2.3 Partnerships

Whenever we come across ‘Partnerships’, we will relate it to the sponsors of event. Well, actually sponsors are only part of the partnership. The other part of it is formed by the stakeholders of the event (stakeholders of event would be covered under ‘People’ in later section).

Most commonly found as one of the main sponsors will be governmental agencies. This is applicable to Singapore Biennale 2008 as well. Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) is identified as one of the 7 main sponsors of the arts event. This could probably due to the fact that the event requires the use of public spaces (for instance, the South Beach Development).

In addition, event managers have a crucial role to play in identifying what exactly the sponsors want from the event and what the event can deliver for them.

Take for example the inclusion of City Developments Limited (CDL), EladGroup, and Dubai World as 3 of the main sponsors. My first thought was: why isn’t the main sponsors’ scope of business related to the arts?

After giving a call to the organisers, my doubt was clarified. I was told that the South Beach Development area was about to transform into an Eco-Quarter, where hotels, offices, shops, and luxury residences will be housed. It is a project that will be jointly developed by the 3 sponsors, and that possibly explains it so.

CDL, EladGroup, and Dubai World would probably want to let the public know about their project and therefore, they chose this pathway to create awareness.

Comparing their objective of sponsoring the event to the main objective of Singapore Biennale, which is to promote and place Singapore prominently as an international centre and regional head in the visual art field, we can find the similarity which both parties are looking into. That is awareness to the world!

I would say that the event manager has probably done it well. However, things can be made better if there was some incorporation of lifestyle magazines as one of their partners. Through advertising in the magazines (which may be a heavy cost for the event), SB08 could have outreached to a larger group of people.