Nicer photos can be found on this website:
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Event Management Individual Reflection
FIELD TRIP INDIVIDUAL REPORT – HYDRO SAPIENS
1. Introduction
This event Hydro Sapiens marks the closing of the Arts Festival. Arts Festival has helped to transform the city’s cultural landscape, turning it into one of Asia’s major cultural capitals today. It has influenced the work of artists and generated a growing public demand for the arts, spawning new cultural platforms, events, and movements that help underpin the lively cultural scene in present Singapore. Hydro Sapiens is a musical performance that combines water, mechanics and pyrotechnics. The award winning theater group from Netherlands who called The Lunatics will be the ones that will be acting. The interactive musical is based on themes like love, jealousy and betrayal. The show opens before a floating backdrop that resembles a factory of sorts. Mad scientists gather to hunt for the ingredients for their brew. Out of the bubbling waters, a monstrous fish bone appears. One mad scientist hops on a boat and hurls spears at the bone. Another scientist rushes forward with a chain saw, slashing at its head, detaching it from its body. Though it seems brutal at first, the detached head soon runs away from its attackers, along a 100m floating bridge. Once caught, the detached fish-head serves as an ingredient for a magical broth. At first, the magic potion appears to bring life to the characters. However, as human greed settles in, the potion brings a spectacular display of destruction, with the help of fire, fireworks and lots of water bottles.
2. Background of the Organizer
The organizer of the Arts Festival is the National Arts Council. The National Arts Council (NAC) was set up as a Statutory Board in September 1991 to spearhead the development of the arts in Singapore. Its mission is to nurture the arts and make it an integral part of people’s lives in Singapore. The vision of National Arts Council is to develop Singapore as a distinctive global city for the arts. (http://www.nac.gov.sg/abo/abo01.asp)
3. Discuss the role of events to the organizer (or attraction / venue)
The Arts Festivals has played a symbiotic and catalytic role in the development of the artistic and cultural life of Singapore. Organizing an event can attract many tourists and locals to visit that attraction. If the event runs well it also helps to promote the organizer as it shows the capabilities of the organizer. Events can further promote the attraction as some places may not have many visitors and by organizing an event there, it attracts people to visit that attraction and this may eventually make people realize the beauty of that place. For me, I had never been to that part of Bedok reservoir until this event. I had never known that Bedok reservoir could be so big and beautiful and due to this event I had went there and it really helps me to gain a new knowledge about Singapore. This event had brought people from all over Singapore and overseas to visit and this really increases the awareness of Bedok reservoir.
4. Identify the stakeholders in the event
The stakeholders of this event are first the sponsors, which were Art Central, Gold 90 FM and Yahoo Singapore. Second was the Event Partner PUB. Third were the volunteers, the audiences and the participants. ( http://www.singaporeartsfest.com/sponsors.asp )
5. Identify the target market
The target market of this event was the people who were interested in arts. In Singapore there were many who also like to watch performance that shows fireworks and flames. Although they may not fully understand what the performance is about but it is still nice to see the fireworks. Many will be attracted to the event as Singaporeans rarely get the chance to see fireworks except in such events. Especially the people who are living nearby, it will be very convenient for them to come down to the event. Not only will the fireworks, the show itself also attracts people, as world-class performers are the one presenting it.
6. Critically discuss the marketing strategies employed by the organizer
The marketing strategies employed by the organizer were firstly the place. The art director said: 'we specialize in location theatre and location is not just the stage but also the atmosphere. We took a boat around and I gathered as much information as possible.’ 'I tasted the water, measured the depth, and checked what the bottom was made of. I took lots of videos and photos back home to inspire the team.' (Took from an article from The Electric New Paper). Bedok Reservoir was chosen to be the venue of this event based on lots of criteria. The component under the place consists of the location, settings, atmosphere and destination features. Bedok Reservoirs is very convenient as it is in the neighborhood and also very accessible as there is Mrt and buses to that area. Setting up the event was not easy; many problems like how to spread the weight of the prop across the stage but it is still manageable with the help of PUB. The Art director had confirm the atmosphere of Bedok Reservoir and it definitely best matches the criteria of the event.
The second Marketing strategies employed by the organizer were through Promotion. This event was advertised and gets known to the public through the Medias, newspapers and websites. There were also many articles and forums online advertising the coming of this event.
