UOB and NAC team up to help arts sector on digitalisation journey

AT A recent session for representatives of Singapore arts companies, veteran trainer Felix Tan asked the room: “How many of you here think your organisations have very little money and very few resources?” More than half of the people in the room – and some rather grudgingly at that – raised their hands.

“Well, when you don’t have money, you have to get really creative… Sometimes, you just need to move.” 

On the one hand, you don’t need to tell a roomful of arts practitioners to “get creative”. They’ve been making magic happen on tiny budgets for a good portion of their careers.

On the other hand, Tan’s day-long lesson on design thinking – popularised by global companies such as Apple, Google and Airbnb – may just be what the art sector needs to shift, revise and expand its thinking towards more global business trends.

Tan, the mentor-in-residence at United Overseas Bank (UOB) innovation arm The Finlab, covered everything from key metrics and cost structures to customer segments and value propositions. Although some participants said these were not new concepts to them, others found value in how the information was synthesised using newer frameworks and methodologies.

The session was just one of six jointly organised by National Arts Council (NAC) and UOB Finlab to help the arts sector become more financially resilient, following the devastating impact of the pandemic, which decimated jobs across the sector. 

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Tan said: “From the perspective of business owners and operators, the challenges faced by those in the arts sector are similar to those of other sectors – from clearly knowing their customers and managing the messaging of their value, to how they can leverage their resources, activities and partners for better business outcomes.”

Kong Yi Ling, senior art manager at art space The Culture Story, said: “We were given a lot of information, and it’s a question of us sitting down together with our teams later, looking at all these points, and figuring out how to strategise around them… Many art groups certainly need support in various areas, such as branding, marketing and digitalising.”  

Other participants felt that there were issues raised that needed to be addressed on a national level; these are not areas that individual arts companies can put into effect on their own. 

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Dr Shahril Salleh, founder and artistic director of Vox Camerata, said: “Different companies have different resources – and the smaller ones will struggle to put some of these lessons into effect. For instance, the issue of digitalising our arts offerings to expand our audience base beyond Singapore really needs to be tackled by the government. In Australia, there’s the Australian Digital Concert Hall, which is designed to bring live arts into the digital realm. A Herculean effort like that cannot possibly be undertaken by any single company alone.”

On the whole, however, the participants said many of the lessons had been useful, including a hands-on video-making course to create short videos using their camera phones, and tips on how to use the CapCut free video editing tool.

Tan said: “That these arts companies have continued to defy the odds and still be here today is a strong testament to not only their grit, but also their approach of continually looking for new ways to reach out and stay relevant. With interesting new technologies like Web3 and the metaverse to broaden the horizons … I believe a more promising future for the arts, and the benefits that it brings, is waiting to happen.”

Shannon Lung, head of UOB FinLab, said that the next cohort of the programme will focus specifically on individual and self-employed artists to help them expand their digital skills. “We will build on the success of this programme, and refine and expand the content to meet the changing needs of the arts industry.”

The course, to be run a few times over three years, is expected to benefit approximately 150 arts practitioners and 60 arts groups.