Singapore — “If people can run a marathon for a cause, why not sing for a cause, for a Singathon? Especially when the cause is to support Sing’theatre community outreach programs to bring music to underserved communities,” said TJ Taylor, Sing’theatre’s Associate Artistic Director, who came up with the idea.
To commemorate Giving Week organised by the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre – NVPC, Sing’theatre is launching its second edition of SING’ATHON on Sunday, Dec 5, 2021, after a very successful 2020 Edition.
From 10 am to 10 pm, singers from all walks of life, age, and race will take turns every 20 minutes to perform all music styles, reflecting the multi-ethnic and multi-cultural aspects of Singaporean society. The 12-hour concert will be streamed on YouTube.
“Sing’theatre at its heart is about community and bringing people from all walks of life together to enjoy the gift of song. Because of this, we have scheduled a variety of singers from different backgrounds; professionals to amateurs, shower singers to rock bands and the young to the young at heart!
Singathon is a great platform for everyone to get involved, but of course, it is still a show, not a karaoke lounge, so all our acts have a good level of confidence and enthusiasm for singing but they don’t necessarily have to riff like Beyonce. (However, if she is reading this, she is also more than welcome to perform for Singathon too!)
The good news is that we have now found all the artists who are all great performers and happy to raise funds!” said TJ Taylor.
Each group has a fund-raising target of SGD 1,000. The goal of each group is to raise a minimum of SGD1,000 or more if possible. The organisation hopes to raise 60K with all of themselves and the performers.
The artistic team at Sing’theatre is still working on the line-up and hopes to receive applications from singing talents who want to contribute.
If you want to apply to be a performer, you can email info@singtheatre.com before 20 Nov with the video link of you/your group singing/performing.
Even though Singathon is focused on singing, audiences can look forward to a variety of different genres such as Musical Theatre, Pop, Jazz, Rock, and even a Drag Cabaret performance.
Some acts will be playing instruments and accompanying themselves too, so the music choice throughout the day will be exciting for all audience tastes. Alongside this, there will be hosts to entertain audiences such as Jo Tan (Kiss 92), Fauzi Aziz (Smart Local) and Tiara Yap (Sgag) to name a few.
Sing’theatre’s mission is to perform for a better society, and it has brought live music to the hospitals since 2013.
“MusicFest@SGH”, a whole day festival of music for all by all, was presented on 21 June 2013, and has happened annually since, until 2019, https://singtheatre.com/activity/musicfest-sgh/
Thereafter, Sing’theatre has created other weekly concerts programs at National University Hospital and Tan Tock Seng Hospital.
In October 2019 “365 days of Music@SingHealth” was launched, a very ambitious program bringing 1 hour of live music every day in one of the public hospitals.
https://singtheatre.com/activity/365daysofmusic-singhealth/
Since February 2020, “365 days of Music@Singhealth” pivoted online. Big screens were set up in hospitals to allow patients to enjoy concerts, where they could interact with the performers and request the music they wanted to hear.
To engage other communities who can benefit from the power of music, Sing’theatre is working on a new program “Singing for Good” that aims at creating singing groups with underserved communities.
“I am heartbroken to see all the people with underlying conditions, like the Old folks or patients with cancers, being stuck at home, especially since the heightened alert” says Nathalie Ribette, Sing’theatre artistic director.
“The effect singing has on health has been proven by many studies, and offering weekly group singing sessions to those communities, makes so much sense for Sing’theatre! It allows us to keep on our mission, and we have all the skills to do so with Sing’theatre academy!”, adds TJ Taylor, head of Sing’theatre Academy, the education pillar of Sing’theatre.
A pilot will be launched on 16 Nov in collaboration with “O’joy”, a leading organisation to provide psychosocial care for older persons and their families. Discussions are on the way with Breast Cancer support groups from SingHealth home to create an online choir.
According to TJ Taylor, the money that they raised will be used to fund mainly their Community Outreach Programmes that aims at:
Bringing live music to underserved communities such as public hospitals, offering free workshops and community-building events accessible to all and creating choirs with underserved communities (old folks, visually impaired groups, cancer support groups).
Other projects for 2022 will be the creation of a brand new Musical Theatre Fringe Festival, an initiative by Sing’theatre to create an accessible festival to promote Musical Theatre in Singapore. It will give opportunities for local artists to create, devise and showcase new and existing works.
Sing’theatre will also present 2 musical shows in 2022:
- Quasimodo from 15 to 24 April directed by Nathalie Ribette – the story of the Huntchback of Notre Dame
- A Singaporean in Paris directed and starring Hossan Leong opening on 2 Nov. This is an updated reprise of our most successful show ever!
Donations keep the organisation sustainable so far, partially because the National Arts Council match any donation they receive. During shows, tickets are sold as well and Sing’theatre receives fees from musical theatre classes, but this does not cover their overheads.
Last year the Singathon was a lifeline to Sing’theatre and the fantastic donations and support they received have helped them keep bringing arts to the community throughout 2021 even in a tough artistic climate.
“Of course our supporters and audiences also keep us engaged too! Sing’theatre is proud to have such a supportive community around it that is actively engaged in helping fundraise and support all our artistic efforts. So thank you to all our Friends of Sing’theatre!” said TJ Taylor.
Sing’theatre will be at Esplanade at the Voices Festival on Dec 3 and 4 where TJ Taylor will perform and be the host of an online open mic.
TJ Taylor added, “Also you can look out for exciting courses and shows from our academy too! If you have a love for musical theatre and want to come and improve your skills in singing, dancing and acting, the academy has courses from age 4 to adults with exciting shows you can be a part of!” /TISG