Exploring the notion of being Asian may be on the agenda of more people than presumed, if the turnout at the University Cultural Centre (UCC) for the opening day of the fifth annual NUS Arts Festival 2010 is anything to go by.
A live band entertained visitors at the foyer before the commencement of opening play wo(men) on March 5, while a crowd of film enthusiasts waited to view Short Films from Asia, a screening of five films from the Asian Film Archive.
The festival, titled “Through Asian Lens”, will run over three weekends from March 5 to March 21 and features a total of 48 shows, ranging from plays and film screenings to concerts and dance performances.
23 of the shows are free for the public to attend.
Music lovers can look forward to Air on an A-String, an unconventional concert featuring Four to Tango, a string quartet, while film buffs have a deluge of choices, including Winterland, a Norwegian film by award-winning filmmaker Hisham Zaman.
The theme for this year’s festival – Through Asian Lens – was chosen with NUS’ vision of being a leading global university in Asia in mind.
Festival director Christine Khor said that the aim is to attract more students to view stories and issues in the global world through the festival’s lenses.
“NAF 2010 leverages on the fluidity of arts to explore a whole range of topics related to the Asian story,” said Khor. “It was inspired by NUS President Tan Chorh Chuan’s vision in starting the Global Asian Institute.”
According to her, this year’s theme is a marked contrast to those from previous years, which tended to be linked to the various NUS faculties. For instance, last year’s festival, titled Arts+Environment, was organized in collaboration with the Faculty of Science to promote environmental issues.
Khor added that a key initiative this year is to encourage and promote student works currently in progress.
Having started out as a platform solely for student group performances supported by the NUS Centre for the Arts, the festival has gradually evolved to foster closer collaborations with professionals.
Wo(men), which was held on March 5 and March 6, was the result of a change in approach by the centre to provide learning opportunities for students.
Written by third-year theatre studies and English literature undergraduate Faith Ng, it is about the comedic and dysfunctional lives of three women trying to survive family secrets and ties. The play starred household names such as Neo Swee Lin and Lok Meng Chue.
“While the actresses might be seasoned professionals, a group of students have worked closely with the cast, set designer and other professionals in the production since the beginning,” said Khor.
Ongoing student works that will be showcased include dance performances such as Anweshana: The Search for Nalanda, by NUS Indian Dance and B, by recent NUS graduate Kiran Kumar.
As he waited to enter the UCC theatre for wo(men), 18-year-old Alvin Surya, a student at Anglo-Chinese (Independent) School, said he was amazed at the number of programs on offer at the festival.
“I’m only here because my brother (an understudy on the production team) had a spare ticket. I’m pretty excited though, considering the amount of hype the play has received,” Surya said.
Meanwhile, tired of the usual Hollywood fare shown in cinemas, Canadian exchange students Adriana Morrison and Wang Yichuan visited the UCC on the opening day to catch Short Films from Asia.
“We thought it’d be great to watch some Asian films, but I’ve just been blown away by how huge the festival is,” Morrison said. “We’ll definitely be back to watch more of the shows if this is good.”
Prior to the start of the festival, the organisers embarked on an extensive marketing campaign in an attempt to reach out to NUS students.
“Besides promoting NAF on social media platforms like Facebook, we have also created a mobile website this year,” said Khor. “Students with mobile phones can access festival info, book tickets and recommend shows to friends on the go.”
Khor said that the website garnered almost 8,000 hits before the opening day of the festival.
Yet for all the efforts, some NUS students said that the organisers could have done more to create a “buzz” factor.
Anita Neo, a third-year English literature student, said the festival was too detached from the main campus.
She said, “Nobody has talked about it in school and I’ll probably not go for any of the shows on offer.”
Third-year English language major Stephanie Png, echoed Neo’s sentiments.
“These kind of shows don’t really appeal to me,” said Png
For third-year communications and new media student Jerome Seow however, the festival could provide something for everyone.
“The programs might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it provides an outlet for students to relax and unwind at the end of the week, especially since this period is typically the busiest time for us,” Seow said |