The third Marketing strategies employed by the organizer were through Partnerships. This event was successful because of the stakeholders in producing the event. Without the Support of the sponsors, participants, volunteers and PUB, this event would not be a success.
The Fourth Marketing strategies employed by the organizer were through People. The Cast, Audiences, Host and guests were very important. The Cast is the main people that perform in the show and how good were the quality of the show will be depending on the skills of the performers. The number of audiences shows the popularity of the events, with many people going to the event; it definitely will attract a larger number of audiences. Lastly on the Guests, the visitation of guests show how important this event was. Especially the guests there are coming to the event was important and famous. In this event, they had invited a guest of honor and this had boost the amount of people going to the event.
Last Marketing Strategies employed by the organizer were through Price. This event had attracted so many people; one of the reasons was the price. This event does not require any admission fees, plus this is the closing event of the arts festival. It definitely will attract many people to come.
7. How would you rate the organisation of the event? Why?
From my point of view, The Organization of the Singapore Arts Festivals did not do a very good job from the closing event that I had visited. This performance was a success with the help of the PUB to set up the structure for this show. There are many problems encountered when they were setting up the floating stage for the performance as one of their props weight 600kg and they have to think of ways to spread the weight. From the Lunatics’ artistic director of Hydro Sapiens who is Mr Koos Hogeweg he says apart from the main storylines, the performance also teaches the importance of water. He had even visited Bedok reservoir two months ago before the event started. Although they had paid special attention to the setting of the events, there were still many areas that can be improved on. When I went to the event, I was lost in Bedok Reservoir, as they did not mention about the exact location of event held in Bedok Reservoir. Bedok Reservoir is a very large area and I had a hard time finding the venue. All along the road to the event I had only came across two ushers and this shows insufficient people to guide the people coming to the event. The second problem was there were too many people occupying the place and there were not enough seats, for me I am not a very tall person and I had difficulties watching the performance. By the time I had found myself a place to watch clearly, the show had already started halfway through.
8. Discuss the potential of the event by the organiser to meet tourist demand?
The Arts Festival is a Hallmark Event, which is high demand and high value. Therefore the potential of the event by the organizer to meet tourist demand is definitely very high. There will be a high growth potential of the market as nowadays arts had become very popular and more people are beginning to appreciate art. This event will capture a large market share as art can be enjoyed by all ages. Community support is very important, with many people supporting the event it can help to promote and advertise this event to their relatives and friends. Forum can be open and let people outside Singapore to be aware of this event.
9. Suggest how the value of the event could be raised to be align with the tourism mission of Singapore?
The tourism mission of Singapore is to develop and champion tourism, so as to build the sector into a key driver of economic growth for Singapore. The value of the event could be raised by specifying the exact location of the event, placing more ushers around Bedok Reservoir to guide the people that is coming to the event and also put up more posters to let the public know about the event venue. The event was too crowded and many audiences were not able to watch the show clearly, especially families with children. By placing an admission fee can help to reduce the crowd and the number of people standing. In addition these admission fees can help to recover some of the losses made by the other events of arts festival.
In order to improve on the marketing and promotion of the event, we can expose information on the arts festival to the public through a blog. In saves the public a lot of trouble, as they need not search the Internet for information on the event. All information about the event and the links to other websites can be post on the blog. As many teenagers are now into blogging, it is good to make use of blog to spread the information on the event.
However there are also limitations, blogs are only catering to computer users, many of the elderly who do not know how to use a computer will not be able to make use of this function. Thus blogging itself is insufficient, other ways of advertising methods sure be use to further promote the event.
