While Singapore’s arts scene is still relatively young, there is no denying that the last decade has seen a dynamic growth in the range and quality of cultural offerings from all over the globe.
There is a plethora of quality art which reflects our diverse communities with an international basis, recognises social contexts and poses thoughtful questions. This vibrant scene has not gone unnoticed internationally, with both international tourists and expatriates appreciating the sea change.
For today’s artists, there is little doubt that the base of interested audiences and arts appreciators is indeed a varied one.
For every serious collector of conceptual art who visits international art fairs and enjoys in-depth discourse about art, there is someone who derives an uncomplicated aesthetic pleasure from a beautiful watercolour painting.
With the present uncertainty in global geopolitics and gloomy talk of protracted slow growth, there should also be a recognition, however unquantifiable it may seem, that an appreciation of and participation in the arts too have a part to play in the future economy of our nation.
The creative mind does not belong only to the artist. An engaged arts lover will have the intellectual curiosity and nimbleness of a creative disposition: An individual who can imagine broader horizons and may be better able to respond to challenges created by the “disruptions” that we see in the market today.
What art can do is to root the young generation who are still finding their voices and provide a link, through the imagination, to their forebears and a physical landscape that has been lost.
It can also create a sense of empathy for the people we encounter in our midst – from the unhappy domestic worker to the newly retrenched office manager or the child from a new immigrant family.
At the end of the day, what makes a country home? The answer must lie beyond physical trappings, gleaming buildings and state-of-the-art infrastructure.
•The writer is the deputy CEO of the National Arts Council and a published poet.
•This essay was first published in Cultural Connections Vol 2 May 2017, an annual publication by The Culture Academy Singapore.