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COMMUNITIESMATTER

A KOPITIAM CHAT WITH OUR COMMUNITY ARTS AND CULTURE NODES PARTNERS

MARCH 2017

ISSUE THREE

THE COMMUNITY ARTS AND CULTURE NODES IS AN ISLAND WIDE NETWORK OF ARTS TOUCH POINTS FOR THE COMMUNITY, BRINGING PEOPLE TOGETHER TO PARTICIPATE, ENJOY AND EXPERIENCE THE VALUE OF THE ARTS WHERE THEY LIVE, WORK AND PLAY. THE NATIONAL ARTS COUNCIL, IN COLLABORATION WITH PARTNERS SUCH AS THE NATIONAL LIBRARY BOARD, PEOPLE’S ASSOCIATION AND SAFRA, JOINTLY ORGANISE A WIDE ARRAY OF ARTS PROGRAMMES YEAR-ROUND FOR ALL TO ENJOY. IN THIS ISSUE OF COMMUNITIES MATTER, WE HEAR FROM COMMUNITY PARTNERS ON THEIR JOURNEY OF BRINGING QUALITY ARTS PROGRAMMES TO THEIR NEIGHBOURHOOD AND THE IMPACT THAT IS HAD ON THE COMMUNITY.

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Our Interviewees

PADDY ONG (NLB)Cultural Concierge, National Library Board

“I work with Singapore and international artists, ranging from indie bands to brilliant painters, to bring quality Arts and Culture programmes to the Public Libraries.”

MD. FAUZI (SAFRA)Assistant Manager (Marketing & Events), SAFRA Toa Payoh

“We aim to bring quality and novel arts events to SAFRA members and guests, letting our patrons know that arts really can be enjoyed by and inspire everyone.”

DR. UMA RAJANChairman, Siglap South CC Community Arts and Culture Club

“I have been able to bring a wide range of performing, visual and literary arts to the doorstep of the community through NAC's Community Arts and Culture Nodes project. A dream come true. It has encouraged my passion to serve the community through arts to burn bright and strong within me".

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5

15

Bedok CCKallang CC

Mapletree Business City

Taman Jurong CC

SAFRAJurong

SAFRA Punggol

SAFRA Toa Payoh

4 Tampines Regional Library

1

3

11

SAFRAMount Faber9

8

7 Siglap

South CC6

Tanglin Halt Block 88

( Queenstown )10

Jurong Regional Library

13

12

WoodlandsRegional Library14

Pasir Ris Elias CC2

OurTampines

Hub

About the Nodes

Siglap South CC’s Arts By The Sea, in collaboration with the NAC and People’s Association (PA), presents an engaging and diverse series of quality arts programmes and signature events.

JRL Live! At Jurong Regional Library presents 'live' youth music performances at its level 4 youth space - Verging All Teens (VAT), with the aim of creating an environment for youths to creatively express themselves. Look forward to year-round 'live' performances, creative art projects as well as fun arts workshops for youths and everyone else in the family.

ARTS@SAFRA, in collaboration with NAC, presents a wide array of engaging arts programmes for SAFRA clubs in Punggol, Toa Payoh, Mount Faber and Jurong. As the newest partner to join the island-wide network of arts touch points, SAFRA will offer uniquely themed programme tracks at the 4 participating clubs. Visitors to SAFRA Toa Payoh can expect a sensory overload as the club presents programmes that aim to marry technology and the arts in a highly interactive manner.

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FAUZI We’ve always believed in educating and sharing about photography and film to the public. Working with different organisations allows us to structure our programmes in different ways depending on the scope of the project. It also challenges us to think of different ways to present the programmes to the public.

PADDY Tapping into the creative conscious-ness of a community – all residents, commercial entities, institutions and artists coming together to e xplore their creative potential. Be it convening to create a mural, starting an interest group or providing a venue for a performance art piece, every member of a community can play a part in making the arts an integral part of our lives.

DR. RAJAN It means bringing together a group of people using various forms of arts that are more accessible and affordable thereby also contributing towards the viability and development of various art forms and art works.

FAUZI Many people see appreciation of the arts as something abstract and possibly distant. Some may feel that they do not have sufficient time in their busy lives to engage in arts activities. By bringing arts closer to our everyday lives, we are making a conscious effort to send the message of “stop and smell the roses”. We firmly believe that arts in its various forms soothe our souls amidst our busy schedules.

PADDY Arts programmes in our libraries allow our patrons to learn about art forms they might have otherwise not known about. Our patrons get to experience a diverse mix of art programmes: from traditional art forms like Batik painting, ethnic music performances and dance forms, to modern upcycling craftwork, local indie music and theatre co-created performances. The pace of modern life can sometimes prevent us from staying in touch with our artistic and creative inclinations. Bringing the arts to where we live, work and play is important to help us connect with the most important human resource – our creativity.

DR. RAJAN Bringing the arts to the people where they live, work and play enables everyone to enjoy and appreciate all forms of art with their families, friends, colleagues and neighbours – a great opportunity for bonding.

