Staging the Arts In Your Neighbourhood: Cultivating Singapore’s Arts in the Global Scene

Abstract

The arts scene in Singapore has been through many phases since the country’s independence in 1965. From the 1989 Report of the Advisory Council on Culture and the Arts to the current Renaissance City Plans and the Arts and Culture Strategic Review, Singapore has been set on the path to become a Global City for the Arts. Studies on this global city goal have shown the particular state’s transition from viewing the arts as a viable economic scene to adopting a cultural social policy in managing the arts scene. This thesis seeks to build upon these studies, by focusing on the National Arts Council’s initiative, Arts In Your Neighbourhood (AYN) as a case study of how the policy changes have been implemented in the everyday social interaction with the arts. With the use of in-depth interviews and ethnographic fieldwork, this paper will argue that the arts council’s residual economic logic in regulating the scene is in tension with local artists’ creative process. Specifically, this largely antagonistic relationship is shown through the differing conceptions of the reimagined neighborhood. The new social relations that are produced by the novel presence of the arts in the neighborhoods will raise the question of whether these outreach initiatives aim for more than arts appreciation. In line with the global arts city discourse, the discussion will examine if the arts continue to be deployed as a means to larger economic ends.