The Arts

Arts, unlike other things in life, help to enrich and instill in us humans, a sense of creativity and well-being. It is presented to us in various forms, ranging from theatrical plays, dance concerts, drama serials, and many more. However, being in a country where the Arts are given much priority, we Singaporeans do not cherish the values that we can take away from these presentations.

Creativity is one of the many key aspects of life that is largely lacking in us Singaporeans. It is a rare case to flip the newspaper one day and to spot a section in the papers that praises a Singaporean in a creative discovery or a “creative” creation. Why? Isn’t that a bit apparent to us? How will we make ourselves into such news when we fail to appreciate the Arts as much as we appreciate Usain Bolt Sprinting down the 100m lane on the Beijing Track? The only solution to this is the Arts. Arts in our modern day world, greatly helps to instill a sense of creativity. It helps us to enjoy life and at the same time, help to change our perspective on the way we view things. This is one of the few ways on why the Arts is a main factor that has to be valued in Singapore.
Next, as we move on to the next factor, please focus on this write up and shove your piles of paperwork and files away from your desk table. We Singaporeans have been rated to have the best working qualities amongst the other countries worldwide. We also have to note another fact that we ourselves know that we are too hardworking in most cases that we over stress our biological system into breakdown. What better solution is there to solve this problem, than to involve in the Arts? Musical shows and plays will help to take away that extra inch of stress off our body for the better. However, we Singaporeans, deem using the computer for hours and hours as stress relievers. We get so indulged in work and progress that once again we fail to capture the positive essence of the Arts. Therefore, to summarise the point, the Arts helps to relieve stress from our Singaporeans from our fast-paced lives.

Hence, I reinstate my stand that the Arts play a vital role in Singapore both as a stress reliever and also to inculcate important values such as the development of creativity amongst us Singaporeans.

Role Of Arts In Singapore

The arts encompasses many forms such as visual arts, performing arts, language atrs, culinary arts, physical arts etc. Arts in Singapore is still not as widespread as it should be. However, the government has realized the importance of the arts we cannot argue against the fact that art is being given more and more importance and emphasis in recent times in Singapore. Arts help to play many roles in Singapore.

In terms of education, Arts help in the holistic development of students. Instead of being just bookworms who do nothing but studies in school, arts, in the form of Co-curricular activities and school organized programs help to develop the non-academic side of students. Arts also help to develop creativity in students. In today’s society where innovation is vital to one’s success, learning to be creative is a must and arts help to develop this.

Arts also serve as an avenue for jobs in Singapore. Although this is not very widespread in Singapore, it is fast picking up speed. Many nowadays are not afraid to pursue careers in the field of arts as compared to the past where everyone placed importance on academics as they felt arts would not grant them high future prospects. Moreover, in Singapore schools, there is a wide selection of courses for students who wish to pursue arts.

Traditional arts also help constantly remind Singaporeans of their rich heritage. In our society today, we are increasingly becoming more and more westernized and we tend to forget our past and heritage in the process. Thus, traditional arts serve as a reminder of our rich heritage.

Arts also serve as a form of relaxation and entertainment for people in Singapore. In Singapore’s stressful lifestyle it is necessary to take your foot of the pedal at times to relax and art helps to do this in the form of performances or television programs.

Arts can help serve many purposes in Singapore. However, it still has a long way to go.

Role of arts in Singapore

The arts play a very small role in Singapore, which is the role of providing entertainment. These forms of arts come in the form of digital arts, which is mainly due to lack of time in an average Singaporean’s daily life.
In Singapore, there is too much emphasis on personal achievements, such as one’s influence, power and status, which also determines one’s success. Arts is thus viewed as unimportant, only a form of leisure. As mentioned in the article, arts is considered as a form of leisure only enjoyed by the rich, or if one has time to spare. The fast pace of life leaves little time to spare. Even if one has time to spare, it is often used for other forms of leisure, which one enjoys the most, such as sports.
However, the government has indeed put in much effort to raise the status of arts in Singapore. The Singapore Esplanade, officially opened in 2002, cost S$600 million to build. This huge budget clearly shows the effort that the government has put into trying to promote arts. The Esplanade was built to host arts events, with numerous facilities and artistic exhibitions to promote arts among Singaporeans. Numerous events have also been held to promote arts among the Singaporeans, such as the Singapore Arts Festival which spans over a period of one month annually. Artistes from over 20 countries are invited to this prestigious event. This demonstrates how the arts are rapidly gaining recognition in Singapore.
Also, the government has begun to incorporate arts into schools. Arts performances are largely advertised among the students, and subsidies offered to the students. In junior colleges, science students also have to undertake at least one arts subject to promote appreciation of the arts among the students.
In conclusion, even though the current generation of Singaporeans regard little for arts, the efforts of the government have led to the new generation having a greater appreciation of arts, and thus, arts is likely to have a much more important role to play in the future.

In Singapore, the role of the arts, generally, is to entertain. It is common for us to have events which promote the arts as it is- no further in depth probing is required. All the audience has to do is to watch and applaud. Such is the role of arts in Singapore. Singaporeans in general only appreciate the aesthetics of art- the intricate details on the costumes, the fluidity of the movements. Events such as the Singapore arts festival, concerts from world famous artistes such as the Beatles and art galleries further emphasize this fact.

