a) Select an event or festival from the recommended list below for your field trip.

The festival I have selected for this project is the Singapore Arts Festival 2009 which took place on the 15 May to 14 June.

Singapore Arts Festival first started in 1977 to celebrate local arts performances from the different racial communities in Singapore. It is a month-long event that is held annually by the National Arts Council of Singapore featuring more than 1000 artists (locally and internationally) performing various performances such as theatre arts, music, dance and visual arts. In addition, Singapore Arts Festival is also recognized as the top arts festival held in Asia.


b) Compare the selected festival with a similar festival that has been successful in another city in terms of its marketing strategy.

Another festival I have chosen to compare with Singapore Arts Festival would be the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Edinburgh Festival Fringe first started in 1947 to make the first move to reunite Europe through culture after the war. The festival is held annually in Scotland’s capital during the month of August. It is also the world’s largest art festival showcasing performances by renowned performers internationally and locally. The festival offers many forms of art which includes theatre, comedy, children’s show, dance, physical theatre, musicals, operas, different genres of music, exhibititions and event.

The marketing strategies consist of 8 ‘P’s’. They are Product, Place, Price, Promotion, Programming, Packaging and distribution, Partnership, and People.

Product

A good product will sell itself. Thus it is important for organisers of event or festival to not only focus on the product but also to consider customers’ needs and wants. The success of both the Singapore Arts Festival and Edinburgh Festival Fringe shows how good the product is in term of its marketing strategy. Both festivals were organized with one thing in common which is to let people experience the different art cultures and to immerse themselves in the passion and love for arts from the performers.

However, the only difference between Singapore Arts Festival and Edinburgh Festival Fringe is that Edinburgh Festival Fringe has a longer history and is also a larger scale event that holds a much bigger number of performances as compared to Singapore Arts festival.

Place

Being at the right place and at the right time is important as it may affect the customer’s satisfaction. Place includes location, settings, atmosphere and destination features.

Performance venues are located around the island which is easily accessible by customers using the various ways of transportation available. Free shuttle bus services are also provided to several performances venue. One example would be the opening performance of the festival by La Compagnie Malabar at Marina Barrage. Shuttle bus services were provided to and fro for visitors and audiences frequently from Marina Bay to the performance venue.

Mentioned earlier on, organisers should also consider customers’ needs and wants. Some of the performance venues set are located near attractions, entertainment, hotels, food and beverage outlets and retail outlets, meeting tourists’ need for convenience.

Edinburgh Festival Fringe takes place in Scotland’s capital where performances can also be found throughout the city. Festival’s participant can also easily travel to the performance venues using the transports available. However, the only difference is that Edinburgh offers bicycle and by-foot as one of their transports which is more environmental friendly.

Price

For these two festivals, price refers to tickets charges. Tickets are priced reasonably whereby it caters to different categories of customers such as the youths, adults and senior citizens. Singapore Arts Festival and Edinburgh Arts Festival offers promotion packages such as individual and group ticket sales discounts and membership discounts.

Based on reviews on the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, some audiences complained that even though there were many productions to choose from, some of them were priced too high.

Purchasing of tickets for any production can be easily done through the festival’s webpage, hotline and other authorized agent for both Singapore Arts Festival and Edinburgh Festival Fringe. However, ticket prices, availability and booking can be directly on Edinburgh Fringe Festival’s webpage itself whereas participants of Singapore Arts Festival would have to go another ticketing website (www.sistic.com.sg).

Promotion

Singapore Arts Festival is advertised and promoted through the print media (brochures and booklets), broadcast media (television and internet) and display media (billboard and posters) Advertisements on the festival can be easily found and seen around Singapore such as taxi, performance venues, along the road, residential areas and city areas.

Edinburgh Festival Fringe also adopted the broadcast media promotion method where advertisements on the festivals were published on the internet and an online TV station.

An official website is created for both Singapore Arts Festival (http://www.singaporeartsfest.com) and Edinburgh Festival Fringe (http://www.edfringe.com). Both festivals’ website includes the festival’s calendar and other information such as ticketing details, news and updates readily available for readers. However, a blog is only set up for Singapore Arts Festival where it allows readers to closely follow the daily happenings of the festival.

Programming

Programming refers to the events decided by the organisers for the festival.
Programs are introduced into the festival according to what audiences would prefer and what kind of programs that will best fit the different targeted market.

Based on the official website of the two festivals, we can only find a limited selection of theatre, visual arts, dance and musical productions in the Singapore Arts Festival whereas Edinburgh Festival Fringe offers approximately thirty times the amount of worldwide productions available in Singapore.

Programs with details offered are clearly stated on both the official website and festival’s booklet available online and the festival’s supporting venues.

Packaging and Distribution

Packages are available for both Singapore Arts Festival and Edinburgh Festival
Distribution channel is important when selling tickets for the festival. Hence, marketing intermediaries such as the tour agencies would be required. They are ones who will help promote, sell and distribute the product to potential and final buyers. Singapore Arts Festival worked with international and local tour agencies located in Indonesia and Malaysia to help sell and distribute their tickets. Festival booklets were also distributed to supporting venue (esplanade) whereby it is easily obtained by potential buyers.

Both the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Singapore Arts Festival package its event with other services such as hotel accommodation. However, Singapore Arts Festival not only packages the event with hotels but also with food and beverage outlets and retail outlets.

Partnership

Partnership with sponsors and other organizations is also important as they are the people who fund and support the festival. Singapore Arts Festival and Edinburgh Festival Fringe collaborated with numerous organizations that not only support the festival but also work together to create attractive festival packages through modification of prices. For example, Marina Mandarin Singapore who is one of the partners of Singapore Arts Festival offers festival members a discounted price for accommodation.

