Guilty as charged. Upon recently relocating to Singapore, my first impressions were of a sparkling-clean city that had sold its soul to consumerism. There were shopping malls at every turn and a large population with expendable income to fill them at all hours of the night.
But over the months I have discovered a city-state teeming with museums, art galleries, performance space, comedy clubs, live music venues, artist-friendly cafes and an endless array of arts and culture festivals—enough evidence to prove my original theory dead wrong and enough cultural options to keep groups entertained for weeks.
During the past two decades, Singapore’s government has been promoting the destination as a center for arts and culture, in particular the performing arts. Since 2000, the number of arts activities in Singapore has tripled, to around 35,000 in 2011, according to Dr. Yaacob Ibrahim, minister for the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (MICA) in Singapore.
Ibrahim provided specifics in a March statement at the Committee of Supply Debate 2012 on Arts and Culture for Everyone, Everywhere, Everyday—Creating Inclusive Communities.
“The National Heritage Board’s (NHB) museum visitorship has increased by five times to 2.9 million compared to 1999. The national arts companies—the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO) and the Singapore Chinese Orchestra (SCO)—have achieved critical acclaim. Several of the groups funded by NAC (the National Arts Council) have toured the world and received international accolades. These groups include The Singapore Repertory Theatre, Theatreworks, The Necessary Stage and the T’ang Quartet.”
According to the NAC, Singapore’s development of visual arts over the last two decades has resulted in a twofold increase in the number of art exhibitions and art organizations in Singapore.
inventive Venues
Amid all the new developments, many of Singapore’s long-established museums open their doors to groups. Located in the Arts and Heritage District, The National Museum of Singapore, which dates to 1887 and is the oldest museum in Singapore, holds 11 national treasures, among other highlights.
The Salon is open to groups and overlooks a small courtyard that can host pre-event cocktails. Another option, the Glass Atrium, can house 200 guests in banquet-style seating and is connected to the Singapore History Gallery and Singapore Living Galleries. There are blackout periods during festivals and the museum suggests booking six to eight months in advance.
To avoid potential hassles with booking dates, the museum’s Novus Restaurant & Bar can be used for holiday parties and receptions, combined with extended gallery hours for groups.
Another stalwart, the Asian Civilizations Museum on the banks of the Singapore River, is housed in an 1860s-era government office building. Focusing mainly on history and artifacts from Southeast Asia and West Asia, the museum decides facility requests on a case by case basis.
Janet Tan-Collis, chief executive of East West Executive Travellers, a Singapore-based DMC, says one museum that is easy for groups to use is the Maritime Experiential Museum & Aquarium at Resorts World Sentosa, which features indoor and outdoor space, as well as replicas of treasure ships and other attractions.
There are nine function spaces available, including the Typhoon Theatre and upper deck of the first level. Groups can use the waterfront setting for everything from cocktail receptions to sit-down dinners.
“We’ve had 850 people take over the Resorts World Maritime Museum,” Tan-Collis says. “They could hear stories about hidden treasures in Southeast Asian seas. We set up a souk and had fortune tellers, tarot card readers and a bazaar, showing the history and activity of trading in Southeast Asia.”
Creative spaces are also available at the lotus-shaped ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands. The options range from individual galleries to the entire museum, with catering for up to 1,200 people. The museum has a capacity for gala dinners, as well as cocktail events both indoors and outdoors. The outdoor sunset cocktail area is set around the ArtScience Museum’s waterfall, with the surroundings of a 43,000-square-foot lily pond.
Some previous creative uses of the museum include its conversion to a futuristic space shuttle, where 300 guests were welcomed by space-themed costumed hosts and led to the Level 4 Gallery.
The museum also recently launched its Showtime Meeting Package, which allows planners to bundle an all-inclusive hotel and meeting package for attendees, as well as a choice of value adds such as docent-led ArtScience Museum tours and behind-the-scenes kitchen tours of celebrity chef restaurants.
Soon groups will have another art space option, The National Art Gallery Singapore, slated to debut in 2015 in the former Supreme Court and City Hall buildings in the Civic District. The gallery will focus on Southeast Asian and Singaporean art from the 19th century to the present, and at nearly 646,000 square feet will be the largest visual arts venue in Singapore.
Aside from the exhibitions, the gallery will host talks, workshops, demonstrations and film screenings, and offer event space on its rooftop plaza overlooking Marina Bay.
Numerous other galleries are open to group functions and tours. The Arts House, located in the Old Parliament Building, the oldest civil government building in Singapore, can be used for talks, seminars and performances. Groups can also host functions at Arts House, which heavily promotes literary arts with the help of the National Book Council.
Group tours are possible of the Singapore City Gallery, which tells the story of the how Singapore has transformed over the years. The gallery features a 270-degree panoramic sights and sounds show and interactive options.
The Luxe Art Museum occupies two floors of the Luxe building, with a total of nearly 6,500 square feet of exhibition space. Groups can use the space for everything from product launches to dinners. Meanwhile, ReDot Fine Art Gallery, dedicated to Australian Aboriginal Art, is located in an expansive warehouse space at Tanjong Pagar Distripark that can be rented by groups.