However, in recent years, we have seen the government try to increase awareness of the arts in Singapore. This is being done in school, where the population is still young, thus more possible and practical to induce arts appreciation in them. Firstly, we have the Singapore youth festivals. Performing arts groups from schools all over Singapore take part actively in this national event biannually. Thus, this is seen as an effort by Singapore to try to inculcate in youths an artistic side since the performer's friends would be interested to watch the performances too. Also, ccas under the arts category are introduced as early as primary school, thus students have many years to decide if they would like to pursue arts.

Secondly, we have seen an increase in the content of arts in the school syllabus. There's the Nanyang academy of fine arts (NAFA), which is an arts school for youths who are interested in the arts. There, they cultivate their interests and talents for the arts, specializing in skills such as dance or visual arts, or even modern art- photography. Then of course we have the recent introduction of the arts elective or pure arts in the secondary schools and junior colleges. This is done to encourage those who have a passion for arts to develop their interests and bring the arts scene in Singapore to greater heights.

More recently, Singapore has tried to raise the importance of arts in Singapore, as seen in the above examples. Besides the education system and concerts, Singapore has also provided for venues for the arts, one being the esplanade by the bay. The purpose of the esplanade is to host arts events, much like the Sydney opera house in Australia. Thus, the role of the arts in Singapore has risen in recent years due to efforts by the government and arts groups in Singapore.

Does Singapore allow for talent to flourish?

I agree with Paulo that talent need to have some space, recognition and soul to flourish. The question is, does Singapore provide an environment rich with the above-mentioned, or is it a place where talent is gone unnoticed, where talent is seen only in the form of dollar signs, where we are too concerned with whether our ideas are agreeable with the ideas of others? I think we are. Let us begin at home, the root cause of who or what we are. At home, how many parents encourage their children to persue what they are good in? Not as a sport or just for fun, but as a legitimate career. Who among us can say that we are doing exactly what we want to do? We have all been forced to conform to the needs of society, to do well in math and excell in science. Our talents are rarely recognized, and even more rarely built upon, or improved. The talented young Singaporeans need to be embraced by society, not shunned for having a different opinion.

Due to our severe lack of confidence, our need to be sure before doing anything, we have essentially squashed many talents, not letting them be seen, or not letting them be known as a Singaporean talent. We need to be more open, more willing to make mistakes, for luck favours the brave. We need to give talent more space. We do not do this, and so what talent we have in the nation is going unnoticed.

We are also not paying attention to our talents, that is until they are hailed as the greatest something-in-the-world! We do not pay attention to the open mic shows, or the local bands performing at the park. We simply feel they are not good enough for us. We need to pay more attention to them, until we do, we will remain with a lack of talent. As Paulo put it, Singapore has a lack of resources, so we need to make the most of the one resource we have: people.

Talent

From what Supian and Hartung have said, I do agree with their views in saying that talent in Singapore is too narrowly defined and she only produces a small group of people with certain types of talent. This can be clearly seen from the fact that Singapore develops itself greatly only in one specific area- Its economic status. The Singapore government does so, as it feels that the development of the economic status of the country must be its main focus. However, in doing so, it is actually narrowing its scope of producing talented people in a variety of areas of speciality.

One example as to why I feel that Singapore tend to produce only certain types of talent, can be seen in the Beijing Olympics 2008 which is going on now at the moment. From the opening ceremony to the actual games, Singapore has sent in less than a 100 Singaporeans to participate in the games. Of which, how many of them are actual Singaporeans? Meaning, they were born and bred in Singapore rather than brought in to Singapore as a foreign talent. This number is probably less than 10. Is there a specific reason for this? It’s obvious that Singapore wishes to develop in the area of sports. However, till this day it has wasted its time in not showing enough concern in the area of sports that Singapore has to turn to bringing in foreign talent to improve its sports status. This is one of the prices Singapore has to pay for producing only certain types of talent.

Therefore, from my evaluation of the current situation in Singapore, it can be justified that Singapore does focus on producing certain types of talent only. Therefore, if Singapore does continue to move on in such a state, it will bound to suffer in the future where other countries are doing their best to be in the top of the list in every area of specialty.

Singaporeans Mindset Is The Reason For Talent Shortage.

I agree with Ravi Veloo that the key to solving the problem of talent shortage in Singapore lies in the changing of people’s mindset. Singaporeans have a very narrow mindset in my opinion. They are not open to what is around them and rarely see things in multiple or broader perspectives. This leads to problems such as talent shortage.

One issue would be the viewing of certain types of talents as superior to others. For instance people believe that being a doctor is superior to being an architect. Thus many parents send their children to learn medicine, leaving very few students in other fields such as architecture. This leads to a shortage in talent in such fields and with a lack of such talents a country will not be able to function well as it does not have enough of a talent range.

Another issue would be that, Singaporeans fail to realize or explore their full potential. Once they pick up a profession, they stick their mindset to just that profession. They only concentrate on it alone and judge themselves only by how well they do in that particular profession. This leads to a limited range of exposed talent among Singaporeans with much talent hidden deep inside many of them.

Moreover they believe that only a particular skill is needed for a certain profession. For instance a software engineer believes that only knowledge in software is necessary for that job. He does not realize that by having other skills he would be able to do his job better and will be more employable.

Singaporeans also see talent as something that a person is born with. Yes this is true in certain cases, but they fail to realize that talent can be nurtures with a bit of effort and an open mind. Thus, we have a limited array of talent in Singapore.