As a member of a struggling community chorus (is there any other kind?), Pretensions read with interest an article in today's Straits Times about unconventional sponsorship for the arts. Basically, with more arts groups competing for a limited pie, performing artists are reaching beyond the usual philanthropic foundations (such as the Lee Foundation in Singapore) to corporations that might stand to benefit from the publicity. Some of these weird pairings have included Chang Kee curry puffs (picture) for a Chinese music concert, Soup restaurant (whose title dish was created by Samsui women) for a photo exhibition on Samsui women in Singapore and Simmons mattresses (Beautyrests!) for local musical Beautyworld.

Of course, there has to be something to the deal for the sponsor. Either the deal allows them to reach a potentially lucrative audience or get lots more exposure for a tied-in product. Some groups also provide discounted corporate rates or stage performances specially for the sponsor.

The National Arts Council's (NAC) website records the total number of performances in 2006 at 6,556, up from 4,111 in 2001. In 2006, the NAC's grants and subsidies stood at 11.8 million S$, with the lion's share (just under half) going to Theatre. The 2002/2003 total grants were S$7.9 million. So, NAC funding seems to be roughly keeping pace with the increase in performing groups if we can ignore inflation. However, both NAC funding and corporate sponsors obviously gravitate to larger events with well-heeled audiences, such as the Singapore Arts Festival, which afford them much better exposure. At the other end of the scale, many of Singapore's ethnic group dance/music groups get funding through their affiliated communities and clan associations. Church-affiliated groups obviously benefit from the collection plate. 

A western-style community choir (that may sing sacred and secular work) on the other hand, tends to lose out on all these fronts. How can we have our curry puff and eat it?