Singapore
Singapore
Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay – Singapore
Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay is a not-for-profit charitable institution of public character and is Singapore's national arts centre. It is an internationally recognised cultural institution and one of the busiest in the world. Esplanade presents more than 3,000 performances annually which cut across all genres to encompass music, dance, theatre and visual arts, catering to diverse audiences. Since its opening in 2002, it has welcomed over 75 million visitors, staged more than 25,000 performances and attended by about 18.5 million people. Esplanade's mission is to make the arts accessible for everyone to enjoy. It strives to nurture audiences to engage with the diversity of arts and culture. At its core, Esplanade is committed to serving the public through the arts and nurturing cultural expressions that inspire its people to feel a sense of pride and ownership. The resident will be attached to the Programming team and will gain an insight into Esplanade's programming strategies and operational considerations.
Art form/s | Arts Management |
Collaborative permitted? | No |
Preferred host dates | Six – eight weeks, between Jun to Feb period to coincide with festivals and events. Depending on the trainee’s learning objectives, the period of attachment can be discussed for effective learning. (Please note Asialink residencies must be complete by Dec 31). |
Potential opportunities | N/A |
Location and transport | City centre; 5 minute walk to supermarket. Public transport nearby |
Facilities | Internet and work station |
Accommodation provided? | No, but the host organisation can assist in sourcing |
Fees | N/A |
Partners/ families permitted? | Yes |
Website | www.esplanade.com/index.jsp |
Maya Dance Theatre - Singapore
Maya Dance Theatre is a dance theatre company that creates works addressing socially relevant subjects which resonate across borders through intercultural, multidisciplinary dance theatre.
Maya's distinctive expression is grounded in the visceral nature of human spirit! We create an integral space for Asian traditional form (Bharatha Natyam) and contemporary dance to evolve together.
The Asian dance training philosophy of Maya Dance Theatre keeps the body grounded like the roots of a tree and the choreography embodies the contemporary space.
We present stories of your world through our eyes!
Our residency programme provides choreographers and dance artists an opportunity to explore inter-cultural development, a supportive platform for growth and development, as well as to network with Singapore's art scene.
Art form/s | Dance, Arts Management |
Collaborative permitted? | No |
Preferred host dates | N/A |
Potential opportunities | Inclusion in Maya Dance Theatre productions, subject to performance season status. Opportunity to present arts education programmes in learning institution. Opportunity to work with special (disability) dance group. Opportunity for arts management candidates to be part of the creative team for a production; subject to season status |
Location and transport | City centre, arts & cultural district. Bus stop and train station within a 5 minute walk. |
Facilities | Private studio/work space, internet, communication facilities. |
Accommodation provided? | No, but the host organisation can assist in sourcing |
Fees | None |
Partners/ families permitted? | N/A |
Website | www.mayadancetheatre.org |
Objectifs: Centre for Photography and Film - Singapore
Established in 2003, Objectifs is an independent non-profit gallery and educational space that is committed to advancing the practice and appreciation of film and photography. Through year-round educational programmes, exhibitions, screenings, residencies and mentorships, our mission is to build a community of image-makers and visual storytellers, creating and sharing artistic works that foster dialogue around local and international issues. The goal of our residency programme is to provide photographers, filmmakers and artists who work in photography and film with a supportive platform, conducive for the creation and development of new personal work, as well as to facilitate exchanges with local artists and build networks.
Art form/s | Visual Arts, Arts Management |
Collaborative permitted? | No |
Preferred host dates | N/A |
Potential opportunities | Talks and workshops held at the centre; opportunities in giving lectures/workshops at various art schools; networking |
Location and transport | City centre, arts & cultural district. Bus stop and train station within a 5 minute walk. |
Facilities | Private studio/work space, Internet, communication facilities, gallery space. Objectifs can assist with curatorial support. |
Accommodation provided? | No, but the host organisation can assist in sourcing. Accommodation is approximately SGD400-600 a week. |
Fees | None |
Partners/ families permitted? | N/A |
Website | http://www.objectifs.com.sg |
Grey Projects - Singapore
Grey Projects is an artist-run space for publication, curatorial and exchange activities, supporting artists and art practices with exhibitions, writings and residencies. Grey Projects looks for the urgent, the necessary, the experiments, the propositional, as well as new writing and curatorial practices. As a venue, Grey Projects is a workspace, library, gallery, studio and residency space. They are located in Tiong Bahru, one of Singapore's oldest public housing estates, and they celebrate their 10th year in 2018.
