New direction for Singapore Arts Festival 2010

The Singapore Arts Festival: “Between You and Me”
14 May – 13 June 2010

The Singapore Arts Festival has embarked on a new phase of development under the leadership of General Manager, Low Kee Hong. Key changes and initiatives have been set in motion to grow the 33-year-old Festival into a Creation Festival and a People’s Festival.

The Festival will have a greater focus on the creative process and perspectives of art making in Asia. It will provide a platform to showcase performances, collaborations and new works-in-progress by Singapore and Asian artists while maintaining a global perspective. A year-long education and outreach programme, titled com.mune, has been introduced to sustain the Festival’s engagement with the public beyond individual shows staged during the Festival period.

An important part of the Festival’s mission is to capture and create content that originates from this part of the world. Between Traditional and Contemporary will fulfill the need to engage with our sense of tradition, the forms and how they can become relevant to contemporaneous times. This dialogue is crucial as it reflects a common experience coming out of Asia: the tension between the vernacular and the contemporary.

To profile works and artists closer to home, the Festival will be partnering with Esplanade for ConversAsians, a strategic platform for the international community to engage with Asian artists and their work. The event will centre on the creative process of Asian artists, spotlighting Asian artists known for their innovative and distinctive styles and providing opportunities to listen to their perspectives on the arts and appreciate their creative journeys.

Themed “Between You and Me”, the 2010 Festival aims to deepen the connection of the public with the Festival, build an intimate bond, and develop their sense of ownership of the Festival. Starting with the 2011 edition, the Festival will be curated along a thematic thread that reflects and responds to the social environment in a relevant manner, presenting a cohesive and connected programme. Audiences will be able to relate productions with the theme and understand the direction and purpose of the programming, enabling them to see the inspiration behind the theme.

Source: Singapore Arts Festival 2010