PAssionArts Festival 2022 connects hearts through arts in our heartlands

PAssionArts Festival 2022 connects hears through arts in our heartlands

Summary:

Over 64,000 residents, 200 artists and art groups and volunteers are engaged in arts programmes and activities.

Description:

The PAssionArts Festival 2022, taking place from 1 July to 30 September 2022, is set to transform Singapore’s heartlands into vibrant and interactive art spaces. Themed “Connecting HeARTs, Connecting Us!”, the festival — a platform for community collaboration and engagement — brings arts right to the heART of every neighbourhood while celebrating the creativity of Singaporeans. This year’s festival will take on a blended format to connect HeARTs through arts, enabled by in-person art activities and technologies such as ‘live’ streaming and augmented reality.

Spanning 48 Festival Villages island-wide, the festival will showcase a range of vibrant art activities and programmes involving over 64,000 residents and 200 artists and art groups together with our network of 89 Community Arts & Culture Clubs (CACCs). The programmes and art installations aim to invigorate residents with fresh, innovative presentations of arts as well as to strengthen community participation and involvement.

The PAssionArts Festival 2022 will also be hosting 30 exciting pre-festival events across the island to engage some 6,400 residents in the creation of art works such as Bukit Batok Sand Art Montage, Cheng San-Seletar Sustainability Tingkat Decoupage, Marine Parade Face Painted ‘Opera’ Masks, Tampines-Changkat Large Format Punch Needle, Kreta Ayer-Kim Seng Wall Mural, West Coast Mural and Pasir Ris Canopy.

On Saturday, 16 July 2022, Tampines Central CACC will kick-start the 3-month long festival with residents coming together to co-create Nagomi art pieces to set the Singapore Book of Records for the “Most number of people doing Nagomi painting together”.

One interesting art installation is the Kreta Ayer-Kim Seng Wall Mural. Eight young aspiring artists together with 200 residents from nine Residents’ Committees will transform their neighbourhoods with distinctive strokes and colours, inspired by the estate’s unique heritage and characteristics.

Another art installation to look forward to is the West Coast Mural, “Sailing Through Together @ West Coast”, which will be co-created by the residents and artists Anson Tan and Fish Jaafar. The concept and design will portray West Coast as a beautiful, exciting, and forward-looking community with people enjoying recreational activities such as cycling and fishing. The complete work will be featured at the junction of Block 728 Clementi West Street 2.

At the Pasir Ris estate, an 8 x 8 metre “Canopy” will be built where residents can decorate with hand-drawn stars. They can also doodle on an array of 1.5 metre wooden displays of Singapore icons such as the Merlion and Singapore Flyer.

Residents can also look forward to seeing works of art, which adorn the facades of 17 HDB blocks island-wide with a few coming alive through augmented reality. This national-level Façade Art provides 34 physical canvas painting workshops for more than 3,500 residents island-wide to co-create unique artistic representations of their neighbourhood. At Nee Soon East, the facade art will give a glimpse of the estate in the early years, as well as common sights and popular activities like food and cycling.

Ms Tan Swee Leng, Director of the Arts & Culture Division at People’s Association, said, “The PAssionArts Festival provides a meaningful way for residents from all walks of life to come together to bond and connect through the appreciation of art. It also provides a platform for residents to unearth their artistic talents.”

She added, “This year, we will adopt an integrated approach to arts engagement to widen the opportunities for community participation such as rolling out more arts activities and programmes at the local level and partnering with new local community art networks. In line with the theme, “Connecting HeARTs, Connecting Us!”, we transcend beyond physical art villages by engaging them through ‘live’ streaming of the stage performances. We will continue our journey to collaborate with the community to build a vibrant HeARTland through arts.”