Art form/s | Visual Arts, Performing Art, Writing, Arts Management (Curator) |
Collaborative permitted? | No |
Preferred host dates | August - October |
Potential opportunities | Open studio presentations, workshops, seminars, talks or screenings, depending on the needs of the artist. Opportunity to meet curators, critics, gallery directors and artists. |
Location and transport | Grey Projects is close to downtown Singapore, in the city's oldest public housing estate Tiong Bahru, an architectural landmark. There is a supermarket in the building and a train station around the corner. |
Facilities | On site accommodation, private studio/workspace, internet, library/archive/research resources. |
Accommodation provided? | Yes |
Fees | Accommodation and studio fees are SGD 1700 per month. |
Partners/ families permitted? | Partners yes (to visit, not for entire duration) but not children. |
Website |
Singapore Now for Tasmanian Creative Industries
Creating new work for new markets is essential to the ongoing sustainability of the cultural and creative industries. Supported by the Tasmanian Government and developed in partnership with Arts Tasmania, this initiative is designed to support Tasmanian artists and arts organisations to research or create new work for new markets in Singapore and potentially Southeast Asia (SEA).
The development of new markets in the cultural and creative industries has traditionally taken place through touring and in-person visits. During the COVID-19 pandemic, international mobility halted, and live presentations and exhibitions paused for considerable lengths of time. This program, designed by Asialink Arts and which evolves incrementally over two years, re-considers and re-starts international engagement. The focus is on sharing insights on platforms and audience engagement, developing connections and supporting partnerships. The program will be delivered through digital and hybrid modes leading to live and face-to-face market opportunities in Singapore in a COVID-safe environment.
Join us on March 22nd in Singapore for our panel:
The power in cooperation: creating longevity in cross-cultural work.
Artist Announcement
We are thrilled to announce that after a competitive multi-stage selection process, Stephanie Jack and Assembly 197 have been selected to work with Asialink Arts to develop networks and collaborations and travel to Singapore in late 2022 and early 2023.
Stephanie Jack is a Singaporean-Chinese/Australian actor, writer and singer, based in Hobart. She has been supported to develop Mixed Feelings, which has been described as an explosive fusion of live performance, digital projection, and music.
With support through this program, Stephanie will work with Asialink Arts to explore Singaporean partnerships, collaborations and markets for the show. Stephanie hopes to secure a Singapore producer for the work and encourage more exchange between Tasmanian and Singaporean presenters and festivals.
Stephanie Jack
Assembly 197 is the home of Tasdance and Situate and is led by Tasmanian artists Adam Wheeler and Emma Porteus.
Assembly 197 has received support through the program to deliver Singapore: Double Seed.
As part of this project, Tasdance Creative Associate Jenni Large will work with artists from Singapore’s Dance Nucleus to develop longer term collaborations. While Adam Wheeler and Emma Porteus will work with Singaporean artists to evolve the Situate model – which supports outstanding early and mid-career artists and creative practitioners to develop new experimental artworks for live performance – for the Singaporean market.
These opportunities will amplify the work of Assembly 197, forging new relationships, developing new markets and lead to the potential for multiple new works in both Tasmania and Singapore.
Assembly 197
For the program Asialink Arts has created a layered approach towards developing market outcomes.
ASSEMBLY 197
ASSEMBLY 197 is the home of TASDANCE (the company), SITUATE (the program), and ARTERY (the outreach). ASSEMBLY 197 knows we make great art when we assemble. ASSEMBLY 197 also hosts Stompin, Mudlark, and Rooke Circus as in-house organisations.
