For my Festival & Event management individual field trip assignment, I have decided to visit the
Singapore Arts Festival.
For those of you who haven't heard of the Singapore Arts Festival, it is an arts festival that is held annually in Singapore, organized by the National Arts Council. The entire event usually stretches to about a month, showcasing a wide array of theatre arts, music, dance and visual art, all in different forms.
The particular performance that a couple of friends and I visited was called “
Hélios II La Compagnie Malabar” (France) held on 15-17 may, 8 pm at Marina Barrage. The performance revolves around a mythological tale about a Sun God, Hélios. Strange circus performers on stilts, a giant robot praying mantis, and a big mechanical vehicle carrying musician and pyrotechnic displays made the event an unforgettable one.
I’ve decided to compare the Singapore Arts Festival to the Arts Festival held in Hong Kong in terms of marketing strategies. We have the eight P’s:
Product, Place, Partnership, Promotions, Programming, People, Packaging & Distribution and Price.We will start with Product. In terms of
product of the two festivals, which is obviously the Arts or the appreciation of the Arts, there isn’t much comparison there. Both Festivals hire performers from all over the world, of which some are world-renowned performers.
Then we have the
Place. One festival is in Singapore, and the other one in Hong Kong. Obviously not many countries are as accessible as Singapore. It is very easy to get around to any where in Singapore with convenient public transportation services like the Singapore Mass Rapid Transport (SMRT) and Singapore Bus Services(SBS).
In terms of
Partnership, Singapore Arts Festival is far more superior, as they have many more sponsors and partnership to Hong Kong’s Arts Festival.
As for
Promotion, Singapore Arts Festival has offered great privileges to Arts Fest ticket holders or club members, such as discounts in hotels (like the Marina Mandarin), pubs, restaurants, shopping malls etc. Whereas Hong Kong’s Arts Festival is only giving privileges to Master Card Holders, or those who purchase tickets with Master Cards.
As for advertising, I have to admit I think Singapore has a done a better job, in terms of the the design of its advertising media such as its website, which I feel is more attractive than that of the Hong Kong Arts Festival, Television Advertisements, and brochures.
Moving along to
Programming, I feel that both festivals have done an equally good job in spreading out and arranging their programmes and activities.
For
People, the Singapore Arts festival attracted 600,000 odd people from all over the world whereas Hong Kong’s Arts Festival, had an attendance of only 30,000 plus people. This really shows how Singapore has the upper-hand in publicity.
Packing & Distribution, in this case, is all about the ticket package deals. Hong Kong offers only Master card members some benefits, not really much of a package. But where as Singapore Arts Festival, they have package deals, benefits for students or group bookings, and discounts for NS men or Senior Citizen.
Finally, for
Price, there isn’t a fixed price for a ticket or admission for both festivals as the tickets are priced individually and differently for all the different performances.
After much debate, I feel that Singapore’s Arts Festival is much more successful than Hong Kong’s. Even though Hong Kong Arts Festival generated more revenue than Singapore’s, Singapore’s Arts Festival is still has an advantage in many ways. Firstly, it is much easier to travel around Singapore than in Hong Kong. Secondly, there are more sponsor and partners for Singapore’s arts fest. Thirdly, our promotions offered are much more attractive and appealing than Hong Kong’s. Fourthly, Singapore Arts Festival had more attendance than Hong Kong’s. Finally, the way Singapore Arts Festival bundle and package their tickets are more effective and rewarding.
Stake holders consist of the
Host Organization, Host Community, Sponsors, Media, Co-workers and Participants and Spectators. For Singapore Arts Festival, the host organization is the National Arts Council (NAC) and the host community is, of course, Singapore. Some major sponsors are Vivo City, Suntec City, SMRT, and Coca-Cola. Media coverage’s are provided by channel 5 and OKTO TV, radio, newspapers, internet etc. Some of the Co-workers are the hired performers, technicians, ushers, and student volunteers. Finally, the participants and spectators are the ministers, VIPs, locals and tourists.
For Hong Kong’s Arts Festival, its host organization is the Hong Kong Arts Festival Society or the Hong Kong Tourism Board and its host community is Hong Kong, China. Some sponsors are the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust and Leisure and Cultural Service Department. Media for Hong Kong’s Arts Festival can be television, internet, radio, newspapers etc. Their Co-workers are the foreign performers hired, prop managers, ushers, and student volunteers. Finally its participants and spectators will be similarly, ministers, VIPs, local and tourists.
Now back to the particular event I visited. The main purpose of the Singapore Arts Festival, to me, is to bring people who appreciate art as a whole, together and enjoy art beyond their wildest imaginations.
'Art' is not just a word, Art can come in a myriad of forms, like visual art, music, dance, and culture. I have to honestly admit the Singapore Arts Festival has done an exceptional job by segmenting the different forms of art and conjuring a huge festival out of it. To be honest, I’m not a big fan of the arts myself, but the performance I visited really left me in awe as I’ve never experienced such a performance in the open in my life!
Now, with such a successful festival definitely come benefits to Singapore; tourism benefits to be exact. Now the easiest way to categories tourism benefits is through
PEST: Political, Economical, Social and Technological impacts.
First we’ll start of with political benefits that Singapore has received. During the Arts Festival, it was predictable that government officials would make an appearance here and there or even get a special invite to the festival. From there, the Arts Festival would gain Government recognition. Touching on the Government, there was an increase in involvement of the Singapore Government with the development of the festival. Not to mention, because of the Singapore Arts Festival, Singapore gained international prestige.
As for economical benefits, there definitely will be an increase in the tourism revenue as tourists from all over the world visit Singapore for this unique month of art appreciation. To add to that, there is the revenue generated from the entire festival itself. There is also the creation of jobs and increase in employment for this prestigious event. Tourists might even have wanted to extend their length of stay in Singapore as the festival had stretched on for almost a month.
Then, there are Social benefits. The festival creates a sense of shared experience and the appreciation of art among the locals and tourist, bringing about interaction. It is also a great exposure for the local talents in Singapore as they get to exchange skills and interest with the foreign talent hired, as they get to work along side them. The Festival also brings about an increase in community participation ans it’s a great way to showcase Singapore’s culture and tradition to the world.
Finally, for the technological benefits, there aren’t many of them gained by Singapore, with the probable exception of the increase in architectural skills of architects and constructers of the buildings and infrastructures needed for the festival.
Report aside, here are some pictures and videos from my experience at the Singapore Arts Festival.
Pictures:Surroudings and F&B:
