Community Arts and Culture Initiatives in Singapore

Zdravko Trivic is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Architecture, School of Design and Environment (SDE), National University of Singapore (NUS). He works closely with CSAC (Centre for Sustainable Asian Cities) and CARE (Centre for Ageing Research in the Environment), SDE, NUS, where he leads several research projects related to multi-sensorial urbanism, health-supportive and ageing-friendly urban space and neighbourhood design, community participation and creative placemaking.

• 1. Community Arts and Culture – The Big Picture 2. Impacts of Arts and Culture: What Impacts and How to Measure? 3. Neighbourhood Arts and Culture Impact Assessment (NACIA) 4. Spaces for the Arts - What Can Space Do for the Arts? 5. Activation of Space through the Arts - What Can Arts Do for Space? 6. Arts and Community: What Can Arts and Space Do for the Community, and vice versa? 7. Neighbourhood Spatial Opportunities for the Arts – Singaporean Heartlands 8. Impacts of Arts and Culture – Learning From Singapore 9. Conclusion - Supporting Community Arts and Culture Development and Building Creative Neighbourhoods

"This book explores the relationship between the arts and culture in the context of community and place, and proposes a valuable tool to assess the non-economic impacts of arts engagement. What is unique about this book is the granularity of the focus. Many authors have addressed the arts in public places, but Trivic breaks down the application of community art to the level of individual and distinct neighbourhoods, using Singapore as a collection of five relevant cases. Support from the government of Singapore to bring arts and culture to all its citizens, wherever they may be, through a ‘nodal approach,’ is in contrast to many settings, particularly in Western countries, where market-driven decisions appear to block widespread dissemination of public art. Trivic identifies ways to evaluate spaces and nodes in neighbourhoods, beyond formal art venues, that offer the best opportunity for art and cultural activity. This involves decentralization of decision-making with local grass-roots organizations, and enables the cultivation of an arts and culture ‘ecology’ of sorts that fits their unique local circumstances. This volume should be of interest to urban planners, architects, artists, civic leaders, community activists, arts and cultural organizations, students, and anyone concerned about the quality of life in our cities. We deserve rich and varied public art to culturally enhance the urban experience. Trivic has provided us with an especially helpful guide." – D. Kirk Hamilton, PhD, FAIA; Professor of Architecture, Texas A&M University