Singapore Arts Festival

Miss Penny Low asked the Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts (a) what is his assessment of the recently concluded Singapore Arts Festival in terms of reaching out and connecting with citizens; and (b) if it was successful, what is the reason for the decision to halt the Festival for a year instead of carrying on to build the momentum, even if done on a smaller scale.

Assoc Prof Dr Yaacob Ibrahim: I would like to thank the hon Member of Parliament, Miss Penny Low, for her question.

The Singapore Arts Festival 2012 was held from 18 May to 2 June this year, with the theme of "Our Lost Poems" which sought to explore myths, legends and untold stories. In line with the call for arts and culture to be an integral part of the lives of Singaporeans, this year's programming strategy focused on being more community-centric and on enhancing the accessibility of the Festival, both in terms of content and availability of free programmes.

The Festival this year was a more compact one, featuring more artists over a shorter period. A total of 772 local and foreign artists were featured in over 380 performances over 16 days. More than two-thirds of these performances were free, as part of the Festival's commitment to make the arts more accessible to Singaporeans. As a result, total non-ticketed attendance was at a three-year high of over 140,000, almost three times that of 2010 and almost seven times that of last year.

These programmes brought together a wide demographic of Singapore's population – from senior citizens to youths and students – and also gave ordinary individuals from the local communities a platform to perform and share their personal stories with the public for the first time. I would like to highlight, in particular, the Bridge Café Project, where Japanese choreographer Kim Itoh worked with a team of local arts practitioners to bring together 17 youths and 13 middle-aged men, or "uncles" as they are affectionately known, to become performer-waiters in a Café set up at the Festival Village. These performer-waiters would break out into song and dance while serving Café patrons, eliciting warm applause and many smiles. The Bridge Café project not only gave our "uncles" an opportunity to recapture their youth and ignite their interest in the arts, but also brought our youths and seniors together in a meaningful way.

Besides involving the community as audience members and performers, the Festival also offered opportunities for our people to be involved as volunteers. This year, a record of 496 Festival Ambassadors participated in the Festival, contributing in areas, such as artist liaison and venue hosting.

The highlight of the Festival this year was the Festival Village, which registered 120,000 visitors, a six-fold increase from 2011. This success can be attributed to the all-free calendar for the Festival Village this year, with targeted programming time belts and interactive programmes that helped the Festival Village better attract and connect with more audiences.

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Although this year's Festival achieved a significant level of engagement with our patrons, it is necessary for us to continually review its formula and prepare for the future, particularly as our arts landscape has changed significantly since the Festival started 35 years ago.

As I had shared in my response to the hon Member Ms Irene Ng last week, the decision to put the Arts Festival on hold for 2013 was a difficult one for MICA to make. However, in view of the long-term benefits, we decided that a temporary break was justified and worthwhile. The one-year hiatus of the Festival would give the review team the time and space to take a step back and undertake an objective and holistic review of the Festival, in close partnership with the local arts community and key stakeholders.

To conclude, I would like to assure Members that MICA recognises the significance of the Singapore Arts Festival to our people. We are confident that the ongoing Review will help us build a stronger Festival for the future, and we encourage the arts community and general public to give their views and work with the Government towards this goal.