MY FIELD TRIP REPORT


1. Introduction

The festival that I had chosen for my field trip is Singapore Art Festival. Singapore Art Festival first started out in 1977 to celebrate local arts from the diverse communities in our country. It is one of the largest events in Singapore that take place annually, with artistes from more than 20 countries and offered more than 400 activities throughout this one month. It is expected to have up to 50,000 attendances.

2. Brighton Festival

Another similar festival that had been successful will be Brighton Festival.

Brighton Festival is an annual festival held in the city of Brighton and Hove in England. It is first started out in 1966. Brighton Dome and Festival Ltd are the host organization that produces this annual three-week event. It is the largest multi-art form festival held in England which organizes processions such as the Children's Parade, outdoor spectaculars involving pyrotechnics, theatre, music, literature and visual arts. It had attracted more than 500,000 attendances in just three week.

3. Marketing Strategies

The marketing strategy used by the event planner is very important as it affects how the product can be delivered to the public. Appropriate strategy needs to be adopted. Failure to have a good strategy might result in the failure of the events. The 8 different marketing strategies include product, place, programming and people for experiential components and partnership, promotion, packaging and distribution and price for facilitating components.

3.1 Product

The products for Singapore Art Festival are Dance, Music, Theatre, Visual Art and Outreach. This includes both free and ticketed shows.

For Brighton Festival, they include Dance, Theatre/Performance, Music, Outdoor events and Lunchtime Concert.

It is necessary for event planners to find out what their potential customers are looking for, what they want and the things that they are willing to pay for. Both festivals had similar products like Dance, Theatre Art and Music. All the programs organized uses art as their theme where there are great meaning behind every art pieces and performances.

3.2 Place

Singapore Art Festival had different locations to suit the different shows. Like musical shows are held in the Esplanade concert hall which provides the ambience and features for a music performance. Throughout the one month of the event, they located their events all over Singapore rather than only at a certain area in Singapore.

Brighton Festival had also planned in such a way where the programs are held at places that are suitable for the performance. However, most of their events are only held at concert halls, corn exchanges or pavilion theatres only.

3.3 Partnerships

Singapore Art Festival has partnered together with many different government agencies like PUB, Urban Development Authority, and Singapore Tourism Board. Having partnerships with these organizations will be beneficial as they aid in the provision of funds or location for events. Like which PUB provided Singapore Art Festival with the location at Marina Barrage for the opening ceremony.

In fact, Brighton Festival had more sponsors and funded partners due to the size of the country. They have sponsors like Brighton and Hove, Southern Water and many more organizations. The only difference between the two festivals is that Brighton Festival had more funds and sponsors than Singapore Art Festival because Brighton is only a town in the city of Brighton and Hove, in East Sussex on the south coast of England. Much more advertisements and promotions are needed thus more funds are required.

3.4 Promotion

Singapore Art Festival advertised their events on TV in Channel 5 and OKTO which are their partners. They also put up posters in MRT trains and banners around Singapore. More information on the festival can also be found on Sistic website and outlets in shopping malls. They have sale promotions like discounts when customers purchased tickets for more than a certain numbers of shows. Promotions for early bird, corporate or credit cards holders are available too. All these will attract more people to the events.

Brighton Festival had banners in England and they also created an online blog for the event. They advertised on TV, radio and magazine through their media partners which include both national and regional stations. Likewise they also have group discount and festival-multi where customers who bought five tickets will get the sixth for free.

Both the festivals had promote events at different locations to allow the public to notice about the upcoming events which I think that they had done a good job in choosing places to promote and the promotions which they offered.

3.5 Packaging and Distribution

For Singapore Art Festival, they had a wide distribution network. Public can purchase tickets through online at Sistic website or approach Sistic counters for more information. Brochures are not only found in Sistic outlets in shopping centre but also at other attractions like Singapore Flyer.

Brighton Festival had their 24-hours ticketing office, Brighton Dome Ticket Office which allows the public to purchase tickets anytime.

For packaging and distribution, Singapore had a better distribution network. Their Sistic authorized agent has up to 25 locations around Singapore while Brighton only had a place to purchase tickets in person.

3.6 Programming

Singapore Art Festival organized in such a way that programs like Family FunFest are programmed on weekends. They program their shows that there will be lesser shows on weekdays and those programs lasted for more than a week, so public who are not free for this week can go for next week’s show. They have some programs that are only shown on weekends.