“We can help put organizers in touch with caterers, or they can bring their own in,” says Giorgio Pilla, gallery director at ReDot. “We can hold a variety of different events, ranging from cocktail receptions to dinners to presentations about the art. When we have visiting artists in town, we always try and host events around the visit so that clients can meet the artist.”
Award-winning local photographer Dominic Khoo runs the 3,500-square-foot Dominic Khoo 28th Fevrier gallery, which welcomes groups for everything from receptions to product launches.
Another option is 2902 Photo Gallery, touted as the largest photo art gallery in Southeast Asia. The gallery organizes talks, seminars and workshops and the biennale Singapore International Photography Festival.
The ARTrium takes center stage in the main courtyard of the MICA building. The ARTrium is surrounded by a number of art galleries and offers groups 4,800 square feet of open space. Art Plural Gallery is another unique space in Singapore’s cultural district that can cater to select private events.
In the trendy Dempsey neighborhood, Linda Gallery, which also runs the nearby Museum of Contemporary Arts (MOCA), hosts small group functions. Groups can visit MOCA and follow with a reception at Linda Gallery.
There are also several arts complexes that welcome groups. The Goodman Arts Centre, spread across seven acres that once served as a Malay secondary school, is now home to the NAC as well as nearly 50 artists and arts groups, including visual artists, theater groups, musicians, literary artists and dancers.
“This is a new concept for Singapore, having an arts housing scheme,” says Evan Hwong, manager, marketing and place management for the arts center.
Venues available include the 128-seat Black Box Theater, The Gallery, multipurpose rooms, meeting rooms, an outdoor amphitheater, garden and lawn space, and a La Barca, a Michelin-starred restaurant.
Groups can also contact some of the arts organizations to arrange performances, presentations and classes, such as bookmaking workshops, batik or ceramics lessons, and puppet making with the Paper Monkey Theatre.
The Substation contemporary arts center, which presents a wide range of artists and programs, from local musicians to dance troups, also makes its facilities available to groups. The Substation Theatre seats 120 people and can accommodate 200 people standing, while other options include a gallery, dance studio, garden area and the Timbre Bar & Bistro.
Upcoming developments include Gillman Barracks, formerly known as Gillman Village, slated to reopen this year as an arts hub with 13 contemporary art galleries from all over the world. The list features the Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore, which will offer indoor and outdoor event space.
Performing Arts
There are more than 130 theater companies and performing arts societies in Singapore, practicing a range of contemporary and traditional ethnic theatrical forms.
Esplanade Theatres on the Bay debuted in 2002 as a hub for performing arts. It contains a concert hall that seats 1,600 and has a theater with a capacity of 2,000, as well as outdoor performance space and a roof terrace. The Singapore Symphony Orchestra performs weekly concerts at the Esplanade and can help facilitate group booking and seat reservations.
Wild Rice, a leading local theater production company, often uses Esplanade for its shows. It also uses The Drama Centre, featuring a 615-seat proscenium theater as well as a smaller theater, VIP Lounge, foyer for up to 100 and three function rooms for groups.
Wild Rice produces three main stage productions and a charity ball every year, and offers corporate hospitality packages. Packages include group booking options, as well as the possibility to organize a pre-show, intermission or post-show reception for their guests at the theater venue.
“If our show is at the Drama Centre, the company can choose their own caterer,” says Jessamine Balakrishnan, audience development manager for Wild Rice. “If the show is at the Esplanade, we’ll have a list of approved caterers and menus to pass to the company, and they will arrange the menu requirements directly with the caterer.”
Marina Bay Sands is home to the Sands Theater, which can work with event organizers to provide unique experiences for their delegates, such as meet-and-greet sessions with performers after a theater show.
Kallang Theatre, which was the largest cinema in Singapore in the 1970s and later converted to a live performance theater, was renovated in 2011. The 1,700-seat auditorium, reception rooms and foyer can be used by groups via Asia Arts and Culture, which books the theater.
Victoria Theatre and Victoria Concert Hall are being refurbished with a target opening in early 2014. The theater will have 614 seats, and the central passageway between Victoria Concert Hall and Victoria Theatre that originally existed in 1905 will be reinstated through the restoration of the Central Atrium. Plans and programming are still being worked out.
Groups can also organize private tours with Original Walking Tours, which can customize its culture and heritage history tours, such as the Little India “Dhobis, Saris and a Spot of Curry,” “Secrets of the Red Lantern,” Chinatown night walk and “Sultans of Spice, Kampong Glam” walk.
There are also a number of arts festivals groups can attend, such as the Singapore Arts Festival, Night Festival Singapore, Fringe Festival, Shakespeare in the Park at Fort Canning Park, Art Stage Singapore, The Affordable Art Fair Singapore, Singapore International Photography Festival and The Singapore Biennale.
To scratch the surface of Singapore’s vibrant arts and culture scene takes time and research, but the effort comes with great rewards.
Marlene Goldman is a freelance writer and photographer currently based in Singapore, where she is discovering a whole new world of cultural attractions and a pleasing plethora of rooftop bars.