These are the references
http://www.singaporeartsfest.com/calendar.asp
http://www.pub.gov.sg/Search/Results.aspx?k=hydro%20sapiens
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/352450/1/.html
http://www.lunatics.nl/
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/cna/cgi-bin/search/search_7days.pl?status=&search=hydro%20sapiens&id=355834
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/cna/cgi-bin/search/search_7days.pl?status=&search=hydro%20sapiens&id=355392
http://www.siww.com.sg/_download/hydrosapiens_brochure.pdf
http://www.youth.sg/content/view/5457/51/
http://www.sandraventure.blogspot.com/
http://www.nac.gov.sg/new/new02a.asp?id=349
1. Introduction
This event Hydro Sapiens marks the closing of the Arts Festival. Arts Festival has helped to transform the city’s cultural landscape, turning it into one of Asia’s major cultural capitals today. It has influenced the work of artists and generated a growing public demand for the arts, spawning new cultural platforms, events, and movements that help underpin the lively cultural scene in present Singapore. Hydro Sapiens is a musical performance that combines water, mechanics and pyrotechnics. The award winning theater group from Netherlands who called The Lunatics will be the ones that will be acting. The interactive musical is based on themes like love, jealousy and betrayal. The show opens before a floating backdrop that resembles a factory of sorts. Mad scientists gather to hunt for the ingredients for their brew. Out of the bubbling waters, a monstrous fish bone appears. One mad scientist hops on a boat and hurls spears at the bone. Another scientist rushes forward with a chain saw, slashing at its head, detaching it from its body. Though it seems brutal at first, the detached head soon runs away from its attackers, along a 100m floating bridge. Once caught, the detached fish-head serves as an ingredient for a magical broth. At first, the magic potion appears to bring life to the characters. However, as human greed settles in, the potion brings a spectacular display of destruction, with the help of fire, fireworks and lots of water bottles.
2. Background of the Organizer
The organizer of the Arts Festival is the National Arts Council. The National Arts Council (NAC) was set up as a Statutory Board in September 1991 to spearhead the development of the arts in Singapore. Its mission is to nurture the arts and make it an integral part of people’s lives in Singapore. The vision of National Arts Council is to develop Singapore as a distinctive global city for the arts. (http://www.nac.gov.sg/abo/abo01.asp)
3. Discuss the role of events to the organizer (or attraction / venue)
The Arts Festivals has played a symbiotic and catalytic role in the development of the artistic and cultural life of Singapore. Organizing an event can attract many tourists and locals to visit that attraction. If the event runs well it also helps to promote the organizer as it shows the capabilities of the organizer. Events can further promote the attraction as some places may not have many visitors and by organizing an event there, it attracts people to visit that attraction and this may eventually make people realize the beauty of that place. For me, I had never been to that part of Bedok reservoir until this event. I had never known that Bedok reservoir could be so big and beautiful and due to this event I had went there and it really helps me to gain a new knowledge about Singapore. This event had brought people from all over Singapore and overseas to visit and this really increases the awareness of Bedok reservoir.
4. Identify the stakeholders in the event
The stakeholders of this event are first the sponsors, which were Art Central, Gold 90 FM and Yahoo Singapore. Second was the Event Partner PUB. Third were the volunteers, the audiences and the participants. ( http://www.singaporeartsfest.com/sponsors.asp )
5. Identify the target market
The target market of this event was the people who were interested in arts. In Singapore there were many who also like to watch performance that shows fireworks and flames. Although they may not fully understand what the performance is about but it is still nice to see the fireworks. Many will be attracted to the event as Singaporeans rarely get the chance to see fireworks except in such events. Especially the people who are living nearby, it will be very convenient for them to come down to the event. Not only will the fireworks, the show itself also attracts people, as world-class performers are the one presenting it.
6. Critically discuss the marketing strategies employed by the organizer
The marketing strategies employed by the organizer were firstly the place. The art director said: 'we specialize in location theatre and location is not just the stage but also the atmosphere. We took a boat around and I gathered as much information as possible.’ 'I tasted the water, measured the depth, and checked what the bottom was made of. I took lots of videos and photos back home to inspire the team.' (Took from an article from The Electric New Paper). Bedok Reservoir was chosen to be the venue of this event based on lots of criteria. The component under the place consists of the location, settings, atmosphere and destination features. Bedok Reservoirs is very convenient as it is in the neighborhood and also very accessible as there is Mrt and buses to that area. Setting up the event was not easy; many problems like how to spread the weight of the prop across the stage but it is still manageable with the help of PUB. The Art director had confirm the atmosphere of Bedok Reservoir and it definitely best matches the criteria of the event.
The second Marketing strategies employed by the organizer were through Promotion. This event was advertised and gets known to the public through the Medias, newspapers and websites. There were also many articles and forums online advertising the coming of this event.