Brighton Festival also has repeat programs on every weekend. Example, A Chair for Baby Bear cater for children. However, some programs are shown in the morning during weekdays where adults are working. So it’s not very effective as it will reduce the amount of attendance to the shows. Unlike Singapore Art Festival, many of their programs starts from 6pm to 8pm on weekdays where it is the time when people knock off from work and will be able to turn up for the shows.

3.7 People

For both of the events, the participants are artistes from around the world coming together to deliver their art pieces. Both the events had their own organization to host the events and their targeted audience will be the public. Singapore Art Festival had National Art Council while Brighton Festival had Brighton Dome and Festival Ltd and England Art Council as the host organization. The spectators are mostly the host communities.

3.8 Price

Singapore Art Festival had set different prices for the different events. They also adjust their prices where customers can enjoy early bird discount. They have a range of prices for the different seats in the theatre where customers can choose themselves. Example, in the Esplanade theatre, the most expensive tickets are for seats in the foyer stall while the cheapest are seats at the circle 4 whereby it is the furthest away from the stage. They also have prices catered for students and senior citizens.

Brighton Festival did not have a range of prices for the customers. They have a fixed price for all their shows. Event organizer should set more than one prices for the customers. Therefore in term of the price, I think Singapore Art Festival had market their product better as customers had more choices to choose from for the seats and prices.


4. Best practices in Singapore Art Festival

Singapore Art Festival had done well in the opening ceremony. The opening ceremony starts at 8pm where people had already knock off and are able to attend. Some entertainments are organized before the event starts to keep the people that had came early entertained. They also had ushers at the MRT station to guide people to the ceremony at Marina Barrage. They provided information on the timing for shutter buses and what are the events that had already started in Marina Barrage. There are good security measures taken whereby they have police at the Marina Barrage to ensure the safety of the audience.

They included different prices for selected shows like having student price, therefore it will be more affordable for students like us to be able to turn up for certain shows. What actually stops people from going to certain shows is the price. By having different price range, it allows people to select the price which they can afford.

They also program certain shows at the time where it suits their target market. In this case they can expect more attendance to the show from their target market.

5. Best practices in Brighton Festival

Brighton Festival had transportation provided for the people until late night so that people do not have to worry about having no transportation back home after a certain time. Special night trains are avaliable to bring people back to London.

They had promoted their festival on many media including TV, radio and magazines. They had promoted in a popular magazine whereby there are more than 100,000 readers per day. They had chosen the appropriate places to promote events.


6. Stakeholders in Singapore Art Festival

Stakeholders are all groups, within or outside the organization, which will affect or are affected by the events or festivals. They have an interest in the events and they have the real or potential power to influence successfulness of the whole events.

6.1 Host Organization

The host organization for Singapore Art Festival is the National Art Council. The purpose is to develop Singapore as a distinctive global city of art, to nurture art and make it an integral part of the lives of the people of Singapore. Organizing the Singapore Art Festival is to fulfill their goals and mission.

6.2 Sponsors

Sponsorship is a critical element for festival which includes a mix of private and public sectors whereby it is a business partnership to provide the benefits that both parties wish to get.
In the event for Singapore Art Festival, they had major sponsors like VivoCity, Suntec Singapore, Raffles City, PUB, SMRT, WingTai Asia, Lee Foundation, Hong Leong Foundation and Urban Development Authority.

6.3 Media

Media is needed to promote festival to make the public aware of the date, venue and other details of the events. Having media coverage for the festival will be able to attract large crowds. Singapore Art Festival had the official TV station which is Channel 5 and OKTO as the supporting TV station.

6.4 Participants and Spectators

The participant includes all the people that play a part in performing to the audience. This festival has many different shows done by artistes and performers from different countries. Everyone who took part in this festival is the stakeholders as they can directly affect the festival, positively or negatively.
The spectators that turns up for the festival also directly affect the successfulness of the whole festival. Spectators include VIP, students, corporate, interest groups and public.

For example, the Opening Ceremony had participants from France- La Compagnie Malabar to perform for the public. Spectators are made up of all the different age group.

6.5 Co-workers

Through questioning one of the ushers, most of the workers helping out are actually from the organizers of the festival. In their website, they also recruit volunteers to help out in the festival.

