1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Purpose
The objectives of this report are to provide a first hand account of the selected event, identify the type of event and its characteristics, critic and recommend alternative approaches on the marketing strategies of the organizers, reflect and critic on the programme and management of the event, and consider the values of the event to Singapore’s tourism economy.
1.2 Background
The public, the media and their sponsors often examine an event for its accomplishment. It is essential to gain insights into the best practices while being aware of the problems faced. As a student studying the subject on Events Management, this will provide the experiential learning experience. I hence attended the opening performance of Singapore Arts Festival, Water Fools, as an audience.
This report is therefore commissioned by Mrs. Sandra Goh, Temasek Polytechnic, Events Management tutor, to do a short investigative study of the chosen event.
2. FINDINGS
2.1 Overview
The Singapore Arts Festival (ArtsFest) first began in 1977 as a national arts festival celebrating local arts activity of Singapore’s diverse communities. It has played a symbiotic and catalytic role in the growth of the artistic and cultural life by helping to transform the city’s cultural landscape into one of Asia’s major cultural capitals today. It has influenced the work of artists and generated a rising public demand for the arts, spawning new cultural platforms, events, and movements that support the cultural scene in present Singapore.
In 2008, worldwide acclaimed artists from 21 countries will be converging to present 27 music, dance and theatre productions. The opening performance, Water Fools, is brought by acclaimed french street theatre company llotopie. It is also part of the Water Wonders Series held at Boat Quay from 23 to 25th May 2008, 8pm.
2.2 Background of Organizer
The organizer of ArtsFest is National Arts Council (NAC), set up as a Statutory Board in September 1991 to spearhead the growth of the arts in Singapore. Its vision is to develop Singapore as a distinctive global city for the arts and mission is to foster the arts and make it an essential part of people’s lives. Anchored on the twin strategies of excellence and engagement in the arts, the Council aims to build a vibrant arts sector by creating an environment where the arts is accessible to all and artistic talents have the required resources and capabilities to excel and achieve sustainability in the long term.
2.3 Role of events to the organizer
Place Marketing
· Creates image of vibrant arts sector
· Attracts residents and investors interested in arts
Image Maker
· Combat negative imagery by promoting cultural and artistic growth
· Civilised and Cultured Image
Tourist Attraction
· Attract tourists interested in the arts
· Increase visitor spending on local accommodation/transport/food/etc and the ArtsFest
· Increase length of stay till end of ArtsFest
Animator
· Encourage first and repeat visits to ArtsFest held once a year
2.4 Stakeholders
· Sponsors - Official
>> TV Station – Mediacorp Arts Central
>> Radio Station – GOLD 90.7FM
>> Online Media – Yahoo! Singapore
· Sponsors – Major and others
>> Hong Leong Foundation
>> Lee Foundation
>> Raffles City Shopping Centre
>> LUSH 99.5FM
>> Etc…
· Government
>> PUB
>> Singapore TOTE Board
>> Singapore Tourism Board
· Local Community – Festival Supporters/Venue Partners (For e.g. Water Fools)
>> Boat Quay
>> French Embassy in Singapore
>> Esplanade
· Employees and Volunteers (For e.g. Water Fools)
>> Meeting facilitator
>> Administrative support personnel
>> Meeting site personnel
>> Security - CISCO
>> Volunteers
· Artists/Talents/Participants
· Audience
>> Tourists and Locals
· Business Sector
>> Hotels/Restaurants/Travel agents/Etc…
2.5 Target Market
Generally, the target markets for Arts Festival are local and foreign theatre/music/dance lovers, talents, artists, critics, (i.e. people involved in the arts) since the festival aims to promote the arts.
To narrow down to an example, the target market for Water Fools is for all ages since it is a free opening performance which can be enjoyed by anyone, even without arts background or passion. Another target market is, of course, people with a passion for arts.
