City 2 City: SG 2 HK
26-5-14
Last week I took a trip to Singapore with a few artistically inclined friends to check out their Shakespeare in the Park and the local art scene. I had the pleasure of talking with local artists and taking some time to observe their museums, art galleries and theatre scene. Singapore and Hong Kong's cultural scenes are often compared against each other: they are both former colonies, they both use English as a national language, they both have large Chinese populations, they're both territories with dense urban areas... but that's where the similarities stop. I discovered some key differences between Singapore and Hong Kong's cultural scenes that we should take note of.
In this article I don't make a determination which city is better or worse. I'm just pointing out the differences. I leave it up to the reader to determine which city is more conducive to cultivating the arts.
1) Outdoor Entertainment for Free
When we traveled to Singapore, one of the first things we did was go onto the Singapore Flyer (one of Singapore's most popular tourist attractions). Right next to it was a beautiful outdoor theatre called the Greek Theatre. It had professional lighting racks installed and full canvas covering the stage and the audience. This was a public performance space that could be used by anyone for an outdoor concert or show. We later took a river boat tour and spotted 3 other outdoor theatre spaces being used for outdoor music. In one night we saw 4 free outdoor concerts being performed by the river. Singapore seems to integrate accessible, public entertainment into their city design, which I appreciated.
Hong Kong also has many public amphitheatres that are in great locations but the process to book these spaces is a bureaucratic nightmare and they have strong restrictions on what kind of entertainment can be performed there.
2) Hitting the Street
Something we also noticed in Singapore was the vast number of highly entertaining street performers during our visit. They performed on the riverfront in Clarke Quay for tips. There were dancers, singers and acrobats. In Hong Kong we also have street performers but they are very strictly controlled about where they can perform and when they can perform.
Another very noticeable difference between HK and Singapore was the appreciation for street art. Recently, award winning artist Invader came to Hong Kong and painted a few pieces on our walls; the city officials responded by removing them. Hong Kong was the first city in the entire world to remove his art work. Singapore on the other hand loves street art. We saw 2 pieces by Invader while we were there and several others by local artists. The Arab Quarter seemed to be the center for graffiti. We saw beautiful depictions of Singapore life.
3) Ticket Sales
Something I noticed about Singapore audiences is that they buy tickets for shows in advance. Tickets for shows in Singapore are actually very expensive compared to HK. The tickets for Shakespeare in the Park in Singapore were S$65 (about 410HKD) for one performance vs. the 150HKD that our Shakespeare in the Port festival cost. We passed by a few other shows that were playing and noticed nosebleed tickets on sale for S$45-90 (275-555HKD) for the upcoming tour of Tap Dogs ( which just finished in HK) and an Australian touring production of Grease (which played here in 2010); tickets for these shows in Hong Kong were in the 300HKD range for the cheap seats. Despite these elevated ticket prices the shows were sold out or almost full.
There weren't just high-priced tours in Singapore; there are tons of local companies supported by the government, performiing in venues which range from huge theatres like the Mastercard Theatre at the Marina Bay Sands to 35 seat blackbox theatres at the Grunge House in Little India. The government seems to throw money behind theatre in all kinds of languages; they equally support theatre in English, Chinese, Hindu and Malay. This contrasts with Hong Kong where a common complaint amongst local artists in Hong Kong seeking ADC grants is their funding preference for Cantonese language events; that doesn't seem to be an issue in Singapore.
Overall, going to the theatre seems to be much more integrated into the Singapore lifestyle (but I do prefer the ticket prices in Hong Kong).
4) Local Press
There is a Singapore blog about theatre that is similar to HKELD. (I would call it more of an archive than a blog, due to the layout.) It's called The Flying Ink Pot. The folks who write it are very cool theatre lovers who have been working as freelance critics since 1996. I had the pleasure of meeting one of the editors of the blog and chatting about their scene and how the Inkpot works. Like HKELD, they ask for free press passes for shows they review (which is standard practice in most places). With Singapore and The Flying Ink Pot, they always get the passes they request. In fact, they can't keep up with the demand for critics; artists are begging them to come out and review their shows. Local newspapers even use reviews from The Flying Ink Pot in their papers/online editions to cover local arts. There's no fear of honest, constructive criticism in Singapore from what I can see when it comes to the arts. Artists in particular see The Flying Ink Pot for what it is - a useful online tool for promoting their projects.
5) Local Art in Museums
The Singapore Art Museum has an entire wing dedicated to up and coming Singapore artists. There were hundreds of pieces. The last time I went to the Hong Kong Museum of Art I counted a total of 14 pieces by artists who lived in Hong Kong. There are other platforms for local visual artists in HK to promote their work such as Fotanian or Chaiwan Mei but the lack of support for local artists in our national museum is very disappointing when you compare it to other cities.
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What do you think the Hong Kong art scene can learn from other cities? Share your thoughts below!
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