6.6 Host Communities

The host communities are Singaporean living in the estate where events from the festival are held. There are many free events where they are held at estate areas where the communities are involved.


7. Stakeholders in Brighton Festival

7.1 Host Organization

The host organizations for Brighton Festival are England Art Council and Brighton Dome and Festival Ltd.

7.2 Sponsors

They had major sponsors like University of Sussex, SEEDA, University of Brighton, Legal and General, Citybooks, Cargo, DMH Stallard, Aneela Rose PR, Donatell. Due to the size of the country, they have up to 53 sponsors for their events.

7.3 Media

They have national and regional partners like The Guardian and The Argus. Brighton Festival also has media sponsors like Brighton Visitors, Classic fm, Juice 107.2 and Latest Home to advertise events on internet, radio and magazines.

7.4 Participants and Spectators

The participants are artistes from all over the world including dancers, musicians and choirs. For spectators, they ranged from children to senior citizens. As they have programs catered for all the different age groups.

7.5 Co-workers

They recruited people in the Brighton Dome website (http://www.brightondome.org/Vacancies.aspx). They also had volunteers and their own event organizer helping out during the event.

7.6 Host Communities

The host communities are the people living in the city where the events are held at.

8. Purpose of event/festival

Singapore Art Festival is to celebrate the local arts activities of Singapore diverse communities. The purpose is to showcase the many different talents in the area of arts from all over the world and for people that are interested in the objectivity of art, to praise the endevoyers which the artistes have embalmed.

In my opinion, many people enjoy art but they do not really understand the main purpose of it. Understanding of art is a complex issue. They will not spend their time and money trying to understand the beauty of art. Therefore, Singapore Art Festival is to allow the public to have a chance to understand the beauty of art and see the different art from other countries as every country’s perception and portrayal of art are different.


9. Tourism Benefits

When events or festival are organized, it is expected to have some impact to the country. The host country and the stakeholders will maximize the positive impact and try minimizing the negative impact so as to contribute to the success of the event.

For Singapore Art Festival, I will talk about the positive political, economic, social and cultural impact on the host country.

9.1 Political Impacts

Singapore Art Festival includes artistes from other countries. Through this festival, it can build social cohesion between different countries. When Singapore organizes this festival where artistes will showcase their cultures and artworks, it shows that Singapore wants to know and appreciate more towards other countries and their culture.

Singapore Art festival is one of the biggest events that happen in Singapore. It will receive attention and involvement of the government to make this festival successful. The support from the government can directly affect the progress of festival. For example, the government set road blocks at places which the festival took place, having more police and security there to ensure the safety of the audience and participants.

9.2 Economic Impacts

When an event is organized, it is expected to create employment in the host country as they would need people to serve and guide the audience to the event. Large number of employee is needed in the event for Singapore Art Festival. Manpower is required for promoting and ticketing of the events. For events like outreach, they would need staff to control the crowds and guide people to the location of the events.
For example, during the opening ceremony of the Art Festival, there is more than 5 staff waiting at the entrance of the MRT station to guide people to the shuttle bus and into the Marina Barrage. There are entertainments like circus, balloon sculpting and other performances. All of these required a large number of staff and thus, create employment for the public.

Singapore Art Festival is an international art festival whereby it will help to increase revenue for Singapore. Tourists and locals will spend money to experience this art festival and thus bring income to our country. Tourists that came not only have to pay for the entrance fee for selected shows but also other expenditures like food and lodging when they are in Singapore.

This festival also helps to lengthen the stay of the tourists as the festival lasted for a month. When tourists come to Singapore, they not only go for the Art Festival, they also visit other regional tourism destination and attraction. Thus, it will contribute to our revenue too.

9.3 Social and Cultural Impacts

Singapore Art Festival had helped to increase people’s appreciation towards art. There is a showcase of the different dances, visual arts and music of the different cultures. It enhanced the culture and allowed audience to have a better understanding towards these arts. Thus, it broadens people’s culture horizon, exposing them to new and challenging people, custom and ideas.

When artistes from other countries come over to Singapore to provide a new experience for this festival, it will help to revitalize their tradition and at the same time, increasing the pride they had on their art. It will bring a new life to their artwork and thus the hard work of those artistes is appreciated.

There will be an increase in the community participation as these events will bring people closer together. Therefore, it will increase the socialization between people. It is to nurture the arts and allowing it to become a part of everyone’s life.

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