The Singapore Art Festival is held between the months of May and June, approximately
one month, allowing everyone to gather and take a look at what the world has to boast
in the subject of art.

The festival basically contains six main categories: Dance, Music, Theatre, Fest Connect, Outreach and Visual Arts. These enable visitors to enhance their knowledge in arts, as well as instill a sense of pride in visitors from various countries when they come over to Singapore to view artists from their own countries performing.

I was not able to make it for the opening ceremony, but I have found some footage that allowed me to know what is going on.



http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=market2garden&view=videos&query=

Click on the link above if you want to view more footages of the Opening Ceremony.As seen in the video clip, the Singapore Arts Festival was started off when La Compagnie Malabar, internationally renowned in circus and street theatre, exhibited the mythological story of the creation of Helios, the sun god.
I did not find it amazing but still, art aficionados are sure to find it amazing.

I attended the theatre play, Sin Sangre (Without blood). It depicts a story wherein even at the aftermath of a civil war, there were still many disputes that caused deaths and hatred. The family of Manuel Roca was violently shattered by three men who wanted to take revenge on him. Roca has two kids, a son and a daughter. Both father and son were killed in the scene of carnage and the daughter was spared by the youngest of the men though he was able to find the daughter in her hideaway.

Decades later, the girl grew up and wanted a brutal revenge for her family. Out of the three armed men, only one was still alive: the one that spared her life. After locating him, an unexpected conversation rips open their histories that had tortured the lives of the two. As the conversation went, their hatred and hostility towards each other dissipated, releasing the both of them from the horror they had been living in.

Photographing was not allowed in the theatre, thus I am unable to show scenes from the play.

From the roaring applause, it could be assumed that the theatre play was a success. Even theatre amateurs like me were able to understand the whole play, too.

Singapore Art Festival

Product

From the banners I observed in Orchard Road, all the way to Vivocity, I can say that they are eye-catching. Aside from posters and banners, I also get information about the Art Festival through the radio, as well as from word of mouth.

At the National Library, there are many brochures about the other events of Arts Festival, and there are actually a few receptionists that were helping us in knowing more about the different theatre plays available, as well as other categories like music.

They are actually actively promoting all kinds of art to people. They have signs around the National Library that shows us where the National Library is situated at. These signs actually act as guides to the destination, as well as a tool to further promote Singapore Arts Festival.

As stated in ‘Event Marketing’ by Leonard H. Hoyle, stakeholders for any event can be described as those who hold a personal and compelling interest in the success of that event.

Host Organisation
The organisation that made everything possible is the National Arts Council. Without them, probably, there would not be any Arts Festival in Singapore, and people might never get a chance to be inspired by art over here. In promoting art, it has allowed more artistic sides of Singapore to be seen by outsiders, as well as ourselves.
They have to make Singapore significant in the arts industry, allowing Singapore to distinguish itself from other nations.

Host Community
The host community would be everyone living in Singapore. Each of us takes a part in protecting the image of our country, as well as defining our country as a unique one. Our culture, way of life and diversity can all provide definitions of what Singapore really is. All these will actually be factors that allow us to interact with tourists and performers, as well as creating an identity.

Sponsor
All the sponsors formed a large part of the success of Art Festival 2009. Without their help, I doubt there would be free events and largely discounted tickets; in addition, people would be much less aware of the event and there would be considerably less performers.
They helped to subsidize a lot of things that are beyond imagination. With the strategic usage of promotional tools, you can actually see the Arts Festival everywhere.
By making the entry fee so much cheaper, all the audiences participating in the event benefit. One just needs to pay a small price, and experience moments that one might never have a chance to go through it again.

Media
Media plays a very important role in promoting the arts festival to everyone else. We get in touch with media almost every day, and thus by using media to promote the Singapore Arts Festival, people will know about the arts festival.
Television channels like Channel 5 and Okto promote the art festival to most of the population who watch television, with Okto mainly targeting kids, and channel 5 to the others.

Co-Workers
The workers, too, hold an important role. There are many employees located in different divisions. The ushers and employees managing the ticketing counters will most probably be the first workers that get into contact with the visitors to the event.
Thus, the interaction between them and the visitors are very crucial. Workers in the backstage crew or production crew are important too. Without their help, there will be many things that will go wrong, thus spoiling the success of the events.
Without the backstage crew, there would not be anyone to help bring out the props, test the microphones and many more.

Participants and Spectators
Participants are people that are performing for the spectators, or rather, they are those factors that motivate spectators to go take a look and see what the performers have to offer for them. Without their works of art, the Arts Festival would not be a success as there would not be anyone that would turn up for the event.
Also, without the performers’ potentials in expressing art, spectators would not be tempted to buy the tickets, let alone, go view the performance. Thus they have an important role in interacting with spectators, promoting art, entertaining spectators, as well as leaving great moments for the spectators.
Spectators are those that went to view the festival, regardless of the number of events attended.

Without the spectators’ participation in any of the events, then the festival would not be a fruitful one. Performers would not be cheered on, their morale would decrease tremendously. Also, without spectators, why would the participants even need to perform?

Those roaring applauses are what keep the performers satisfied and motivate them to continue to strive for the very best.

In my opinion, the main purpose of having an art festival over here is to enhance the engagement between audiences and performers, promote art, as well as to increase cohesion among the countries all over the world. With that base being fulfilled, a higher level of understanding from different performances can actually be attained.