After attending Singapore Arts Festival, I felt that it was a great exposure to me as I have never been to this event before. Over at the flea market, an interesting booth caught my attention. There are artist drawing beautiful pictures as well as providing artistic haircut to passerby. One of them even have his name shaved on his head!

Overall, I feel that Singapore Arts Festival is rather attractive as there are many shows that can be watched free of charge and there are activities that would appeal to the teenagers at my age. 

However, some things that I feel that Singapore Arts Festival can further improve on would be activities in the early evening. This is because when i went over to the area of Sunday around 6.15pm, it was really quite there and there was no activities being carried out over at the Festival Village at all. Even the Kid's Art Village has no people at all! Many people were just loitering around the area, not knowing what to do! 

Personally for me, I did not want to stay at the area for long as it is a rather small place and there was not any activities being carried out at that time. I was actually looking forward to what I would be able to see at the Festival Village but it was a disappointment due to the quietness of the area. I feel that there should be more activities being carried out in the afternoon during weekends as parents would actually bring their kids out and many of them would like to head home earlier due to their kids and the need to work for the next day on Sundays. 

Personally to me, the main "unavailable market" for Singapore Arts Festival is the baby boomers. This is because many of the events over at the Festival Village starts later in the evening and can end at 1am in the morning. Baby Boomers would not want to stay out so late as their main concern is with regards to their health and most of them would tend to sleep early.

Also, there were not many events that would attract the participation of the baby boomers as it would not appeal to them. This is because baby boomers prefers musicals such as Classical Musics or even Chinese Orchestra. There are intend shows that has these performance but it is just the minority as compared to the rest of the shows.

Another point that I have spotted was that there were actually not much toilets available over at the area and this would cause inconvenience to the baby boomers as some of them might have some health problems and is unable to walk for a long distance. Thus, with the little amount of toilets over at the area, they would actually reconsider of going  to visit the area.

Some ways to attract more baby boomers would be as of the follows:
1. Having more shows that caters to the needs and wants of them
2. Having facilities that would benefit them or make them comfortable over at the area
3. Starting their events earlier in the afternoon in the Festival Village so as to appeal to them as they would not have to stay out late.

There are actually 8 "P's" in the marketing mix. This includes Product, Place, Price, Promotion, Partnerships, Packaging & Distribution, Programming  and People. Now, I am going to share with you about 4 "P's" with regards to Singapore Arts Festival (SAF) 2012.

PEOPLE
People in SAF is very important as without these people, this festival would not be able to run at all. This is because it is a two-way event. There must be performers that would like to perform for SAF, and at the same time, there must be spectators that are interested in the performance to watch it.  Thus, it is important to have the existence of people to ensure that the festival would go well. Following next, volunteers who volunteered to help out during the festival are important too! As without these people, visitors would not know where they should go if the would like go to a particular place. Neither would they be able to give feedback and get information directly, rather than sending an e-mail that would not be replied directly.

Over at the Festival Village, there were many volunteers there who gives out brochures, interviewing people to ask for feedbacks, guiding visitors who are not familiar with the area and also the information booth where visitors can approach the people over at the information booth for enquires and also collect different brochures for the different events that is happening in the Festival Village.

PROGRAMMING
This year, SAF have more that 150 programmes that is available in this 2 weeks. From Dance to Music, Music to Theatre, from Theatre to Experiencial, from Experiencial to Others/ Firms. With the variations of these events, it appeals to different target market as each of these people has their interest in different genre of shows. Also, there are description under all the different shows to inform visitors about what the show/ event is like. This would let them have an idea of what they will be expecting from the show/event that they are about to visit or watch. And at the same time, knowing whether they would be interested about the event/ show. For instance, This is the first time I am attending SAF. I was looking for a show/event that would interest me. Thus, i went to the SAF website to read up on the description being provided and see if I was interested in the shows/ event. With the description, it really aids a lot for people who would like to visit SAF but has no idea on what they would expect in SAF.

Comparing SAF in 2011 and 2012, the main difference in their programmes is that there are lesser local work being featured as compared to last year as there was a poor attendance of last year's Singapore Arts Festivals. Thus, this year, there are more international works that has been featured in SAF as compared to last year.

PROMOTION
I have seen many different ways that SAF has tried to promote themselves in different places. This includes hanging banners below street lamps about the different type of the events, taxis and buses which has SAF logo, theme and dates on top, social networks, brochures, sistic outlets where SAF books are available for people to make references. Promotion is important to SAF as this would attract people to go for the festival/ event.

There were also sales promotion which was the early bird promotion. This means that people buying the tickets earlier would be able to purchase at a discounted price as compared to the actual price. Also, there were discounts for students, elderly, passion card members,national service man,  artfestival members. This would actually attract more people to attend to event as they feel that its affordable.