People

People refer to anyone who is involved in the festival or event. They are the festival staffs, organisers, performers and audiences. These are the people who contribute to the success a festival or event, directly and indirectly.

However, festival staffs are the most important people for Singapore Arts Festival and Edinburgh Festival Fringe. They are the ones who will have the most interaction with the audiences and at the same time provide hospitality that will directly shape their experiences at the festival


During my visit to Marina Barrage for the opening performance, I was able to experience good service quality provided from the staffs. They were very patient in answering the many questions I have asked even though they were busy maintaining the human traffic at the performing venue. I feel that being able to tend to audiences’ doubt and at the same time maintain the stubborn crowds with a smiling face make these festival staffs look more professional and approachable.

The staffs of Singapore Arts Festival wear similar uniforms which consist of a t-shirt with the festival’s logo printed on it, long pants and covered shoes. The uniform differentiates the staffs from audiences for easier identification.


c) Inform your reader about these best practices

The best practices for Singapore Arts Festival would be promotion. The festival was well publicised to the public through various channels catering to different target groups. One example would be using Facebook and Twitter to target the youths. Festival’s advertisement can also be found and recognised easily around the island. With good promotional methods adopted, the festival is now another step closer to success!

The best practices for Edinburgh Festival Fringe would be programming. More than 30,000 ticketed and non-ticketed performances are being arranged for this festival. This offers audiences a different variety of art forms and experience to choose from and at the same time being able to cater to different people with different needs and wants. Having the handle and take charge of so many performances also shows how efficient and organized the management team is.


d) Identify the stakeholders in this festival.

Singapore Arts Festival’s stakeholders consist of the organizer, major sponsors, sponsors, official partners, premier partners, festival supporters and venue partners.

The organizer of Singapore Arts Festival would be the National Arts Council of Singapore.

The major sponsors of the festival are Lee Foundation, Urban Redevelopment Authority(URA) Hong Leong Foundation, Vivo city, Wing Tai Asia, Raffles City shopping centre, Public Utilities Board (PUB), Suntec Singapore and Singapore Mass Rapid Transit Corporation (SMRT)

The sponsors of the festival are Marina Mandarin Singapore, Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Starhub Cable Vision and Yahoo!.

The official partners of the festival include Channel 5 (Official TV Station), Okto (Supporting TV Station) and Coca-Cola Light (Official Sparkling Beverage).

The premier partners of the festivals are Singapore Tourism Board (STB), Singapore Turf Club, Shaw Foundation, The University of Western Australia and PSB Academy.

The Supporters of the festival are Australia High Commission, Business Traveller, Creative Eateries, Cultures France and the French Embassy, Embassy of Sweden, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Embassy of the Kingdom of Spain, Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay, EZ-Link, GameAxis, Goethe-Institut Singapore, Harry’s, Hasbro Singapore, The Heeren Shops, Italian Cultural Institute Singapore, JCDecaux Singapore, National Environment Agency, Rendezvous Hotel Singapore and Tan Ean Kiam Foundation.

Lastly, the venue supporters of this festival are Dome Marina Square, Housing and Development Board, LASALLE College of the Arts, National Parks Board and Singapore Bus Service (SBS) Transit.


e) Reflect on the main purpose of this event or festival.

The main purpose of the Singapore Arts Festival is to exposed locals to new art forms and experiences locally and internationally. The festival also provides a stage for local artists to showcase their talent. The festival also makes use of this event to bond Singaporeans together through cultural practices.

Being able to hold such a large and successful event such as the Singapore Arts Festival shows Asia how Singapore is capable of, financially and physically. This will then help the country seize business opportunity to hold larger event in the future.


f) Comment on the amount of tourism benefits received by the host city of the chosen event.

Every successful festival or event never fails to bring in a certain amount of tourism benefits to the host city. Singapore Arts Festival indeed did bring in huge amount of tourism benefits to the host city, Singapore.

As Singapore Art Festival is the top festival in Asia, tourists who have got the passion for the Arts from different parts of Asia would be attracted to Singapore during the festival period. When a tourists visit a country they would usually spend on food and beverages, lodging, entertainment, sightseeing, attractions and shopping. All these spending enable various industries such as food and beverages, hotel, leisure, retail and transportation to make profits and earn revenue. The government also benefit as taxes collected from the various industries enable them to earn revenue. Thus, when tourists spend more, contribution to the country’s revenue would also increase.

Having a clean and litter-free environment would give tourists a good impression of Singapore. This can then increase environmental awareness to locals which is also another tourism benefit received by the host city.

Big events are usually labour-intensive. They require a large number of service providers who contributes to the success of the event. Temporary jobs would be created for the locals during this period of time. Also, it creates jobs in the other industries such as accommodation, food and beverage, leisure and many more that are indirectly affected by the festival. By doing so, income would be provided for locals which would in turn help improve their standard of living.

Another tourism benefit would be the development of the country’s infrastructure. Infrastructures consist of roads, telecommunication and transportation would be developed to improve accessibility and making it easier for both tourists and locals to travel around the country.

Not only would tourist visit Singapore because of the art festival, they would also take this chance to explore Singapore’s heritage thus being able to help boost and promote the preservation of historical buildings and cultural sites such as Chinatown and Sultan Mosque.


References

1. Ciao!. http://travel.ciao.co.uk/Edinburgh_Festival_Fringe_Summer__Review_5425095

2. Edinburgh Festival Fringe Official Website. http://www.edinburghartfestival.org/

3. Edinburgh Festival News and reviews. http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/edinburghfestival?page=2

4. Singapore Arts Festival Official Website. http://www.singaporeartsfest.com.sg/