Singapore Tamil Youth Conference 2018 Toolkit Toolkit 2018 Final | Page 39

Challenges for the Local Tamil Theatre Scene
Unsustainable revenue model for theatre
In recent years, there has been a marked shift
from Tamil plays simply being passion
projects to being a viable avenue for income
generation
•
With times changing, fund providers
who are largely government bodies, have
now become more lenient and are
adapting with the changing expectations
of the audience as well because if the
content of theatre does not evolve with
Theatre companies do not have an external,
time, theatre as an art form will very
profitable revenue model that is independent
possibly die a natural death.
of government funding
In an increasingly cosmopolitan Singapore, not
o For example, dance schools derive a
only is it becoming very hard to define what
main source of revenue from the
“traditional” refers to, the means used to stage
classes that they conduct which then
plays themselves have gone digital with the
sustains their productions.
emergence of digital theatre, indicating a clear
Such an income is lacking in theatre and
shift away from traditional and conventional
therefore, theatre companies are highly
means of staging plays
dependent on funding from government
bodies and are thus unable to hire full timers. An increased focus on corporate sponsorship
for the arts in general could lessen the degree
o “local Indian arts institutions depend
of extensive reliance on government funding.
on members’ subscription fees,
o “In a state where arts philanthropy
student fees, ticket and souvenir
remains
relatively
weak,
programme sales to generate income
Government-led development of the
for their activities” (Rajan, 2008)
arts has provided ample financial and
Plays with longer runs could generate
creative opportunities for arts
public interest which would then drive up
practitioners and organisations.”
their support and attendance. However,
(Fern, 2017)
theatre companies lack the funding to
However, that would be a challenge for the
sustain such long runs.
Indian population in Singapore which is small
Issues with government funding
and diversified with many other language
To receive significant government funding,
groups and competing interests within the
theatre artists have to stage brand-new plays,
community itself
which disincentivizes them from re-staging
o Theatre groups, particularly the new ones,
old plays. However, the quality of plays only
are faced with the challenge of obtaining a
gets better when they are re-staged and fine-
performance venue at an affordable price.
tuned, since adjustments can then be made to
o Theatre groups have begun to utilise new
put on a better show. But, it is usually harder
media as a form of advertising strategy
for them to get sufficient funding to restage
amidst the rising costs of radio and
plays.
television advertisements. However, radio
Funding used to be focused on how plays should
and television advertisements continue to
be scripted in a way that reflects the sustenance
have a more effective outreach to the Tamil
of the traditional heritage of our language.
community.
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