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Arts House celebrates 13th 
birthday with a rocking party

SINGAPORE — When Sarah Martin was in talks to take over the helm of The Arts House, she told the Arts House Limited board that she was not interested in the position unless they wanted a shake-up.

House Party organised by Arts House Limited to celebrate the thirteenth anniversay of Arts House includes memorabilia that visitors stand a chance to win. This is part of Arts House Limited's renewed programming to reactivate its spaces and connect with wider audiences. Photo: Arts House Limited

House Party organised by Arts House Limited to celebrate the thirteenth anniversay of Arts House includes memorabilia that visitors stand a chance to win. This is part of Arts House Limited's renewed programming to reactivate its spaces and connect with wider audiences. Photo: Arts House Limited

SINGAPORE — When Sarah Martin was in talks to take over the helm of The Arts House, she told the Arts House Limited board that she was not interested in the position unless they wanted a shake-up.

Calling herself an “agent of change”, Martin describes how she told the board that “if they want (someone) who will be committed and create positive change for audiences and artists, then I am committed.

“If they want someone to just fill up the chair and space, and not make this positive change, then look elsewhere”.

Appointed in December last year, Martin is now breathing new life into The Arts House’s 13th anniversary celebrations. Under her direction, the annual event — called Open House in the past — has been renamed House Party.

And a party-like atmosphere is exactly what Martin, 41, wants to see. She and the organisers opted for a “free and easy” approach to the event.

Music on Empress Lawn today, and small bites on the porch at The Arts House from pop-up stalls all add to a festival vibe.

Martin’s background — she was festival director for World of Music, Arts and Dance (Womad) Singapore for nine years; and director of operations for the Singapore Grand Prix for eight — means she has a unique set of skills that will help her with changing up the arts venue.

“One of the reasons we termed (our anniversary event) the ‘House Party’ is because we want this place to start being a place of dialogue for members of the arts community ... We want people to come here and think of this as a networking space,” Martin said. The casual vibe will help with that, she added.

She is particularly excited about a new House Party programme, Note for Note, which pairs 10 poets with 10 musicians. Curated by National Arts Council Young Artist Award 2016 recipient and poet Marc Nair, the show features African rhythms, the Beatles tunes, and electronic music, with poets performing to the beats.

In the mix are names such as multidisciplinary artist Bani Haykal, prize-winning poet Aaron Lee, and comedian and slam poet Kok Wei Liang.

“I think in terms of genre, it’s very open. There are elements of folk, classical, pop, drum and bass, and avant-garde in the performances,” said Nair.

“What really strikes my heart is that the music spectrum is very broad,” added Martin.

Visitors to House Party can visit all the rooms in The Arts House, if they so choose. Event programmes will involve master storyteller, Kamini Ramachandran, reading in the Blue Room, while chamber music will be presented in the Living Room.

Martin takes over the helm of the arts management company from outgoing chief executive Lee Chor Lin, who resigned in September last year. The Victoria Theatre and Victoria Concert Hall — home of Singapore Symphony Orchestra — along with the Drama Centre in Victoria Street, known for the performing arts, now all come under the Arts House Limited’s expanded portfolio. In the long run, Martin is hoping for all the venues to connect with audiences and artists.

In the future, she said, “we can fully explore the notion of being arts intermediaries with all the venues”, including Stamford Arts Centre, which will be renovated and opened as a home for the traditional arts.

Besides The Arts House at Old Parliament Lane, Arts House Limited also manages arts venues such as Aliwal Arts Centre in the Bugis area — which hosts the Aliwal Arts Night Crawl and Urban Arts Festival — and the Goodman Arts Centre, home to the National Arts Council and various artists’ studios, in Goodman Road. Arts House Limited also manages the annual Singapore International Festival of Arts.

Martin said that the beauty of all the spaces is that they each have a distinctive identity, some stronger than others.

“Arts House Limited plays a role as an intermediary in the arts landscape, and that’s a very important role to connect artists to spaces, audiences to spaces, audiences to artists,” said Martin. “We do this through our programming, and slowly but surely, (we will) build very unique communities in all these spaces.”

House Party will be held at The Arts House (1 Old Parliament Lane ) on March 25 and 26, from 10am to 10pm. For more information on the event and programming, visit www.theartshouse.sg/whats-on/house-party

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