A walk with Photography

The hotel that I am assuming to represent will be the Marina Bay Sands (MBS). MBS is an integrated resort that is developed by the Las Vegas Sands which aims to provide guests with an unforgettable enjoyable experience as much as possible. Some of the events which my hotel has sponsored are the Men Fashion Week, Andy Warhol: 15 Minutes Eternal, Women’s Fashion Week, Harry Potter The Exhibition, Slava’s Snow Show and many more. From the events that my hotel has sponsored in the past, it is evident that MBS is focused on promoting the area of Fashion and the Arts in the form of Exhibitions and shows. In addition, most of the events that had taken place in the ArtScience Museum, which is located right outside the premises of Marina Bay Sands.

Description of event

The event which I have chosen for this assignment is the Singapore International Photography Festival (SIPF). This is the third time this event is hosted in Singapore and countless photography enthusiasts and people who appreciate the art of photography have been attracted. SIPF offers a wide range of exhibitions which showcase art pieces in the form of photography by established photographers. Which include the well-known Reginald Van Develde and Mark Power. Exhibitions of this event are located at various places, some of which are the National Library, Singapore Management University Gallery, Societe Generale Gallery, Selegie Arts Centre and the ArtScience Museum. SIPF also conducts professional workshops which allow young professionals, potential and emerging photographers to receive new skills and guidance from the established and well known professionals. SIPF also provides a Portfolio Review for photographers to receive reviews from curators, editors, gallery owners and arts dealers outside of Singapore.

Review of event

In my most humble opinion, I feel that SIPF 2012 was a successful one as it managed to fulfill one of their main objectives of the whole event, which is bringing photography enthusiasts together. Not only that, SIPF also created opportunities for potential and budding photographers to further crave their skills through workshops and portfolio reviews, which I believe is a very important factor as it encourages and motivates them to continue pursuing after the path of photography. SIPF 2012 also provides a number of exhibitions to fully satisfy the participants attended this event. In addition, SIPF 2012 has also conducted workshops and Portfolio review sessions which I feel that is a plus point of the whole event. As it allows the participants to bring home new knowledge and skills. This event has also created a deeper interest for photography in me, in which I believe, is one of the objectives for the event. And that is to reach out to their potential target market, to instill the appreciation of arts to the young. However, I feel that the promotion and advertising of this event is not aggressive enough, and this results in quite a number of people not knowing that this event is going on. Had I not heard it from my friends, I would not have known that this event actually existed. Thus, I feel that it is a pity as many people did not get to enjoy and experience this event.

Marketing mix

Now, I will be comparing the 8 Ps (Product, Place, Programming, People, Partnership, Promotion, Packaging and Distribution and Price) for this event in 2012 with respect from 2010.

Product

The main product for the SIPF 2012 is the display of photography. The pieces of photography art exhibited in this festival are the works of established professionals from all around the world. And this will allow the viewers to experience and appreciate different pieces of art at different levels, as every artist inputs their own personality and style into his work. In both years, the SIPF has managed to gather and displayed photograph pieces of artists from all over the world. However, what makes SIPF 2012 better than last year is the Magnum Photos Showcase, which displayed a total of 143 works from three prestigious photographers – Stuart Franklin, Mark Power and Jacob Aue Sobol from the prestigious photography agency, Magnum Photos.

      

 With the help of all these photographs, it attracts art enthusiasts from all around the world to come and attend this event. As it is not an everyday thing to have photographs from many well-known and raising photography professionals displayed in one event. In addition, there are other products such as workshops and presentations available in this event which provides participants with activities other than seeing the exhibitions. These products will help to attract the participants as they can now do hands on activities which will keep them engaged.

On top of that, there are also tangible products such as the brochures and pamphlets to allow the visitors to have a brief introduction on what they are expecting from the event.

There are also augmented products such as the lighting of the exhibitions and the music in the backdrop. All these serve to create an atmosphere that will further enhance the experience of the visitors when they are viewing the exhibitions.

Place

For SIPF 2012, it is held over a wide range of places. Some of which are the Singapore Management University, The National Library and the Art House. One of the prominent things to note is that the different exhibitions are widely spread apart. And I believe that this is a marketing strategy in the sense that the organizers have the intention of reaching out to locals from all over the country. This is also to provide easy access for locals living in different part of the country this is because if the entire exhibition is located in one area, people living far away will find it a chore to travel there, thus reducing the intention to visit the exhibition. However, if they are spread out in different locations, travelling will be more accessible. The exhibition in the ArtScience Museum, the Outside In, is an exhibition which is located at MBS displays works from Magnum Photos, A prestigious photography company which was not part of SIPF in the year 2008.

 

Programming

SIPF has come up with a list of programs to fully satisfy participants and make their money worthwhile. Other than the usual exhibitions that are put up, SIPF also provides workshops with the intention of craving, sharpening and instilling skills for the potential and young photographers. In addition, portfolio reviews are also conducted to allow photographers to have their works reviewed and commented by well-known curators from the industry. In order to add on a personal touch, presentations were conducted to allow the audience to have a deeper understanding of the art works, and also draw them closer to the photographer, as he will be the one presenting to the audience.

