Overview

The International Relations function in NAC is geared towards helping the organisation achieve its vision of developing Singapore into a distinctive global city for the arts. This is done through the promotion and profiling of Singapore arts and artists overseas and cooperation and collaboration with our international counterparts on arts research, market development, arts business and capability development.

Core Components of International Relations Work
We adopt a multi-pronged approach to raise Singapore's profile on the world stage:

Developing Cultural Agreements:

Cultural agreements signed with key foreign cities and cultural institutions promote cultural exchanges, opening new markets for Singapore arts and artists. They allow opportunities for collaboration and learning. Our MOU with Arts Victoria enabled Singaporean artists to participate in major Australian festivals like the Melbourne Festival and Port Fairy Music Festival. It also resulted in a collaborative work, Sandakan Threnody, which premiered at the 2004 Singapore Arts Festival.

Apart from cultural agreements with our counterparts, we also support cultural agreements signed at a government to government level and other multilateral initiatives, such as ASEAN, ASEM and FEALAC.

Other Council-to-Council MOUs include those signed with Arts Council England, the Cervantino International Festival and the Hong Kong Arts Festival Society. Details.
Singapore Showcase:

We initiate co-productions with overseas partners or commission new works with potential for international touring. The rising prestige of the Singapore Arts Festival has also been used to showcase local works to international presenters and artistic directors. Since 2001, we have also been the lead agency in organising Singapore's participation in international arts events, including the Gwangju Biennale (Korea), Documenta (Germany) and the Venice Biennale (Italy). We also presented a Singapore Season at the New Zealand International Arts Festival, featuring an unprecedented number of Singapore artists in a single festival across the fields of music, theatre, visual arts and literature. We aim to feature similar seasons in other countries.
Networking and Art Market Developments:

Going global involves active international networking, marketing and publicity of Singapore arts in overseas arts festivals, conference, arts markets and international publications. We have produced marketing collaterals such as brochures, calendars and CD-roms for overseas distribution to target markets and recipients and participated as exhibitor and showcase presenter at important markets like the Australian Performing Arts Market and the CINARS market in Canada. We have also cultivated networks through international organisations such as the International Society for the Performing Arts, the International Federation of Arts Councils and Cultural Agencies. We have also established an Asian Chapter of the latter organisation and also inaugurated the Association of Asian Performing Arts Festivals.
Grant Support for International Presentations

We offer a variety of grants schemes supporting artists and arts groups in their internationalisation efforts. The Convene-in-Singapore Grant Scheme is also available for local artists and arts group to bid for and stage international arts events in Singapore.