I quote at length...
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Welcome to ArtSingapore. We are now well into 2007 and the Singapore art scene is starting to heat up after the first restful months.
Several incidents earlier this year have reminded us that Singapore and the art scene have still quite a way to go.
First, there was the World Economic Forum report which listed Singapore among the top 10 travel destinations but placed it 42nd (out of 124 territories) in the world in terms of human, cultural and natural resources. This is in spite of the celebrated "more than 6,000 performances and exhibitions last year" and "increase in funding for the arts to $15.5 million a year".
The second is the appeal from focas for financial support from the arts community to help it publish another issue, which will be featured in Documenta 12. focas has been funded by the NAC since its first issue, but in 2003 just before printing the fifth issue, the funding was cut "due to funding re-prioritisation". The issue was published, but since then, focas has been lying dormant. Publishing a journal in Singapore is an economically unviable venture and I am glad that focas has not become defunct, like many other art magazines in Singapore. But I am even gladder that focas has managed to gather the $20,000 it needs and 80% of this is from local sources.
The third incident which I want to mention began with a petition in October last year from the ArtsComm to our state media SPH in relation to inadequate coverage of the arts in The Straits Times. 55 people signed the letter and then a group of about 50 people gathered at The Substation to further discuss the matter and possible lines of action. In February this year, a representative group of the ArtsComm had a meeting with the editorial team of The Straits Times who conceded that they were "committed to cover the arts over and above the readership level".
[...] For entire editorial go to ArtSingapore.org
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