What are the arts in Singapore good for?
+ Culture Recs: SG Media Festival, The Science of Storytelling, Kamaal Williams, SG Writer's Festival and more...
In September of this year Singapore's National Arts Council published the outcomes of its two year arts industry consultation A.K.A Our SG Arts Plan (2023 - 2027). The depth and scale of both the consultation and the plan demonstrate a significant shift in attitudes towards the arts in our famously academic state (perhaps because of the threat AI poses to lots of white collar work). The three stated objectives are admirable but, to my mind, there is one thing missing under ‘Creative Economy’ and that is, in the words of Cindy Gallop: "Make a goddamn shit ton of fucking money!"
I don't disagree that the arts are good for strengthening communities, unlocking spaces and growing artistic excellence. But if that's all they do (which might be the impression you get from the NAC's IG feed), then it's easy to deprioritize them during tough economic times, which is why the arts also needs a financial target. If the industry can create revenue that ensures artists, and the tax man, get properly paid then no one can argue with their necessity. I have voiced this opinion to a number of people involved in or adjacent to Singapore's arts scenes and these are the responses I typically get:
Arts don't make money
Singapore is too small to compete on a global stage
No one cares about Singaporean art
Let's take those apart in turn.
1. Arts don't make money
The arts doesn't just mean abstract painting and conceptual installations (although they're fine #obvs), it also means commercial films, music and books because the writers, directors and composers are all artists who will have arisen from our arts scene.
According Arts Council England, the arts and cultural industry on the little island I'm from has grown £390million in just a year and now contributes £10.8billion annually to the UK economy including £2.8billion a year to the Treasury via taxation. It generates a further £23billion a year through 363,700 jobs. Productivity in the arts and culture industry between 2009 and 2016 was greater than that of the economy as a whole, with gross value added per worker at £62,000 for arts and culture, compared to £46,800 for the wider UK economy. And it's not just the Brits; in May 2009 the Korean government integrated five related organisations including the Korean Broadcasting Institute, Korea Culture & Content Agency, and Kore Game Agency into the Korea Creative Content Agency or KOCCA. KOCCA's vision and mission are brilliantly simple:
Vision - Develop Korea into one of the world's top five content powerhouses
Mission - Contribute to creating jobs and improving the quality of lives through advancing the content industry
Fast forward 14 years and they have on Oscar winning film in 'Parasite', more than 80 films and TV shows on Netflix, and the boyband BTS alone brings nearly US$5billion annually into the Korean economy - and they don't have the significant global advantage of being majority English speaking.
2. Singapore is too small to compete on a global stage
Well that's funny, because the last time I checked Singapore had the...
I could go on...
The point is, when the Singaporean government turns its attention to a sector it becomes world class. We have amongst the world's best finance, bio-tech and hi-tech manufacturing industries, amongst the world's best public transport, housing and digital infrastructure. Singapore has never been short of ambition and it should be ambitious for our arts sector as both a potentially massive revenue driver and soft power play, exporting our brand and values to the rest of the world. Again, the way Korea has done.
3. No one cares about Singaporean art
There is a persistent concern that the rest of the world doesn't care about Singaporean art to which I say; don't only make art for Singaporeans, make it for everyone! Taylor Swift doesn't make music only for Americans, Christopher Nolan doesn't make films only for the English, JK Rowling doesn't write books only for Scots. Think bigger and stop worrying about how Singaporean everything is (or isn't).
We live in a country that has amongst the highest per capita GDP in the world, I am regularly sat in traffic jams made up or Ferraris, Lamborghinis and Bentleys and yet most local films are focused on hawkers and HDBs, which are an important part of our culture but by no means the only part.
Singapore is one of the most glamorous, fast-paced, well-off, countries on earth where the sun shines 24/7. Our skyline should be as iconic as New York, London or Hong Kong. I can't understand why we've never made a financial thriller set in the skyscrapers and private dining rooms of Singapore or why it took an American production, Crazy Rich Asians, to show that side of who we are, which is what the rest of the world is actually interested in if you look at the box office receipts (US$239,000,000 worldwide gross from a US$30,000,000 budget).
Let us not forget that the arts is also about escapism; that's what most people watching a film, listening to music or reading a book are really after - the opportunity to be transported out of their humdrum daily lives to somewhere more beautiful. Let's give it to them (like Korea does - are you starting to notice a pattern here?)!