Stephanie Jack
Stephanie Jack 卢恩典 is an Asian Australian actor, singer, and writer based in nipaluna/Hobart. As an interdisciplinary artist whose work spans video, music, and text, Stephanie has completed an M.F.A Acting at Harvard's ART/MXAT Institute, including a semester abroad at the Moscow Art Theatre School. Her credits include Deadloch (Amazon, 2023), Archipelago Productions’ The Maids with Essie Davis and Marta Dusseldorp, and New York Times Critics’ Pick musical, The Light Princess. In 2021, Stephanie was the Tasmanian Theatre Company’s Associate Artist, a vocalist for MONA’s Performance Ensemble, and a Regional Arts Fund Fellowship recipient.
Banner image: Art After Dark festival at Gillman Barracks, courtesy of National Arts Council of Singapore.
ASEF Unplugged Conversations on the Arts in Asia and Europe
ASEAN-Australia connections have been high on the political agenda in the recent years. Political, security, trade, education and development links have been formalised and growing. But where do cultural relations and co-operation between Asia and Australia stand? What are some past and present modes and forms of cultural exchanges and collaborations, particularly from the context of Singapore and Southeast Asia? What roles do the arts and culture play in enabling meaningful dialogue and fostering mutual understanding? To stimulate a conversation around these questions, ASEF Unplugged-Singapore at The Projector , brought together 3 main speakers with extensive experience and knowledge in facilitating cultural exchanges between the 2 regions, and 4 arts practitioners as panellists to render voices from the ground on what it is truly like to engage in cultural, geographical and political bridge-building in their daily work.
The resulting discussion, as summarised in the following key takeaways, proved to be thought-provoking yet vibrant:
1. Cultural exchange has become closely associated with the concept of soft power where, in the context of statecraft, the appeal and influence of ideas and information is instrumentalised as an alternative dimension to military and economic (i.e. “hard”) force. Internally, governments use culture to cohere culturally diverse societies and concretise national identity. Externally, governments use it to promote their nation’s cultural identity in the international arena, and to mark out their country’s distinction in the international marketplace. Invariably, therefore, the idea of soft power often means that artists and cultural representatives are selected and sent forth almost exclusively on the basis of excellence rather than other qualitative values.
2. Culture is more than a one-way push or a tool of the state – cultural exchange involves many processes and works at many levels. Because culture is central to the evolution of human values and identity, it is also extensively initiated by peoples and communities through cultural exchange. That is, while it may at times take place at the highest of levels of the state (e.g. for national security and statecraft), it often resides at the people-to-people level (e.g. to satisfy the desire for openness and mobility). In addition, it is often guided by the philosophy that cultural actors and exchanges need not be defined by the history of the state, and that the forging of a different set of organic relationships is important for developing deep understanding, awareness, connection, and capability – from within.
3. Australia and Singapore rank a decent – though not outstanding – #10 and #21 respectively on the Soft Power 30 index. Both have a close institutional relationship with each other that spans over two decades, beginning with the first Memorandum of Understanding signed by Arts Victoria and the National Arts Council, Singapore in 1998 and more recently, the landmark joint Australia-Singapore film and television co-production agreement, which both parties signed even before either signed any similar agreement with China – the major cultural centre in the region. The Australian Singapore Art Group (ASAG, formed in 2018) is another clear indication of the investment to foster closer arts and cultural ties through potential co-creation of new work between the two nations.
4. There are many good lessons to be drawn from the work being done in Australia and Singapore. In Australia, arts is increasingly seen as a driver of experimentation and public-facing communication, hence there has been a proliferation of events and platforms to engage and reach specific audiences through art. Investing in relationship-building, in an iterative and sustained manner, is imperative for trusted platforms for expression and engagement. In Singapore, most organisations are flexible, engaging, and open (i.e. there is a strong culture of hospitality and hosting characteristic of Southeast Asia in general). However, issues such as operational clarity, cost, and timelines continue to present challenges.