WHAT DOES COMMUNITY BASED ARTS MEAN TO YOU?

WHAT ROLE DO YOU THINK THE ARTS CAN PLAY IN YOUR SPACE AND WHY DO YOU THINK IT IS IMPORTANT TO BRING THE ARTS TO PLACES WHERE PEOPLE LIVE, WORK AND PLAY?

Indian dance performance at Siglap South CC’s state-of-the-art auditorium

Xinyao concert picnic-style at East Coast Park

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An interactive children’s theatre programme at SAFRA Toa Payoh’s Level 1 Foyer

FAUZI It’s been great! We’ve heard lots of positive feedback from our members and participants. In fact we’ve got people asking when our next arts programme will be held!

PADDY At Jurong Regional Library, we are fortunate to have a very culturally-informed community. Many patrons have embraced our arts programmes, some of which are not your usual run of the mill programmes, like ‘live’ band performances! We feel grateful to our patrons for their support and it spurs us on to bring in better programmes.

DR. RAJAN Excellent – audiences have shown great appreciation to us for bringing great artists to the community and at affordable prices - like bringing the Esplanade to Joo Chiat!

FAUZI It will be great if the programmes can encourage our participants to inject arts activities into their leisure time, discover new hobbies along the way and appreciate arts. We also hope our members and participants to see SAFRA as a place where they can get inspired.

PADDY Arts and creativity are not bound by age groups, ethnicity or creeds. The only limits to creativity are the ones we place on ourselves. As Picasso once said, “Every child is an artist, the problem is staying an artist when you grow up.” We hope our patrons recognise the valuable resources found in the library’s collections to help them further their interests in arts and culture. Though we live in an age where information is at our fingertips, the human element of curating and selecting books which have gone through editorial processes adds far more value than the top results of a search query. People will be surprised at how much more inspiration they can find within books vis-a-vis browsing through Pinterest. We hope with our programmes, we complement the library’s rich collections and help people to expand their creativity throughout life.

DR. RAJAN Yes there has been an impact – it has created a thirst and demand for more and more quality arts performances.

HOW HAS THE PUBLIC RESPONSE BEEN TOWARDS THE PROGRAMMES THAT HAVE BEEN RUN AT YOUR NODE?

WHAT DO YOU HOPE AUDIENCES/PARTICIPANTS TAKE AWAY FROM ATTENDING THESE PROGRAMMES? HAS IT HAD AN IMPACT ON THEM?

FAUZI The biggest challenge is probably deciding which local artists to invite to our clubs as there is so much artistic talent in Singapore! Of course the other aspect is to ensure that the programming will be of interest to our participants.

PADDY Although our programmes are well-received and fully subscribed, commitment to programmes is one of our main challenges, and has resulted in no-shows. Fortunately, this is not a huge issue for most of our programmes. We even have a bit of a following from some of our patrons who regularly attend our programmes

DR. RAJAN Although we have been able to programme quality arts programmes by both highly acclaimed international and local artists, our greatest challenge has been in finding suitable partners and strategies to successfully market and publicise these programmes to the community.

SINCE JOINING THE COMMUNITY ARTS AND CULTURE NODES INITIATIVE, WHAT ARE SOME OF THE GREATEST CHALLENGES YOU HAVE FACED IN DEVELOPING ARTS PROGRAMMES FOR THE NODES?

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FAUZI It was great to see all our clubs participating in the Earth Hour: Art Renewed event where many participants chipped in, together with local artists, to create different animals from recycled materials. The additional message of protecting the environment made it even more meaningful.

PADDY The most memorable moment when one boy who was attending a painting workshop, was able to answer questions about Van Gogh’s art and why dark colours were important in a painting. Apparently, he had learned these facts from other library art programmes. It feels rewarding when patrons show interest in our programmes and have a desire to learn more about the arts. Patrons young and old who enjoy our programmes make this job fulfilling.

DR. RAJAN The experience of having presented a wide range of art forms and artists without worrying about financial support for the major part of the expenditure is a great boon, thanks to NAC! The journey was not without its ups and downs but the load was lighter and I was able to focus on successfully delivering quality arts to the community and push on with that goal in mind.

FAUZI We’d definitely love to see more programming that can cater to the interests of both “artists” and the “amateurs” at the same event, so there is greater interaction.

PADDY More complex and “niche” arts being part of the library’s programmes. Broad-based arts programmes are important, but we would like for our patrons to experience all facets of the arts, even if it might be a little less mainstream.

DR. RAJAN I look forward to working closely with NAC to select suitable art forms and artists to take the community on a Learning Journey in arts over the years.

WHAT IS YOUR MOST MEMORABLE EXPERIENCE IN THIS JOURNEY SO FAR?

WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO SEE FOR ARTS PROGRAMMING AT YOUR NODE IN THE FUTURE?

Visitors to Jurong Regional Library participating in a guided sketch walk by Urban Sketchers Singapore to re-discover old landmarks in the neighbourhood such as Jurong Town Hall

Students taking a short break from their studies to enjoy a live music performance by

local youth band, JJ & The Paperplanes at Jurong Regional Library