Future S`pore Seasons to be collaborative efforts with host countries

Shanghai - Singapore is a cosmopolitan city with a strong Asian flavour and this creates an environment for experimentation and innovation in the arts.

Information, Communications and the Arts Minister Lee Boon Yang said not all art forms will strike a chord with the audience, but the government will continue to support their works.

Cultural medallion winner Isa Kumari and renowned writer Edwin Thumboo were among several Singaporean writers and poets who presented their works to a full house at the Shanghai Library on Sunday.

Dr Lee said: "While their cultural backgrounds differ, be they poets, novelists or journalists, they have a common role in society. They are observers, chroniclers and storytellers, and they have the power to inform, educate and entertain. Through their works, they capture slices of a society‘s culture and life."

Wrapping up his visit in Shanghai, Dr Lee said he is heartened that the Singapore Season has been well-received with most performances playing to packed houses.

He said: "The arts and culture can help foster greater mutual understanding and respect between China and Singapore. I think it‘s an important contribution – they must rise up to this challenge, they must be able to participate in this engagement, and do work that will interact and excite Chinese audience as well as the international audience."

Dr Lee added that the government would support not just the major art players, but also the smaller ones.

"You experiment, innovate and over time, some of the works will become accepted as part of Singapore culture, art, reflecting society values, reflecting heritage and tradition, and yet be relevant to a vibrant cosmopolitan environment," he said.

Leveraging on the Singapore Season, 18 memorandums of understanding have been concluded with China, mainly in the business and media sectors.

Dr Lee said Singapore wants to engage the world through its arts platform, and he lauded artists who had volunteered their services to participate in the Singapore Season in China.

Audiences can expect future Singapore Seasons to be collaborative efforts with host countries.

Dr Lee said: "Here in China, we have learnt it‘s important to have good partners because the partners provide useful advice and guidance on what local arts audience would be interested in and that is something which we value.

"Whichever city we embark on in the future to organise the Singapore Season, we will make great effort to look for appropriate partners so that it‘s not just purely a Singapore effort. It is also a whole city wanting to have us, inviting us to be there, and wanting to know more about Singapore art and Singapore culture."

Overall, the Singapore Season has led to increased awareness and more opportunities for arts and cultural exchanges between China and Singapore.

The Singapore Season in Shanghai ends next month.

Source: www.channelnewsasia.com (29 Oktober 2007)
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