pictures. The individual events have their own icons to depict the event, which I find rather refreshing!

Not just that, I even managed to read every single article as they were short and to the point and it was a joy to read, unlike certain guides which are overloaded with text. I liked the part where they summarised each event in just a few words and if I am not interested, I could just skip reading about the event.

Out of the 22 programs at the Singapore Arts Festival 2012, a few of the really interesting ones caught my attention. For instance, there is the The Book of Living and Dying.

The Book of Living and Dying is about "karma, reincarnation and past lives" as quoted from the Festival Guide. That few words alone already made me very excited to attend the event at the Singapore Arts Festival, to know more about it! 

So, let's go check it out!

This Public Garden Flea located under the Esplanade Bridge amazed me so much because they were selling really unique items at reasonable prices! You can even get a mohawk haircut here!

With so many interesting programs set to evoke people's feelings and thoughts, I was sure that only people who are strongly interested in arts would attend the events, be it ticketed or free. 

I was wrong! People of all ages, young and old were there. There was something for everyone!

You get the best view here!

The crowd consisted of families, couples, old folks, all whom had gone there for the same reason: to enjoy themselves.

I was there at about 6.30pm and a spontaneous group of people had already gathered in front of the stage area to watch dance performances put up by various institutions. At the festival, one can really feel that the word "art" is all encompassing. There were Indian dances, Malay dances and even fusion dance where one of the performance group combined Indian dance with contemporary dance!

The crowd poured in later in the evening and the place got so much livelier!

Parents and kids having fun at Tangle! 

 A crowd gathering in front of the XII - In search of 13 stage, waiting for the "wrestling match" to start!

 Look at the crowd inside the Festival Cafe! 

With most of the activities happening from 4pm onward, the atmosphere was really delightful later in the day!

Thoughts on the outcome of the event

When I stepped into the Festival Village, I was immediately approached by one of the volunteer from the National Arts Council (NAC), who stopped me to help her complete a survey. One of the questions she asked was whether I enjoyed the activities even when I told her I have not even participated in any yet! It seemed like she was only trying to get her job done as quickly as possible so that she can go home I was wondering whether all the volunteers under NAC possess this kind of attitude while conducting survey in the Festival Village. To me, that lady had already left a really bad impression for me.

Later in the evening while I was waiting by the river for the Flux show to start, a Singapore Arts Festival volunteer in pink approached and handed me a booklet which explains about the production of Flux.

He was really nice and even came back to hand me another program booklet seeing that I have not gotten one for myself. Such volunteers deserve a pat on the back for going out of their way to service the public who have come for the festival! It is these kind of service that adds value to the event that you are attending and Singapore Arts Festival has succeeded in achieving that component by providing trainings for the volunteers. I could see dedication and passion in the staff involved in the festival and I guess that is really what makes the event a successful one, other than a well planned calendar of unique programs for everyone to enjoy.


As quoted from a blogger Rachel , "It's great that more and more Singaporeans are participating in arts and cultural activities, and participating in the Singapore Arts Festival in whatever capacity you can is a great way of immersing yourself in living, breathing art. Having been to the Singapore Arts Festival 2010 and 2011, both as a part of the organising team and as a member of the public, I can attest to the quality and enjoyability of the performances, and I encourage all Singaporeans to take the chance to participate in the Singapore Arts Festival 2012."


Overall, the Singapore Arts Festival 2012 has definitely inspired. In my humble opinion, the event was a great success.