SPOTLIGHT ON THE ARTS
University Knowledge Exchange funding for a student arts project is having a multiplier effect: not only did the students stage a drama production as planned, they also were inspired to organise a cultural festival to promote the arts in general on campus.
The drama, Take Love by Lighthouse Productions, was performed in four sold-out shows at the Fringe Club in March 2012.
Charles Fong, a third-year Science student, helped to found Lighthouse Productions and said the KE funding, combined with the show's success, had enabled them to be more ambitious in their goals for the future and plan a week-long student arts festival in the 2012–13 academic year.
"If we hadn't got the funding for Take Love, we would have had to pay for everything ourselves and get the money back from ticket sales," he says. "But because we had this initial funding, we were able to use the ticket money for the arts festival and our next production. It's made it easier to become more sustainable and not just be a one-off thing."
Fostering Innovation
Their success has also been an encouragement to the Cultural Youth Leadership Academy, a spinoff of the Faculty of Arts' Cultural Leadership Academy that aims to groom student leaders and foster an environment where they can innovate, network and draw on expertise in the faculty.
Dr Robert Peckham, who mentored the Take Love project and established the Academy with Professor Daniel Chua, was impressed by the quality of the production and the resourcefulness of the students in putting on the show.
"It was a wonderful performance and we felt that there was an imperative to encourage this kind of student leadership in whatever ways we could," he says.
