The Substation director lines up a series of meetings to discuss new direction

SINGAPORE — The Substation’s new artistic director Alan Oei has announced today (Feb 18), a series of public meetings to reveal further details regarding the arts centre’s new direction.

Beginning March 1, the meetings or walk-in sessions will be held on Tuesdays, 5pm to 8pm, at the Substation's Random Room. These will culminate in a townhall session on March 31. 

These weekly discussions will revolve around specific themes. Details for these, as well as additional reading material, will be released on Friday noon the week before, beginning Feb 26.

Due to space constraints, the Tuesday sessions will be divided into three 45-minute timings and interested parties can register for these at http://substationandchange.peatix.com/.

“Since I joined The Substation as Artistic Director in October 2015, there has been significant change. It’s created some confusion and anxiety about The Substation that many of us have come to know and love,” said Oei, in a message posted on The Substation’s Facebook page.

The statement comes after recent online criticism surrounding the new direction of the arts centre as a “research and developmental space”, and how this would impact its long-standing association with the alternative and punk music scene. Around the same time, the closure of the centre’s long-running Moving Images film programme was also announced, sparking anxiety among film buffs.

In an interview with TODAY last December, Oei had discussed his proposed changes in the way The Substation was to be run, which included a reshuffling of space and programming, dealing with its financial problems, and more contentiously, relooking the role of the centre as a venue rental space.

Speaking to TODAY, he added: “We have shared our larger vision with the public in December — but there is still a lot of uncertainty from the arts community. The reason we haven’t shared more is because we’re also trying to figure things out. With the walk-in sessions, it’s very democratic, anyone at all can come. This is a special opportunity then for The Sub to listen to, and consider different views.”

On the decision to do a series of small discussions prior to a townhall, Oei added: "The Substation has too many stakeholders, each with different interests and issues. Rather than do a single free-for-all session, we thought we could stagger the topics. So for example on Feb 26, we are releasing the original proposal I made to the Board in my interview presentation. Hopefully, people will read the information to get a clearer understanding and context before they come for the Tuesday Talks in the Random Room."

The Tuesday meetings will revolve around specific topics, including how the arts centre will fit in the current landscape; how artists can connect to a larger audience; the debate on multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary arts; and questions of inclusivity or exclusivity, and the issue of venue rental. The final event, the townhall session on March 31, will be moderated by former artistic director T Sasitharan.

(This article has been updated on Feb 23 to clarify the dates of the meetings.)