5. At the same time, the relationship between Australia and Southeast Asia, more broadly, reveals a confusing, mixed reality. Asialink Arts’ efforts in supporting 1,000 artists in 28 years (with one third being engagements in Southeast Asia) offers evidence of the depth, breadth, and multi-directionality of Australian engagement with Southeast Asia. However, while Australia is considered by many to be part of the same region, while its four biggest trading partners are Asian countries, and while at least half of the Australian community was born outside of Australia or had a parent born outside of Australia, Australia invests more in New Zealand than it does the whole of Southeast Asia. The level of Indonesian language learning in Australia is lower now than in 1972 (despite Indonesia being one of Australia’s closest geographical neighbours), and Asian Australians form less than 1.3% of those in the senior rungs of politics and business. In fact, there are only five Asian CEOs leading companies listed on the Australian stock exchange.
6. The relationship may appear confusing, but it presents many opportunities. Historically, there has been deep engagement even before the formal “arrival” of arts and culture as a component of soft power; this is a useful foundation to build upon. It was noted that a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade statement cited a university student newsletter, written by students that came to Australia as part of the Colombo Plan, as being one of the earliest recorded forms of cultural diplomacy between Asia and Australia. Since then, international education both within and outside of Australia has held up as a prime example of the success of cultural diplomacy efforts. Presently, it has become increasingly common to see filmmakers (e.g. James Wan) and the like drawing on transnational networks and their diasporic advantage to amplify their work to international audiences – independently and without government support. Asialink, for one, serves as an alternative example of government-supported championing of arts and culture at the people-to-people level, which panellists cited as a viable and beneficial operating model. At the same time, panellists agreed that Australia does not leverage enough on the diasporic advantage of its people outside of the national framework – namely the vast social capital and networks that are brought to Australia and subsequently taken back to their home countries.
7. From an artistic point of view, cultural exchange implies and requires reciprocity. The discussion revealed that transference and exchange are insufficient, and that there needs to be a concerted shift towards collaborating on equal terms. Even within Australia, for instance, mainstream theatre struggles to reflect the diversity of the Australian people. Panellists affirmed that collaboration is about people, relationships, passion, and connections, and that for collaborations to work there has to be alignment of institutional interest, artist interest, and funding. While it is useful to think of an end product (funders usually fund tangible products, rather than intangible relationships), the process should begin from a desire to understand one another as people. Cultural diplomacy is not just about the presentation of works; it is more importantly about demonstrating what it really means to work together.
8. Arts and cultural practitioners share a common desire for their voice to be established beyond their local contexts. This takes deliberate collaboration, experimentation, and time, can only be enabled by longer-term investment and trust in their works and initiatives. Staying in one’s comfort zone is unsustainable in the long run, for there exists an innate motivation to have one’s stories reside in an international canon – not just, say, in the little ghettos of Asian or Australian festivals. It is of little surprise, however, that the arts infrastructure of today (along with what defines a good project) is often set or shaped by dominant cultures, with Asia and Australia often having to look to the West as a marker of excellence. Yet, because Asia is so heterogenous, Asian works tend not to fit neatly into Western categories, resulting in severe disadvantage in resources and opportunities. One way to improve this is to cultivate an ecosystem of cultural writers and critics who can interpret said works, in order to make them meaningful to outside audiences and help shift the conversation. Increasingly, seemingly small, localised problems that used to be ignored by many are now becoming more relevant to everybody regardless of national affiliation – this also presents an opportunity for arts and cultural practitioners to find common ground. In other words, more universally relevant the work is, the more likely it is to resonate – this entails a taking of one’s place in the world by first looking at each other, which is much more meaningful and impactful than always just telling the local stories one is expected to tell.
