A Salute

"Very few works spring to life in perfection. They grow, test themselves and slowly crystallise in collaboration with small, dedicated audiences."

I strongly believe that we need to increase our funding for the less commercialized works of art.

Having said that, I was strongly encouraged by some artists who came together to put up a show at the Substation last year.

They had no funding from NAC, almost no sponsors, so they had to fork out their own money to do this.

Many of the people involved were students as well as first-time performers. The students were in the midst of their exams and others had to juggle with work and rehearsals.

But they turned up and did the show.

They delivered.

Wasn't a great piece of work. In fact, someone who works in theatre told me that it was very pretentious. It might have been, but the production was a testament of their passion, hard work and dedication. I am sure it bodes well for their growth as artists and human beings.

While the problem of arts funding remains, let me salute the artists who work in spite of that.