Mr Lui Tuck Yew, Acting Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts,
Mr Zaqy Mohamad, Member of Parliament for Hong Kah GRC and Chairman, MICA Government Parliamentary Committee,
Excellencies,
Ms Jean Chia, Managing Director of Pico Art International
Sponsors and Partners,
Distinguished guests,
Members of the media,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Good evening. Thank you for joining us here today.
1. It has been 7 years since MDA was established as part of the Creative Industries Development Strategy in accordance with the recommendations of the Economic Review Committee. In the midst of the recovery from the on-going global economic crisis, the Economic Strategies Committee has released its transformational strategy, to restructure the Singapore economy to be more productive and innovative and to take us into the next phase of development. MDA’s vision to develop Singapore into a trusted global capital for New Asia Media is getting a boost from the recommendations of the Subcommittee headed by Ag Minister Lui Tuck Yew which envisaged Singapore as a global city in Asia through focusing on soft aspects such as the arts, media and culture, to become an endearing home with the best quality of life, a creative economy bubbling with innovations and a rich eco-system of career opportunities.. The dual role of MDA as a regulator and promoter of the media industry covering the social and economic aspects is being reinforced as a result.
2. Today marks the launch of Media Fiesta 2010 – a month-long festival for the community to discover the vibrancy of Singapore media. There are essentially two objectives for this festival. First, equipping Singaporeans with media literacy skills in the fast evolving media landscape. Second, showcasing new developments in the media industry. The two objectives reflect the socio-economic role of MDA and define our exhibits and activities at this festival.
3. Earlier, you saw the performance of Rachael &Daniel . Rachael Teo is a fine example of what we mean by celebrating local talent during Media Fiesta. She completed the Apprenticeship Programme last year with Noise Singapore, an initiative of the National Arts Council, and was “discovered” by a larger audience in that process. In a short period of just one year, Rachael has gained much visibility through her talent when she competed in Channel 5’s “Live and Loaded”, a Public Service Programme supported by MDA and released an album “Awaken the Dreamer” subsequently.
4. Rachael will also be playing at Sounds @ *Scape, the anchor event for the last weekend of Media Fiesta, along with a host of other local bands like For This Cycle and Silhouette. Sounds@*Scape will mark the culmination of Media Fiesta..
5. Besides music, Media Fiesta 2010 offers plenty of media offerings for the public to savour – publishing, films,TV, games and animations. The festival offers an exciting opportunity for visitors to discover the possibilities that media can offer for work, live, play and learn.
6. For fans of local television, we have special appearances by celebrities: Pierre Png, Adam Chen and Zhang Yao Dong from the Channel 8 programme, Your Hand in Mine.
7. For young children, we have workshops that encourage learning through the use of fun learning tools. For example, Enchanted Journey through the Pages teaches children how to use e-publishing tools to create their own story books.
8. Youths and parents can look forward to playing games together in Quest of the Unknown, a gaming competition. The event also features made-in-Singapore games for visitors to enjoy, while learning about cyber-wellness.
9. The Spectaculars!, which starts tomorrow, will showcase several classic Singapore movies. Some of them might be familiar to you. For example, They Call Her Cleopatra Wong &Bionic Boy, starring Singaporeans Doris Young &Johnson Yap respectively, are considered iconic classics from the late 70s, and reflect the evolution of Singapore film over time.
10. In addition to the four anchor events, there is an interactive mobile exhibit that will be travelling every weekend. Called the Media Transformer, the exhibit will bring exciting glimpses of future media technologies and products to Singaporeans.
11. As you can see, there is something for everyone. And we would not have been able to organise something of this scale without the support of our partners.
12. Over 60 partners are contributing to the festival this year, a number that is close to 50% percent higher than the inaugural edition. Just to name a few, Starhub, Singtel, Singapore Press Holdings, Mediacorp, Toshiba, Panasonic and numerous other partners have provided the elements needed to make Media Fiesta a success. In addition, there are over 40 partner events, and I would like to thank our partners for their support, making sure that the month of March is packed with a wide-selection of fun activities.
13. There is a lot to explore, so do visit the website at mediafiesta.sg for the calendar of activities, and come discover what Singapore has to offer in the media space.
Thank you.
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