9. There is general agreement on the value that may emerge from “blind matchmaking” and experimentation by funders and agencies, yet an acknowledgement that the outcomes are inconsistent and sometimes incidental. While many random collaborations do not turn out to be effective, randomness can sometimes create the necessary conditions for a positive encounter to become fruitful. Beyond residencies and exchange programmes, there are many other examples of this in the context of Australia-Singapore cultural exchange, including the piggybacking of partners on each other’s activities, Australian scripts read in Singapore by Singaporean performers, Singaporean scripts likewise being read in Australia by Australian performers, original works co-written by Singaporean and Australian poets and playwrights – all of which demonstrate how far people-to-people collaboration can go, and how the outcome of said collaboration can be so different from and much more than the sum of its parts.
Recommendations by the audience
Toward the close of the discussion, members of the audience offered their views on cultural exchange between Asia and Australia. One member shared how the cultural heritage, friendships, and stories of humanity forged through Asia’s and Australia’s close cooperation in past wars could provide a rich foundation and resource for deeper cultural engagement and empathy. Another highlighted the shared importance of mental health issues and their potential to bridge common ground across geographies and cultures.
Looking ahead
While the session helped to clarify a number of key issues surrounding the state and trajectory of cultural exchange between Asia and Australia, it also sparked new questions that will need to be addressed in the coming months:
- Who is funding – or, is best placed to fund – long-term alliances (as opposed to just projects), and how are said alliances best initiated?
- Are there ways for funders to quantify the merits of said alliances, in order to put forth stronger justification for funding?
- How can we establish partnerships that extend beyond mere display, and that expand beyond the mere relationship, in order to encourage mutual sparring to create something that addresses the questions both parties (and audiences beyond) really care about?
- How can we enable more co-production (for example, by creating avenues for multi-party grants and support)?
- In order to take full advantage of opportunities for cultural exchange, how can we overcome structural challenges surrounding transnational mobility, which persist in spite of how seemingly hyperconnected the region is?
- How can we make sense of the relative structural imbalance between countries of varying economic indicators, that at the same time fare similarly on cultural indicators? How can the terms of engagement and exchange be more equal?
ASEF Unplugged-Singapore at the Projector was held on 8 July 2019 from 7:30-9:30 PM at The Projector in Singapore and was co-produced by the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) and the Cultural Research Centre, a newly-launched cultural research incubator based in the Department of Communications and New Media at the National University of Singapore, and featuring Asialink, Australia’s leading centre for the promotion of public understanding of the countries in Asia and Australia’s role in the region. This edition serves as a follow-up conversation to ASEF Unplugged-Adelaide where arts practitioners from the ASEAN region discussed the trends and gaps of Australia-Southeast Asia cultural engagement with their Australian peers.
The session title From Floating Life to Open Homes: Exploring Cultural Exchange between Asia and Australia takes reference from two cultural texts from differing contexts and symbolises different forms of cultural exchange. Floating Life is a 1996 Australian film by Clara Law, a Hong Kong film director who relocated to Australia. Following the story of a Chinese family’s move from Hong Kong to Australia, the film explores the challenges of cultural relocation as well as issues concerning diasporic identities. Meanwhile Open Homes is a ‘theatre-in-the-home’ experience by Singaporean artist Jeffrey Tan. It differs from a static film like Floating Life as it welcomes audiences into the intimate home spaces of residents who act as both host and storyteller.
Speakers at ASEF Unplugged-Singapore at the Projector:
Penny BURTT (Australia)
Group CEO
Asialink
Pippa DICKSON (Australia)
Director
Asialink Arts
Audrey YUE (Singapore)
Professor in Media, Culture and Critical Theory
National University of Singapore
Moderator:
Anupama SEKHAR
Director, Culture
Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF)
ASEF Unplugged is a new event series of the Asia-Europe Foundation focusing on informal peer-to-peer conversations on arts, culture and heritage. It responds to the growing demand from conference audiences for more interactive formats that allow for greater engagement of participants beyond being mere receivers of information.
To know more about ASEF Unplugged & to keep updated of our upcoming events, please visit: https://asef.live/unplugged
ASEF is publicly funded by over 50 partner countries of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), an informal political dialogue process. Singapore and Australia are ASEM partner countries.
This original article was written by:
Daniel HO Sheng