PACKAGING & DISTRIBUTION
The 2 main areas where people can buy their tickets. Tickets can be bought from sistic through online booking, phone booking or be brought at any sistic outlets in Singapore. Another alternative choice is to buy from SAF itself either through their online booking system or over at the Festival Village itself. Sometimes, tickets can be bought right at the theatre itself if the show is not fully booked.

Here are some pictures of takenover at School of the Arts and Festival Village over at Esplanade Park!

 When i just arrived outside SOTA

I found this interesting and took a picture with it!

Over at the Festival Village were signs were shown clearly

 The beautiful background of the Esplanade!

Very Wagnerian Night (Charlotte Engelkes) was a fantastic show that I've watched. There was 3 different parts in the show. 

First, was Miss Very Wagner (Charlotte Engelkes). Her part was on a solo part where she performed about love where a man who was looking for a woman who would give him all her love.However, he was being curse to sail the sea forever and never die. This was then the guy meets her and she loves him. He thought she was in love with another man, thus leaving her and she off the cliff into the sea. Thus breaking the curse and the both of them reunite. 

Thoughts about the first part:

Charlotte Engelkes is someone who is full of humor and was able to bring the audience into the entire scenario, being on a one woman show, she has to do everything by herself. For example, bringing the props up into their respective places, removing the props to continue with the next part of her story. This was something that was applaudable.

Following up, was Siegfried- The Very Wagner Hero Hour. This time round, there were 2 characters in the scene, Charlotte Engelkes and  Lindy Larsson. There were two parts to this scene. Firstly, Charlotte Engelkes was the mother of a small boy ( Lindy Larsson) who lives in the forest with no fear.This boy hated his mother as she always ask him to do evil things which made him  think the she was his real mother and wants to kill her.   He believe that by drinking the dragon's blood, he would become a man that has no fear at all. Thus, he set of to his fight with the dragon. He won the fight and killed the dragon and drank the blood. Becoming a real man, he killed his mother.  Next, Charlotte Engelkes becomes a heroin and met Lindy Larsson and she gave him wings and a helmet to save the world together with her. It was followed by lots of songs and dance. 

Thoughts about the second part:

This part of the show was interactive as Lindy Larsson was getting off the stage talking, asking questions and joking with the audience which was fresh to me as it was something that is not common for me. I found that it was a good way as getting engage with the audience would actually make them feel more comfortable and would leave a great impression in them after watching it.

After which, was the last part of the show, All in Divine.  It is a production with a mixture of Singaporean artists together with Charlotte Engelkes and Lindy Larsson. In this part, it was about a circus instructor, who met different people, and these people were different gods.  Tt talked about the desire of human beings. Power? Gold? Pride? 

Thoughts about the last part:

In this part of the show, it actually relates back to the real world. In the world now, there are many people desiring for power, pride and gold.  But what is most important  to them? Something i like about this part was the ending where the cast started singing in their own language all together. It makes me feel the love of Singapore as Singapore is a multi-racial country.

Overall, I personally feel that this 2hours 30 minutes spent on this show was really fantastic. It was really entertaining and it will be a memoriable experience to me. 

However, there was a problem with the seating arrangement as the ushers actually gave repeated seats to us and caused some unhappiness before the show started. But overall, all the ushers are friendly and easily approachable.

After the show, there were people outside the theatre waiting to interview us with regards of the Singapore Arts Festival. One unpleasant thing was that the interviewer was munching on sweets throughout the interview which really distracted us. Following next, there were ushers guiding us to the festival village where they would usher us to the bus stop to take public transport to the Festival Village. This was heartwarming as I was rather lost over at the School Of the Arts and did not know how to get over to the Festival Village. With these ushers, it benefits people who do not know how to get to the Festival Village and this would leave a good impression on Singapore Arts Festival from the tourists and even local residents.

Here's a preview of what I will be watching on Sunday! (20 May 2012)
Very Wagnerian Night (Charlotte Engelkes)

A preview of Singapore Arts Festival

Singapore Arts Festivals was first initiated in 1977 as to showcase the local arts. This year, it  takes place from 18 May to 2 June this year. The theme of this year is "Our Lost Poem".  


"Our Lost Poems looks at myths, legends, wandering thoughts, reflections, lost riddles and hidden stories. It is a discovery of tales and aspirations that need to be told and retold. Stories that inspire us, legends that have deep cultural roots, and riddles that reveal the secrets of the world"

As compared to last year, the theme was " I Want To Remember"
" I Want To Remember" reconnected people through histories, memories and places where people have forgotten about them. It helps people to go back to what the past was like, while we race with time to reach out into the future.

Singapore Arts Festival Website:http://www.singaporeartsfest.com/2012-festival/

This time round, I am going to watch a Comedy Opera " Very Wagnerian Night (Charlotte Engelkes)" on this upcoming Sunday in the School of The Arts followed by a trip down to the Festival Village over at the Esplanade Park.