Festival and Events...

Friday, June 19, 2009

1. Introduction

The festival that I attended was the Singapore Art Festival 2009. It is a festival that celebrates art. It consists of a spectacular range of performances, and its artists come from all around the world. The performances are also held in different location all around Singapore.

A similar festival which is very successful in another country would be Hong Kong Arts Festival. Every year, more than ninety percent of their tickets are being sold out.

2. Marketing Strategy

2.1 Product
The products would be the different performances showcased. Singapore Arts Festival only showcased three different categories of performances, mainly dance, theatre and music.
For the dance performances, they not only have the common dance genres, like hip hop, jazz and so on, they also have Shaolin monks who incorporate extreme stuns with their dances. The music performances consist of music from different countries, some with instruments and some without.

Hong Kong Arts Festivals showcased two more categories of performances than what we have in Singapore. These two other categories are opera and family.
Upon seeing the word opera, one may think that it must be the normal Chinese opera. However, they have both Chinese and Western opera. Performances under the family category are performances which are suitable for the whole family.

2.2 Place
Singapore Arts Festival has performances and displays of art all around Singapore. They have all their main performances in theatres which are indoors. However, there are also outdoor performances, Arts on the move, on the streets of Orchard Road, Ang Mo Kio, Woodlands, Vivo and the list goes on. Visual arts are also placed in front of Raffles shopping centre, Osage Singapore, LASALLE and Singapore Art Museum for viewing. This is the only time of the year where you are able to see art all around Singapore.

outdoor pieces and performances

Art display
outside Raffles shopping centre

The Glittering Bestiary
along Orchard Road

The Agency
Above Raffles Place MRT Station

Opening Ceremony
Marina Barrage

For Hong Kong Arts Festival, almost all of their performances are held indoors. They only have one outdoor performance. Performances are held in different concert halls, theatres and auditoriums all around Hong Kong.

2.3 Partnerships
Singapore Arts Festival has a lot of partners and sponsors. They have categorised their partnerships into official, premier and venue partners; and their sponsors into major sponsors and sponsors. All together they have over 20 partnerships. All of these partnerships play their part in making this event a success.

The Hong Kong Arts Festival does not really have official partners. Their sponsors are Leisure and Cultural Services Department and Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust. They provide grants to the event.

2.4 Promotion
The partners and sponsors of the Singapore Arts Festival plays a part in the promotion of the event. Official partners like channel 5 and okto tv station plays advertisements of the event on their channel. Posters are also placed all around Singapore to increase people’s awareness of the event.

There are lots of great offers and discounts provided by the partners of Singapore Arts Festival. If you are an ArtsFest Club card holder or if you have tickets to any shows for the event, you will be able to enjoy all the promotions. Some of the promotions include discounts at Marina Mandarin Singapore, Harry’s bar, The Heeren Shops, DOME and lots lots more. It is really amazing how much discount you can get at so many places with just an event ticket.
There are even promotions on the tickets. ArtsFest Club card holders, students, NSFs and senior citizens can enjoy ten to twenty percent off on all tickets. Discounts are also given for group and school bookings.

For the Hong Kong Arts Festival, you will only get a discount for show tickets if you are a Hong Kong Arts Festival MasterCard card holder.

They also have a Festival Friends membership card. This card allows one to view information and book tickets for the next year’s arts festival. With this card, one can also get discounts at Swindon Book Company, Hong Kong records and many more other jewellery and music stores. Unlike Singapore, even if you have show tickets, you will not be able to enjoy the discounts.

2.5 Packaging and distribution
Singapore only has two main distribution channels for ticket selling. One is through SISTIC outlets and the other is at the door sales. One is able to purchase tickets from SISTIC by internet, telephone and authorised agents all around Singapore. Tickets for the festival are also sold in countries like Malaysia and Indonesia through SISTIC.

Hong Kong Arts Festival has package where one can pay for the tickets by instalments.
Just like Singapore’s SISTIC, Hong Kong also has one main distributor, URBTIX. They sell their tickets by telephone, internet and at counters. For advance bookings, people can book tickets by internet, fax or postal. I feel that fax and postal is not very good as if before your fax or post reaches its destination, someone could have book the same seats through the internet.

2.6 Programming
For both Singapore and Hong Kong’s Art Festival, the shows are programmed on different days and time, so that the timing of the shows will not clash. Thus, anyone who wants to watch more than one of the performances will be able to do so.

Both countries’ target audience are teenagers and adults. Therefore the timings of the shows are programmed in the night so that the students and the adults will be able to catch the show after their school and work respectively.

2.7 People
For both festivals, the people who have direct interaction with the customers would be the ticketing staffs, security, and the ushers.

However, in Singapore, we have outdoor performances. During these performances, the artists are able to interact with the audiences while performing.

interaction between artist & audience
Marina Barrage

2.8 Price
The outdoor performances in Singapore are all free of charge. In the indoor performances are of different prices ranging from S$16 to S$120. Price differs from show to show and different seats have different prices.

In Hong Kong, similarly, price differs from show to show and different seats have different prices. They have prices for students and adults. For students, the ticket prices range from S$10 to S$98; and for adults, prices range from S$20 to S$336. Although they have one or two outdoor performances, they do not have any performances which are free of charge.

3. Best Practices

To me I feel that the best practices are promotion and programming. Promotion is important as if there are no advertisements about the festival, no one would know when the festival starts or what will be showcased in this festival. With discounts, people will also be more attracted in buying tickets for the shows.

Programming is equally important as without proper programming, timings of the shows might clash with one another. Therefore, there must be programming so that audiences are able to catch more than one show if they want to.

4. Stakeholders

The event stakeholders are the host organisation, host community, sponsors, media, co-workers and participants and spectators.

The host organisation for this event is the National Arts Council. The host community would be Singapore as the performances are held all around Singapore. The sponsors for this event are Lee Foundation, Vivo City, SMRT and many more others. The media involved helps promote the event to audiences and the two official channels for this event is channel 5 and okto. The co-workers are the staffs working for the event, like the ticketing staff and the volunteers. The participants are the artists performing in the event and the spectators are the people who watch these performances by the Singapore Arts Festival.

5. Main purpose of this festival

This festival is a four-week long celebration for arts of different cultures. It showcases works by talented and promising artists from all over the world. By showcasing all the arts, it inspires love for art and it encourages all artists to share their works of art. It also promotes Singapore as a country with many artistic talents.

6. Tourism benefits received

As tickets to Singapore Arts Festival are sold in Malaysia and Indonesia, there may be tourist from these countries coming to Singapore for this festival. These tourists bring in revenue to our economy when they spend their money on tickets. Not only that, they have to spend money on accommodations, food and beverages, transportation and shopping as well when they arrive in Singapore.

However, from what I noticed, most of the audiences are Singaporeans. Therefore, this festival is making more money from Singaporeans than foreigners. Thus, tourism benefits received is actually very little.

7. Conclusion

Singapore Arts Festival is the time where art lovers get to enjoy the arts and where artists get to show off their artistic talents. I feel that Singapore has done ample preparation in terms of its marketing strategy, making this event a successful one.

babyangelicious 7:34 AM