March 27, 2020
What goes behind the creation of engaging events or performances? How are these conceptualised and what preparations are involved before you see this staged under the bright lights?
At NUS Centre For the Arts, such events and student performances fall squarely on the shoulders of the Talent Development and Programming (TDP) team and no, this is not a Human Resource unit! Instead, the TDP team curates on campus, events such as the HERE! Arts Carnival, ExxonMobil Campus Concerts, and the NUS Arts Festival. This team also oversees, guides and nurtures the creative potential of 21 student arts excellence groups (group) and 12 Cultural Activities Clubs (CAC). Each group and the CAC stage many performances each year, both locally and internationally.
We hear from Jobina Tan, Associate Director at NUS Centre For the Arts how the TDP team is involved in each step of the development journey, to ensure that the events and performances finally presented are relevant, and interesting to the community at NUS and beyond.
TDP organises the HERE! Arts Carnival (HERE), ExxonMobil Campus Concerts (EMCC) and the NUS Arts Festival (NAF). Why is there a need for these different events?
It’s really to signal that the arts is for everyone and anyone on campus. As long as you are curious and have an open-mind, there is every reason to experience the arts right here on campus almost all year round. Moreover, majority of these are free or accessible with highly-subsidised tickets.
It’s also easy to remember when they take place so we hope arts-going becomes a habit that one fosters. To mark the start and end of the academic year, we have two key arts events to bookend it. Every August, HERE welcomes students to embrace the arts as an enjoyable part of their school life, while every March, NAF signals the culmination of a year of learning and discovery. The curation approach reflects this in how HERE’s programming provides a bite-sized taster of a whole smorgasbord of arts performances and activities whereas NAF’s shows have a strong research process and add towards the festival’s theme chosen for that year.
In addition, every semester, the EMCC series presents 6-8 arts events that display primarily student talents and sometimes, professional artists. The series seeks to present unusual work not often seen on campus that is both inspiring and appealing to audiences. This can take the form of original works, collaborations with artists from other art forms, and/or using unconventional spaces.
What is taken into consideration to ensure that these events are relevant and engaging to the audience?
The most important criteria to producing any of the platforms is really how relevant the content is to the people we are trying to reach. Attendance statistics and feedback forms give us some ideas about who these people are, what they enjoy seeing and how many people might want to see these kinds of shows. These factors help determine whether we move ahead with presenting the shows. By reviewing past data and being in touch with what the audience tastes are like currently, we have a feel of the potential audience reach for any show, and then decide on the best platform for the presentation.
Other than size and scale, how do the preparations and considerations taken for such large events (like HERE, EMCC & NAF), differ from the individual student group performances and concerts?
There needs to be a lot more talking going on between the organiser and the individual student group. Such conversations create a collaborative relationship where ideally, it results in a better show, and a more rigorous process of learning through it. It can even help one party do something they otherwise would not have tried alone – such as a different marketing strategy or getting new sources of funding.
If you had to deliver a lecture for ‘Event Development 101’, what would this cover?
For me, the first question one has to ask is – for whose sake is this event for? There are way too many events organised and we are already leading such crowded lives – so there is no need to add on to this if you can’t answer this question and have a personal stake in believing the answer.
You also have to be very honest with yourself if you are so convinced by the “cause” behind making the event that you are willing to go all out for it, including making sacrifices and testing yourself to get out of your comfort zone. 
If the above is done properly, then the rest should fall in place. You will not only figure out how to find your way but also find other like-minded people who want to help you too – either as being part of your organising team or being involved as a supporter in some form or another.
Do you ever think about the legacy of these events, large and small to the audience?
Yes, all the time. This is related to the previous question where you have to identify the reason behind making an event – and usually once you do, you realise that every iteration of the event then becomes a step-by-step realisation towards your cause. This impacts also how you communicate during pre and post event phases as your marketing strategy also forms a type of iteration of the event itself. 
Successful arts events are when audience and partnership engagement is high and it usually takes time to build this like how you would invest for a relationship to work well.