Cultural Complex
On 26 March 1976, former Labour Minister Ong Pang Boon opened an arts exhibition at the Telok Ayer Community Centre located in his constituency. At this opening, he said that “what Singapore needed at present was an indoor opera theatre to provide a better environment for the performing arts.” He added that “(a)although economic development was important, cultural development should not be neglected.”
His statement was picked up by “several musicians and concert-goers” two weeks later who commented that instead of just having an indoor opera theatre that may not be “economical or culturally viable”, a “cultural centre, with several halls for different cultural performances, might be the answer to the present fragmentary use of concert-hall space in Singapore.”
In an address to Parliament on Boxing Day 1978 (who works on the day after Christmas anyway?), former Acting Minister for Culture Ong Teng Cheong addressed the House in an update on Cultural Policy, in which he included a short statement that said:
“The Ministry is studying the need for a cultural complex and the best location for it.”
This was picked up by Dr. Lau Teik Soon, PAP MP for Serangoon Gardens in the 10 January 1979 sitting of Parliament where he said:
“The Ministry of Culture should be commended for their efforts to promote the quality of life in the Republic. The establishment of the Cultural Foundation is a right step in inculcating a love for the best of Asian and western values in the fine arts. The recent Festival of Arts has shown that there is an abundance of talent in the various forms of artistic expression. This can be nurtured through the Cultural Foundation. But a proper cultural complex must be provided and, in this regard, I hope that the Acting Minister for Culture will not just consider but decide to go ahead with the construction of such a complex as soon as possible.”
MP for Sembawang Teong Eng Siong added in Mandarin at the same sitting:
“Since the Ministry of Culture has taken very energetic steps in the promotion of our cultural and artistic activities, it should regard the task of setting up a cultural centre as a pressing need. With the establishment of this cultural centre, we will be in a better position to promote the various kinds of cultural and artistic performances, such as dramas, dancing and musical concerts, etc. so that the flowers of culture and art may bloom abundantly and so enrich the spiritual lives of our people.”
These were the very first mentions in Parliament of a brick and mortar cultural complex comprising a group of different performance and visual art venues that would eventually become Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay.?
In a rather amusing piece in The Straits Times on 3 January 1979, the story read “SINGAPORE may have a cultural complex for the first time in a government move to give culture a definite place in the lives of Singaporeans, who have often been called too materialistic.”
I am quite certain we have all learnt by now that the acts of acquiring cultural capital and monetary wealth are not mutually exclusive.
Despite all the talk about this “cultural complex” in the late 1970s and early 1980s, it wasn’t until December 1984 that some concrete action was taken by the government toward the eventual reality of this cultural centre in “Marina Centre”.?
Veteran Arts Manager Juliana Lim described how the government made this announcement through a rather roundabout way by using the PAP’s official newsletter Petir where they introduced new candidates for the upcoming General Election in December 1984 as well as “Vision 1999” which mentioned the building of a “world-class performing arts centre”:
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Juliana would eventually become the General Manager of the Singapore Arts Centre Co Ltd (precursor to The Esplanade Co Ltd) from 1993 to 1997.
In May 1989, the Advisory Council on Culture and the Arts, chaired by Minister Ong Teng Cheong who was by then the Second Deputy Prime Minister, proposed the setting up on a national level Arts Council and the building of “a world-class performing arts centre at Marina Centre.”?
And just like that, the National Arts Council was born and the seed for what was to become Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay was sown.
In October 1989, Minister Ong Teng Cheong announced a competition for the design of the Arts Centre which was to be open to foreign architects on the condition that they partnered with a local architectural firm for the contest:
The design was eventually awarded to DP Architects and Michael Wilford & Partners and the original design did not actually include the fins or “durian spikes” which we associate with Esplanade today. I will be writing more about the architecture of the Esplanade in a separate post and the slightly windy road that the design took to get to where it is today.
Originally named “Singapore Arts Centre”, the official name and design for Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay was unveiled by then Minister for Information and the Arts George Yeo on 21 July 1994. At the unveiling, Minister George Yeo said that the arts centre would named The Esplanade because?
“It is a name beloved of all Singaporeans, for it conjures in the mind respite from the day’s exertions, tropical sea breezes, the aroma of satay, glittering harbour lights, romance beneath the starts. In The Esplanade, we link our future to our past.”
About why the name was changed, he said that the name Singapore Arts Centre was “on the one hand too banal, on the other, too restrictive.”
Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay turns twenty today.?
Officially opened on 12 October 2002 by then President SR. Nathan, it is hard to imagine that the idea of a multipurpose cultural complex with various different performance venues was discussed in Parliament at the same time as concerns such as having local TV productions made in colour instead of black and white and the acquisition of portable devices for radio and TV news coverage!
I made this image of Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay from Swiss?tel The Stamford just a few weeks before its official opening in October 2002 and you can very clearly see what Marina Bay looked like twenty years ago when there was no Marina Bay Sands or Gardens By The Bay. Also the Bay was still a Bay then with no Marina Barrage and that is why there are so many boats moored in the water.?
Happy 20th Birthday?Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay!
Postdoctoral Researcher at Wetsus
2 年These photos and stories are great. I really enjoy reading them. Thank you so much for sharing