SINGAPORE: The 30th Singapore Arts Festival, which has come to a close, has turned out to be one of the best in recent years.

More than 718,000 people, 10 per cent of whom were from overseas, caught the nearly 500 performances during the five-week festival. And one third of the 48 ticketed performances were sold out.

Organisers said that on average, attendance at this year's performances was over 81 per cent, compared to around 80 per cent in 2006.

Said Lee Suan Siang, CEO, National Arts Council, "This years' festival has been a resounding success - an all round success in terms of both the qualitative and quantitative terms."

She said the festival has a number objectives - one is to broaden and deepen the appreciation of the audience; two is to champion artistic excellence; and three is to put Singapore on the map so that it is a festival that is highly regarded.

Lee said: "Now that we've achieved a certain level of recognition internationally, we're beginning to attract a lot of attention. It's now a compelling festival for many performers.

"Many artists who came, want to come back. Many artistic directors who brought their shows here were very impressed with the facilities and the festival as a whole.

"A festival that is not just bold and experimental in nature but also one that allows for an enjoyable festival for the people. This festival shows we can have path-beating shows and yet allow the audience to have an enjoyable experience."

The 30th Singapore Arts Festival will be remembered as one of the best festivals in recent years.

But it is not just a one-off successful event. Rather, the festival aims to plant the seeds for long-term development of local artists.

Goh Ching Lee, Director for Singapore Arts Fest 2007, National Arts Council, said: "This year's festival has planted the seeds for new phase of growth and development for the festival as well as for the Singapore arts scene.

"One of these is the establishment of the Singapore Festival Orchestra - it's the right time for us to harness the energy of young musicians here [to] present interesting projects in the... future."

Another landmark achievement has been the strategic alliance with the Edinburgh International Festival.

Said Goh: "This is a festival that for many years we [have looked] up to as the international festival to be associated with... we've finally managed to work with the Edinburgh Festival as a partner in commissioning and in productions.

"This is very different from our previous work where we commission new works on an ad hoc basis, every time looking for a project, looking for partners that require a lot of hard work from the festival and the artists.

"With this agreement with the Edinburgh Festival, we're committed to one another as a partner and together we'll go and look for those projects and artists that we're interested in."

With this agreement, Singapore artists will be involved in creating new artistic projects for an even wider international audience, within the next three to five years. - CNA/yy