Meshing minds in SIN City
It it has been 'All Quiet on the Western front' mostly due to the fact that I moved East to Singapore in January. I have spent the last couple of months finding my feet on this fair isle and forging ahead with plans for an official launch out of beta for Mesh Minds in both the UK and Singapore later this year. Rock and Roll.
I have already managed to hold a number of meetings with some highly inspirational local and foreign individuals spanning the arts and business worlds, whilst the London team continues to expand on the powerful networks built up over the last two years at Mesh HQ.
A seemingly perennial topic in Singapore is that of the 'brain drain' phenomena. In relation to emerging creative talent, there appears to be a certain sense of disillusionment regarding the effect of 'Singapore, Inc' on creativity, free-thinking and leadership in the arts. Funding for the arts in Singapore comes from a mixture of monies from the National Arts Council, corporate sponsors, and individual patrons. I note that the major advantage that the UK has over Singapore right now is strength and maturity of its creative infrastructure. By that, I mean:
(i) government sponsored training for creative entrepreneurs covering topics like how to set up a business, how to market your business, how to deal with business administration (tax, companies registry filings, accounts etc.);
(ii) free publicity - the UK (and London especially) has a wealth of free newsletters and magazines that offer coverage of all arts-based events from the largest exhibitions at the Tate to the tiniest ten-people-in-the-gallery-at-any-one-time shows. This means that if your show is good, it can attract a lot of publicity without very much effort. See online newsletters like Le Cool, Urban Junkies, Flavor Pill, and Daydream Network. Those publications have a circulation of 30,000+ and all you need to do to get in any of those publications is send in an email - if your event is 'hot' enough, they will holler about you. Simple.
(iii) collectives - there are loads of different collectives in London, like Scrawl Collective and Daydream Network - spanning a variety of art forms. Members of these collectives pull together to share contacts and information so that shows can be organised at very low cost. Huge numbers of favours are done just so that artists can get something innovative and fresh on their CV.
(iv) venues - there are tons of 'alternative' and 'innovative' venues in London because the competition is so heavy. So, bars will offer their space for short theatre performances, like Stand Up Drama, art exhibitions or short film showcases.
In summary, there needs to be better supporting infrastructure in the form of education, creative connections, marketing opportunities and spaces. Given the right set of tools, I believe Singaporeans could fashion a wonderfully vibrant creative industry for Singapore. Without the right tools, however, and only a few hard-to-access grants available, it will be difficult to remove the feeling that creativity is limited here - not only due to criteria placed on the 'right' kinds of shows and exhibitions, but by the distinct lack of creative infrastructure available.
Having said that, it is by no means an insurmountable task. What is required from the grassroots of the local and international talent in Singapore, are individuals prepared to tweet, blog, publish (online and offline) and generally shout locally and globally - thereby providing second-to-none coverage of the movers and shakers in South East Asia. If Singapore really wants to establish itself as a "New Asia Creative Hub" by 2012, it needs to re-invigorate emerging talent and embed the belief that change is coming and they can be part of this Renaissance City 2.0 by becoming thought-leaders and creative innovators. It's time for the Artistic Asian Tigers to come out from their dens and show the world their collective roar.