In the year 2012, SIPF has introduced their very first education program, “Conversation with the Black Box”, that is specially designed for upper secondary students and tertiary students. The objective of the event is to guide the students in understanding and gaining the ability to appreciate a photograph from different points of view, simultaneously, arriving at their own opinions and reflections through the use of critical thinking. This shows that SIPF not only aim to satisfy their usual target markets, which are the photography enthusiasts, but also the young ones of our nation in hoping to inculcate skills in appreciating forms of arts.

In addition, the House of Photography is introduced in this year’s SIPF. It is a photography education space which is converted from a shipping container. This will be a refreshing experience for anyone as in covers the fundamental basis of photography, and also displaying how an image can be created through the minimum use of equipment. Some of the workshops involved in this are the Shadow Play and X-Ray Eyes, which allows the participants to learn a technique from the 19^th century to create photographs, and the Pinhole camera workshop, which allows the participants to make their own sneaky pinhole cameras.

There are also many interesting new activities in this SIPF 2012, some of which are the competition of creating a story in 26 frames and creating your own paper camera. All of these activities spurs curiosity and interests in the visitors and are definitely contributing factors that attract more participants.

 

People

The people who are involved in SIPF 2012 includes the organizers, curators, tour guides, volunteers, instructors for workshops, designers, editors, program assistants, exhibition assistants and the participants themselves.  Not forgetting the artists that captured and have their work displayed in the exhibitions. Without them, this event would not have been successful.

For example, in order for the participants to have a memorable and enjoyable experience in workshops, the instructors must be well trained in knowing their stuffs well and at the same time, able to be a good host or ‘friend’ to the participants. In this way, the participants will not be afraid to open up and are willing to participant and engage themselves to the fullest in the workshops. Thus, this will form a memorable experience in them, which is an indication of a successful event.

Another example will be the exhibition assistants. Without them helping out and making sure that the exhibitions are set up nicely and correctly, the exhibitions will not have been as memorable as it is now. As the atmosphere and ambience is an important factor whilst appreciating an art piece, the exhibition assistants has to ensure that the lights are well dimmed, the art pieces are well spread out and displayed, whether the music in the backdrop is suitable or not.

Partnership

In order for the event to be produced and successful, organizers have to work with various companies for different aspects of the festival. One such partnership is the venue supporters which will provide the venues where the exhibitions are held. Some of the examples are the National Museum of Singapore, Singapore Management University and The Arts House. As these venues are well known for the arts, it serves as a perfect platform for the exhibitions to be held at.

Promotion

SIPS 2012 advertise their event through different kind of mediums such as putting advertisements online, setting up posters in shopping malls, bus stops and spreading through the word of mouth. However, I feel that the promotion of this event is not aggressive enough. For example, the malls that they set up the posters at are mainly Marina Bay Sands and Esplanade Mall. And this will result in lesser people knowing that there is such an event going on. In my opinion, if there advertising is more aggressive, it will definitely attract more people into knowing this event. Some methods of doing so can be doing a promotional video online and spread it across social networking platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr. As such, once the public knows about SIPF 2012, details of the event flow and programs can be easily accessed through the official website in great detail, and this is a promotional tool for the event.

Packaging and Distribution

 In terms of packaging, SIPF 2012 came up with 3 packages for 3 different activities. One of the package covers for all 8 sessions of talks by the artists and curators, which cost $60 for adults and $30 for students and senior citizens. Another Package covers the evening presentation of art pieces by artists for all 3 evenings which cost $22 for adults and $15 for the students and senior citizens. The last package includes the screening of all 8 films which cost $60 for adults and $40 for students and senior citizens. These packages will motivate the visitors to purchase them as it is more worth it to buy them as a package as it will be cheaper than to purchase the tickets for the respective activities individually.

Price

SIPF 2012 has one exhibition that requires the visitors to purchase a ticket upon entering the exhibition, and that is the Magnum Photo Showcase. The Magnum Photo Showcase tickets are sold at a standard full price of $6/adult and $3/child. However, for Singapore residents, it is sold at a discounted rate of $5/adult and $2/child. I believe this is to encourage locals to learn and appreciate the arts and culture. There is also a concession rate for students and senior citizens for the participation of talks, presentation and film screenings. Also, students and undergraduates are entitled to a $50 rebate off all Professional Workshops and Portfolio review. I believe this is done so to encourage the young ones to attend and participate in those activities without having to worry about the price they have to pay.

There are also workshops that require the participants to pay before attending it. Some of which are the Shadow Play & X-Ray Eyes which cost $15 per pax and the building a Pinhole camera workshop which cost $20 per pax.

There are also talks and presentation conducted by artist and curator which cost $10 for adults and $5 for students and senior citizens.

Special events

One special event concept that I will like to propose to the festival organizer of SIPF is the amalgamation of a photo-taking competition in a Fashion show. The photos that the photographers are required to take does not only restrict to only what the Fashion show offers in the front stage, but also what is happening in the backstage. I feel that this is feasible as it creates a platform for the budding and young photographers to put their photography skills in the form of a competition. Although it is normal for photographers to take pictures of models during a fashion show, but having a competition out of it is still a rather fresh idea. Not only it allows the photographers gain more insights about photography art as they are able to explore beyond their boundaries in their attempts to capture different moments in the whole of the fashion show, it also allows SIPF to have an additional display of art in their exhibition or an additional content for their evening presentations. 

  

Bibliography

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Disclaimer
This blog is created entirely for the purpose of education and for the Module, Festivals and Events Management.