2.6 Marketing Strategies
Employed by the organizer:
Product
· Number and variety of art performances
· Decoration, lighting, special effects (e.g. Fireworks at Water Fools)
Partnerships
· Number and variety of sponsors and partners
· Expanding global connections (e.g. attracted new international partners in co-commissioning three new works by Singapore artists)
· E.g. Water Fools - Joint with PUB and French Embassy of Singapore
Promotion
· ArtsFest and NAC official website
· Brouchers, leaflets, magazines
· Free shuttle bus for closing performance
· Chance to perform in closing celebrations
· Festival director blog
· Facebook group discount
· Promotions and special discounts from/with partners
· Cooperating with flickr to encourage people to send photos
· Various medias (Radio, TV, etc…)
Price
· Free Opening and Closing Performance
· Discount and Concessions for –
>> Local / International Full Time Students, Senior Citizens, NSFs
>> Early Bird
>> ArtsFest Club and SAFRA members
>> OCBC Arts, Passion, Kinokuniya Privilege Card
>> Etc…
Alternatives:
Product
· Create a mascot character
Promotion
· Existing local/foreign Arts magazines
· Incentives to bloggers who advertise and review ArtsFest events
· A one-day special discount for people living in different regions for any events on that discount day (E.g. North side, discount day: Tuesday. West side, Wednesday)
Price
· Special discounts/Free tickets to sponsors
· Work with credit card companies to offer incentives/concessions
Packaging
· Package together with Singapore Airlines to offer international participants economical prices
2.7 Rating of the organization of the event
The Festival remains the largest singular event in Singapore’s arts calendar, inviting artists from more than 20 countries, offering more than 500 activities attracting up to 700,000 attendances. It is definitely not easy to accomplish this feat. Therefore I feel NAC has done a good job in planning, organizing, marketing and controlling this event.
However, since the festival has such a big scale, glitches and mistakes are unavoidable. For example, a performance may be postponed or cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. Therefore, detailed risk assessments are important.
To narrow down, I feel they have done a rather good job of Water Fools in terms of marketing and controlling the performance. On the whole, the performance runs smoothly.
2.8 Potential of the event to meet tourist demand
To narrow down, Water Fools has a high potential, as it is very novel because people hardly can see shows with the concept of performing a mystical story on water where people can walk, drive, and cycle at water. It is also very exciting as it is action-packed. The climatic ending of fireworks received countless “wows”. However, the plot of the story may be too tough to comprehend as everything moves too fast before the spectators could understand anything. Also, there were a flurry of activities taking place at the same time and it was difficult to keep track of everything that was going on.
Overall, Arts Festival has a high potential since there is an arising awareness and interest of arts worldwide. However, as not all people have interest for the arts, there would definitely be some tourists which will not be attracted. Besides, since it is a local event, tourists may not know of it unless there is advertising overseas. Therefore, using blog to communicate and advertise the event will be a low-priced tool that can reach to the masses.
Originally, ArtsFest was for the sake of the growth of the arts in Singapore. Therefore, it is more towards local demand rather than tourists, since we would want to advertise our own local performances as well as encourage interest in the arts to local people. However, it is attractive to overseas participants as they have a grand stage to perform in other countries. It is also a good chance to search for talents.
Being a hallmark event, it is a major recurring yearly event, developed primarily to enhance awareness, appeal, and profitability of a tourism destination. It uses its uniqueness as a major arts festival to capture attention. However, since other countries have such events too, it will be quite difficult to attract and retain tourists if we do not continue to improve and upgrade. It depends on what we can offer that will make tourists come.
2.9 How the value of the event could be raised to be align with the Singapore tourism mission
From Singapore Tourism Board, the tourism mission of Singapore is to develop and champion tourism, so as to build the sector into a key driver of economic growth for Singapore and be the events & entertainment capital of Asia.
The current value of ArtsFest is promoting the arts. Currently, ArtsFest is praised an international festival reputed for its quality and progressive programming and has attracted close to 0.6million people in 2008.
However, as other countries have such events too, it will be quite difficult to promote Singapore as top of Asia. Therefore bidding is important to raise the value to align with the mission. However, to compete at this global level, we will require one of the biggest and best art facilities that can differentiate us from others.
Another strategy is branding online. With exceptional technology today, people are used to getting information online. One tool is blogs which are rising in popularity as it is inexpensive and can reach masses of people. However, the advertisers lack exposure to any of the actual data and resultant information from the myriad studies done, as they do not have the time to research on their own. They hear the stories from vendors or through the industry grapevine, but they do not get any real familiarity with the work that is being done.
It will surely take a lot of time, effort and money to become events & entertainment capital of Asia. ArtsFest, if planned and marketing correctly, will surely prove to be a important sector of the capital.
