School of Creative
Industries
Khalid Bin Supandi
Khalid Supandi is an arts administrator with more than 10 years of experience. Navigating the intersection of creativity and organization, Khalid blends his passion for the arts with strategic management. With a keen eye for detail and a dedication to fostering artistic expression, Khalid thrives in coordinating events, managing resources and cultivating relationships within the arts community. Khalid's role involves ensuring smooth operations behind the scenes and overseeing administrative tasks that enable his artists to shine. With a background in Theatre and Contemporary Malay Dance, Khalid brings a blend of artistic sensibility and administrative prowess to his work, striving to create environments where artists can engage deeply with their craft. Whether it is being multilingual or providing much needed energy, Khalid is committed to contributing to the vibrant tapestry of the arts landscape.
Thesis abstract
Engaging the Singapore Malay community through the Esplanade’s Pesta Raya
Singapore’s first-ever Festival of Malay arts (Pesta Raya) was launched by the Esplanade in 2003 and supported by the National Arts Council, providing an eclectic mix of performing arts ranging from performance of live music, dances, theatre from artists around the Nusantara Region (Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei) to the Singapore Malay community. It aims to present the richness and diversity of Malay arts and is one of the Esplanade’s key festivals celebrating major cultural events in Singapore.
This research examines the evolution of over 20 years of Pesta Raya programming in relation to gaining a better understanding of the Malay community as the audience. It seeks to understand whether programming has changed over the years and how the Esplanade engages with the Malay community through the programming of the festival.
Through a mixed-methods approach consisting of surveys of Pesta Raya audiences and interviews with Pesta Raya programmers past and present, the research revealed that there has not been significant changes to the programming and the main motivation and benefits to the Malay audience do not differ much from what is seen in existing studies on performing arts audiences.
The findings illustrate that the Esplanade’s Pesta Raya remains the first and premiere Festival of Malay Performing Arts for the Malay community and audience, with a high number of repeat attenders. While identity and community are important, the audience values most the artistic quality and standards of the shows.
The research concludes that for festival programming in the future to fully capture the nuances of their Malay audience, it will be beneficial to channel more resources towards audience research to deepen the Esplanade’s understanding of its audience’s preferences.