Okay so these are the perceived problems, what are the potential solutions? I'm not a politician or policy wonk but here are some suggestions...
1. Less grants, more investment
There are too many 'grantrepreneurs' in Singapore, artists who only undertake a project if there is a grant attached. This presents a threefold problem; first they are not making the art they want but the art that fits the grant requirements, second the requirements are too many and too restrictive (rightfully so because its tax payers' money), and third there is little to no incentive to make something that will make money. Instead, I would like to encourage more private investment through tax credits (an amount of money taxpayers can subtract directly from the taxes they owe), and match funding (the Government matches funding from private sector co-investors with a certain proportion, for example on a 1:1 basis).
There's loads of these kinds of schemes for tech and innovation startups because they don't behave like charity cases but like ambitious businesses. Every independent production company and film, music label and album, publishing house and publication is a startup and should have an ambitious business plan that demonstrates how they intend to make money locally and internationally so they can find private investors with higher expectations and fewer strings than government.
2. More business training
There's no shortage of schemes to train and mentor artists in their art but very few have a clue about business (in my limited experience). They need to know how to write a business plan, how to network, how to sell, how to negotiate, how different business models work, how to protect IP, etc...
3. Better IP protection and fairer partnerships
Several years ago now members of my team at Click2View participated in a pitching competition arranged by the IMDA on behalf of National Geographic. They did well and made it through to a development deal, which is when they came to me and my partner Simon with the contract. The contract, once signed, handed Nat Geo all rights over the IP and the ability to take and make the show anywhere in the world it wanted. I thought this was odd so I looked into adjacent industries and found the same issue. There were partnerships for the gaming industry set up with PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo under the same odd rules. The partnership announcements looked great on paper but essentially turned Singaporean creators into a free resource for the world's largest corporations to steal ideas from. I don't know if that's still the case but the focus of a lot of these partnerships tend to be about creating work-for-hire opportunities rather than building business on original IP. In other words, we need to stop acting like the manufacturer and start becoming the originator and owner because that's where the real money is.
4. Start a national content/entertainment agency
Let's be honest, the IMDA's biggest concerns is not the film and TV industry, it's digital infrastructure. And the NAC's role is not really to create businesses but to build a sense of shared culture and community, so entertainment falls into the gap somewhere between the two. Don't get me wrong, things are definitely improving on an annual basis, for instance this year the IMDA took it's largest ever delegation to the international TV festival MIPCOM and our gaming industry is now about as big as BTS. But ask yourself how much Singaporean content do you really watch, how many local films can you name, how many local bands have you seen or listened to?
I LOVE the fact that music from 53 home-grown artists will be played on SMRT trains-operated stations and bus interchanges but how much are they getting paid for that? And how do we get them played on the radio, in TV shows and movie soundtracks? How do we get them played outside of Singapore? And how do we modernise the licensing laws so they have more places to play live locally and find true fans that will spread the word? Maybe this could be an expanded remit for Made With SG?
If Singapore chooses to, it could be the biggest exporter of entertainment in Southeast Asia. We have masses of talent and money, an aspirational lifestyle, a multicultural community and English as a common language shared amongst ourselves and large part of the rest of the world. There is no reason we shouldn't be #1 in this too so let’s get out and support the industry at the Singapore Media Festival starting 30th November including a showcase of local films to celebrate the Singapore Film Commission 25th Anniversary.
Culture Stack
Wow, that's was a long post so I'll keep this short, what have I been reading, watching, looking at and listening to lately?
Well, I’ve got just under two weeks to finish the Will Storr’s ‘The Science of Storytelling’ before our first meeting of the Moore’s Lore book club at 3pm on 2nd December so I’m deep in that. If you’d like to join in, let me know or drop a comment on The Lore…
In the times I haven’t been reading but guiltily scrolling through Instagram I found out that Kamaal Williams is coming to play SCAPE* in Singapore all the way from the UK. I had no idea who he was so checked him out on Spotify and, yes, I'll be there. If you're looking for late night sax vibes this will do the job.
And if you want some imagery to accompany those late night sax vibes, check out these two artists I followed on IG who specialise in impressionist light paintings, which I find entrancing and nostalgic:
Finally, if you feel like looking up from your screen and interacting with actual humans then Singapore Writer’s Festival is on right now and I have my eye on these two sessions especially:
That’s about it for me. Have a creative and productive week, Nx