c) Inform your reader about these best practices.

Some of the best practices that Singapore Arts Festival had were their great advertising, their partnerships with so many organisations, their planning of the performances and the ticketing of the performances.

The Singapore Arts Festival 2009 was a very major arts event, which just ended days ago on 14 June. It attracted many people of all ages, from the young kids to the senior citizens.

No matter what age range you are in, there is something for you.

The Singapore Arts Festival had advertisements in almost every part of Singapore. Television shows which reached almost everyone in Singapore, Facebook, Twitter and blog for the younger generation, news in newspapers like The Straits Times, and Channel News Asia, and even schools, where students are informed about the arts festival.

While I was at the Crackers?, the closing celebrations of the Singapore Arts Festival, I asked some of the visitors there, how they got to know about the event.

A group of students answered that their teacher introduced to them this festival, and they found it quite interesting, so they decided to go to the closing celebration at Yishun.

Another lady with her child answered that her daughter performed in the festival, and also through the newspapers. Another lady with her elderly parents answered that they got to know about the festival through The Straits Times.

Thus, I think that the advertisements is one of the best practices of the Singapore Arts Festival, as advertisements create awareness amongst the locals, and also overseas people who might want to visit Singapore due to this particular festival.

The partnerships with so many organisations allowed the Singapore Arts Festival to have many more benefits and advertisements. With partnerships, there will be more discounts for various services and items like the Marina Mandarin Singapore hotels. There can also be more performances and events with partnerships.

For example, the partnership with Esplanade Presents produced many free performances like the Flipside performances. Also, many paid performances were held at the Esplanade, also because Esplanade is a symbol of Singapore’s arts culture.

The partnership with the official media stations, Channel 5 and okto channel meant that the Singapore Arts Festival could save down a lot on broadcasting and having advertisements in the television. Whilst people pay more than $3000 to have their advertisements in the television, partnership with Channel 5 and okto channel allows the Singapore Arts Festival to have large scale advertisements for free, or maybe a meagre amount of money.

Lastly, as this is an international arts festival, the partnership with Singapore Tourism Board will help much as they can help in advertising to overseas partners and also tourists.

Thus, I think that, this is one of the best practices of the Singapore Arts Festival as partnerships with other organisations are very vital in marketing strategies.

The Singapore Arts Festival had great planning of their performances in my opinion. Not only did they have their performances spread across the whole of Singapore, they also have it at different timings, to suit the busy lifestyles of the locals.

Also, most people are not willing to travel right to the other end of Singapore just to watch a show. Thus, there are many different performances at areas like Cineleisure, Vivo City, Orchard, Esplanade and even Yishun. 2 two band performances that I went to were at Esplanade, and the final closing celebration Crackers?, was at Yishun.

Also, I experienced that the festival not only planned the events, they also prepared some augmented products for its visitors. While waiting for the crackers to start at Yishun, the volunteers went around giving earplugs. These earplugs were catered to those people who might be afraid of the loud noises that the crackers create during the show.

In addition, before the show, the volunteers also went around briefing the visitors about the show, like telling people about the options in the show. Standing near to the outer circle would mean that there will be more smoke and more noises, whereas standing at the middle, or near to the inner circle would mean that they would be more protected. We were made to make our own choices, to stand near the outer circle, or inner circle.

I think that the show not only allows us to enjoy the crackers and fireworks, also, it taught us a lesson that in life, we have to make our own choices, and stand by it.

Also, there is a calendar of events that could be found online, and visitors are able to choose their own free time to go to these events and performances.

Lastly, I think that the last best practice that the Singapore Arts Festival has done is the ticketing of the performances. There were wide ranges of the ticketing prices, and there were even free performances for its visitors. Especially at today’s times, where the economy is in recession, the free performances still allow people who love arts to go and experience arts, without having to pay anything.

However, those paid performances, are not too high-end, which makes it affordable for people. Furthermore, there are also concessions for students, senior citizens and NSFs at 20% discount for the tickets. For big groups or school bookings, the prices can even be further negotiated, to fix a price that will benefit both parties.

Also, with the free membership of the ArtsFest Club Card, members are able to get discounts for the tickets. I think that this is vital, as ticketing gimmicks like these will help to attract more people to the festival.

For the Hong Kong Arts Festival, I think that they have two best practices. One of it is that, they have a ‘My Planner’ in the website, which allows their consumers to plan out their schedules, and also find out which timing of the show they can go to. However, they do not have a calendar of events, which makes it quite difficult for its consumers to see the timings of the performances.

Since 1999, Hong Kong Arts Festival had its first Affinity Card with the arts. I think that this is a best practice for arts festivals. As nowadays, credit cards are very popular, especially among adults; this would be a very good way of attracting visitors to go to the festival. Furthermore, with the application of this card, there are some freebies along, and also, there will be discounts for the tickets purchased with the MasterCard. Lastly, consumers who would like to contribute to the festival can also do so, by buying more tickets to more performances. This is said so, as for every dollar spent, Wing Hang Bank will donate 0.35% of the amount purchased towards the support and development of the Hong Kong Arts Festival’s programmes and events. I think that this is a best practice as many people would like to do their part for arts, but often, they do not know how to do it.