The third Marketing strategies employed by the organizer were through Partnerships. This event was successful because of the stakeholders in producing the event. Without the Support of the sponsors, participants, volunteers and PUB, this event would not be a success.
The Fourth Marketing strategies employed by the organizer were through People. The Cast, Audiences, Host and guests were very important. The Cast is the main people that perform in the show and how good were the quality of the show will be depending on the skills of the performers. The number of audiences shows the popularity of the events, with many people going to the event; it definitely will attract a larger number of audiences. Lastly on the Guests, the visitation of guests show how important this event was. Especially the guests there are coming to the event was important and famous. In this event, they had invited a guest of honor and this had boost the amount of people going to the event.
Last Marketing Strategies employed by the organizer were through Price. This event had attracted so many people; one of the reasons was the price. This event does not require any admission fees, plus this is the closing event of the arts festival. It definitely will attract many people to come.
7. How would you rate the organisation of the event? Why?
From my point of view, The Organization of the Singapore Arts Festivals did not do a very good job from the closing event that I had visited. This performance was a success with the help of the PUB to set up the structure for this show. There are many problems encountered when they were setting up the floating stage for the performance as one of their props weight 600kg and they have to think of ways to spread the weight. From the Lunatics’ artistic director of Hydro Sapiens who is Mr Koos Hogeweg he says apart from the main storylines, the performance also teaches the importance of water. He had even visited Bedok reservoir two months ago before the event started. Although they had paid special attention to the setting of the events, there were still many areas that can be improved on. When I went to the event, I was lost in Bedok Reservoir, as they did not mention about the exact location of event held in Bedok Reservoir. Bedok Reservoir is a very large area and I had a hard time finding the venue. All along the road to the event I had only came across two ushers and this shows insufficient people to guide the people coming to the event. The second problem was there were too many people occupying the place and there were not enough seats, for me I am not a very tall person and I had difficulties watching the performance. By the time I had found myself a place to watch clearly, the show had already started halfway through.
8. Discuss the potential of the event by the organiser to meet tourist demand?
The Arts Festival is a Hallmark Event, which is high demand and high value. Therefore the potential of the event by the organizer to meet tourist demand is definitely very high. There will be a high growth potential of the market as nowadays arts had become very popular and more people are beginning to appreciate art. This event will capture a large market share as art can be enjoyed by all ages. Community support is very important, with many people supporting the event it can help to promote and advertise this event to their relatives and friends. Forum can be open and let people outside Singapore to be aware of this event.
9. Suggest how the value of the event could be raised to be align with the tourism mission of Singapore?
The tourism mission of Singapore is to develop and champion tourism, so as to build the sector into a key driver of economic growth for Singapore. The value of the event could be raised by specifying the exact location of the event, placing more ushers around Bedok Reservoir to guide the people that is coming to the event and also put up more posters to let the public know about the event venue. The event was too crowded and many audiences were not able to watch the show clearly, especially families with children. By placing an admission fee can help to reduce the crowd and the number of people standing. In addition these admission fees can help to recover some of the losses made by the other events of arts festival.
In order to improve on the marketing and promotion of the event, we can expose information on the arts festival to the public through a blog. In saves the public a lot of trouble, as they need not search the Internet for information on the event. All information about the event and the links to other websites can be post on the blog. As many teenagers are now into blogging, it is good to make use of blog to spread the information on the event.
However there are also limitations, blogs are only catering to computer users, many of the elderly who do not know how to use a computer will not be able to make use of this function. Thus blogging itself is insufficient, other ways of advertising methods sure be use to further promote the event.
These are the references
http://www.singaporeartsfest.com/calendar.asp
http://www.pub.gov.sg/Search/Results.aspx?k=hydro%20sapiens
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/352450/1/.html
http://www.lunatics.nl/
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/cna/cgi-bin/search/search_7days.pl?status=&search=hydro%20sapiens&id=355834
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/cna/cgi-bin/search/search_7days.pl?status=&search=hydro%20sapiens&id=355392
http://www.siww.com.sg/_download/hydrosapiens_brochure.pdf
http://www.youth.sg/content/view/5457/51/
http://www.sandraventure.blogspot.com/
http://www.nac.gov.sg/new/new02a.asp?id=349
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)