State of the Arts: July 12 to 19

SINGAPORE — It was an eventful week for the art scene. After a long renovation process, the revamped Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall finally opened with a Singapore Symphony Orchestra concert graced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. The public will also get a chance to explore it in the Open House event this weekend. This year’s Singapore Heritage Festival also kicked off, with an official opening later today at the Asian Civilisations Museum.

Elsewhere, the annual Patron of the Arts event was held to laud 344 philanthropists donating S$32.2m to the arts last year. Poet Desmond Kon Zhicheng-Mingde bested a poet from Pakistan to win the Poetry World Cup online contest. The Singapore International Film Festival announced the launch of a new South-east Asian Film Lab writing workshop for its 25th edition in December. The Singapore International Festival Of Arts’ pre-fest event The OPEN also wrapped up and the Art Apart hotel art fair opened.

Meanwhile, the Media Development Authority has barred the sale of an Archie comic depicting same-sex marriage after receiving a complaint.

Meanwhile, in the NLB saga, there was an impromptu Let’s Read Together event outside the National Library; three judges of the Singapore Literature Prize resigned; Singapore writer Suchen Christine Lim gave an impassioned speech at the Asia Pacific Writers and Translation Association Conference; and Member of Parliament Hri Kumar Nair weighed in on the debate, disagreeing with the NLB’s decision to withdraw the children’s book titles. It all culminated with the NLB reinstating the books after Communications and Information Minister Yaacob Ibrahim’s instructions to move the controversial books to the adult section, instead of pulping them. MAYO MARTIN