THE CLIENT
WHAT WE DID
Stakeholder consultation & engagement
Audience research & engagement
Storytelling & strategy
Experience design & implementation
The Singapore Art Museum (SAM) is a leading museum of contemporary art in the region. It aims to promote the understanding and appreciation of Singapore and Southeast Asian contemporary art among Singaporeans.
To get secondary students acquainted with contemporary art, HOL developed a unique outreach programme in the form of a simulated art auction that piqued their interest and fired up their enthusiasm.
IMPACT
out of 4 on average
that acquainted students with
contemporary art
SAM’s outreach to students
The simulated art auction was a refreshing change from the usual outreach programmes. It was well received by the students, who rated it 3.8 out of 4 on average. Their feedback was that they enjoyed the active and participatory sessions. They also expressed their desire to be introduced to more artworks and asked for the sessions to be extended.
The students’ feedback felt immensely rewarding and was a significant win for us and SAM, as the students were not art lovers to begin with.
With such excellent feedback, more teachers were convinced to choose SAM as a learning journey destination, further widening young people’s exposure to Singapore and Southeast Asian contemporary art.
SUMMARY
The interactive art auction was a hit with the students, who rated it highly. Thanks to positive word-of-mouth, SAM saw an increase in bookings for the programme, thus helping more students appreciate and enjoy contemporary art.
ABOUT THE CLIENT
SAM opened in 1996 as the first art museum in Singapore. It collects, curates and presents contemporary art from a Southeast Asian perspective in several venues across Singapore for art lovers and the art-curious.
It is often challenging for the uninitiated to grasp the underlying meanings behind contemporary art, as it emphasises concepts over traditional aesthetics and techniques.
SAM is dedicated to Singapore and Southeast Asian contemporary art. It wants to demystify contemporary art for Singaporeans, including the younger generation, and cultivate their interest in it.
How could SAM spark secondary school students’ interest in contemporary art? How could it plant the seed of art appreciation in them?
HOL is experienced in strategising engagement experiences for different types of audiences, from young children to parents, students to teachers.
Based on our years of experience engaging teenagers for cultural destinations, we knew it could be more challenging to engage them.
Additionally, in a competitive society like Singapore, art is often mistakenly seen as a frivolous pursuit or a relaxing pastime. Teachers and parents of older students prefer experiences to have academic-related learning outcomes. They want experiences that could help students gain interdisciplinary knowledge of math, language and science, along with soft skills like collaboration, creativity and critical thinking.
Our strategy was to present the experience as a simulated art auction, which would allow us to integrate academics with soft skills and demonstrate the broader economic value of art. At the same time, an interactive art auction would motivate the students and hold their attention while offering them opportunities to immerse in role-play, which would allow them to draw their own conclusions.
With our target audience – teenagers – harder to please, more competitive and more easily distracted, we had to catch their attention from the get-go and stimulate their interest continuously.
That was why we made the engagement into a game of strategy – a simulated art auction. Playing roles such as art connoisseurs, art curators and gallery owners, the students worked as a team to bid for and acquire art pieces in the auction.
Role-playing engaged the students more deeply, helping them understand and appreciate art. The competitive element added excitement and encouraged the students to participate actively.
Because of the auction’s competitive nature, the students were not passive observers but actively pitched in to help their teams win. They collaborated within their teams and with other teams to research the artworks and also discussed strategies with their teammates.
The activity gave the students the opportunity to develop and apply soft skills such as collaboration, budgeting and strategic thinking. It was both educational and highly relevant to real-world scenarios. This outcome also aligned with their teachers’ goals of cultivating these skills among their students.
Art is not about your drawing skills. It’s about how you learn,
observe and study certain things.
