This year, Singapore will act as the host for the best performance art pieces for the Asean festival. This special event will showcase art from around Southeast Asia. Asean leaders and organizers are looking forward to linking art and culture and spreading its important message of understanding among some of the individuals poised to become art’s greatest future advocates: young people.
During last year’s Asean performances, held in the Philippines, two young performers came together for a special Chinese folklore presentation. In just two weeks, the contemporary dancer and traditional drummer figured out how to combine two ancient cultural practices to reinterpret a tale as something completely new for audiences. It’s this kind of cultural collaboration that is especially meaningful for Singapore, whose culture draws on many different practices.
In honor of this year’s Asean celebrations, one Singapore museum is unveiling three new exhibitions that examine the art of different religions. Another exhibit will take a look at art and artifacts from nations around the region. This reflects the melting pot of Singapore’s own culture, including the idea that welcoming new practices and beliefs is desirable. With an attitude like that, countries, organizations, and other collectives can act as sort of creative incubators. In such creative incubators, the combination of ideas from people who come from different walks of life can combine, and new solutions and creative ideas can be formed that might not have otherwise taken place.
Organizers in Singapore are also working with their regional counterparts to open new museums and galleries to properly host artwork from partners throughout the area. This is more than artistic and creative education. Diplomacy and closer ties in the region can also be achieved through such efforts as cultural exchanges.
In terms of efforts to involve young artists in the festival, organizers in Singapore are offering creative minds in a certain age range access to funding for their artworks. The funds are available to young artists throughout Southeast Asia, meaning that more than just Singaporean artists stand to benefit. Through this fund, a popular puppet show toured Singapore and beyond, bringing stories from specific cultures to a wider audience.
Other funds have promoted more than artistic trade between Southeast Asian countries. Through another grant effort, Singaporean computer students helped revamp devices in a Cambodian school, doing a good deed and gaining valuable educational experiences in the meantime.
Art can be an important component of anyone’s life. To learn how to incorporate more art and creativity in your own experience, visit SGArtClass.com today. SGArtClass.com is a comprehensive website that hosts everything from educational articles to cheap art supplies. The crowning jewel is the multiple art classes that you can easily enroll in through the website. From watercolor painting to caricature drawing and everything in between, you will be sure to find the art class perfect for igniting your creative passion.
To read more about Asean leaders’ efforts to draw more support for art, go to https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/asean-youth-step-in-to-forge-friendship.