Front Row

During her fly-in fly-out visit to Kuala Lumpur, Dr Anita Ratnam managed to make time for an interview to tell about her cultural activism to help the arts thrive in her part of the woods. She points to the necessity of preserving culture and shares on the need for performing artists to be entrepreneurial and not wait for the government, politicians or even philanthropists to come to their aid.

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As 2018 comes to a close, we look back at the ups and downs, the hits and misses, of the Malaysian arts over the past year. Here, we speak with creative producer Rosheen Fatima Mutalip, about the local theatre scene in 2018.

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As 2018 comes to a close, we look back at the ups and downs, the hits and misses, of the Malaysian arts over the past year. Here, we speak with dance producer Bilqis Hijjas, about the local dance scene in 2018.

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As 2018 comes to a close, we look back at the ups and downs, the hits and misses, of the Malaysian arts over the past year. Here, we speak with BFM’s music director Ali Johan, about the local music scene in 2018.

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As 2018 comes to a close, we look back at the ups and downs, the hits and misses, of the Malaysian arts over the past year. Here, we speak with The Star’s culture editor Daryl Goh, and artist Ruby Subramaniam, about the local visual arts scene in 2018.

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The curator who also has a work in this group exhibition, tells about the organizing ideas behind the show: why these artists have come together and what do their collective works question, explore and suggest. He shares on what new media adds to an artist’s ability to create and how these new works can challenge the viewer’s perception.

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The performing arts community in Kuala Lumpur has come together to form a new arts coalition called ReformARTsi, made up of over 60 different companies and practitioners from various genres. The initiative aims to work on reform and policy changes in the arts sector, and to position the arts as an essential component of the nation’s development. We speak with representatives of the coalition to hear more about their plans.

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When it comes to the arts, funding is the essential aspect that never quite seems to be enough. Malaysia is no different, with most artsmakers relying on government or corporate funding to continue making work. A new arts and culture grant, the Hai-O Arts and Culture Grants, aims to support the creation of more local works, by giving out RM50,000 in total to various music, dance, theatre, film or visual arts projects. We speak with the Hai-O Foundation’s trustee Dr Chia Oai Peng, to learn more.

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One way of increasing the public’s engagement with the arts, is to bring it directly to them - and this is what the “Arts on the Move KL” initiative has been doing for the past two years. The programme, organised by Think City, stages a variety of performances and art installations at the Masjid Jamek LRT station every week, allowing thousands of commuters easy access to the arts. There is now a crowdfunding campaign to keep AOTM going, and we speak with Think City’s programme director for partnership Lee Jia Ping, and programme executive Tasnim Abdul Hadi to learn more about the initiative.

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Our guests, who personally knew the playwright, the late National Laureate, Dato’ Syed Alwi,  recount and share not only their stories and experiences learning from the man, but also about working on his plays with him. This interview is both a tribute to and in a small way, a documentation of what this playwright from Taiping has contributed to Malaysian theatre.  Dato’ Syed Alwi wrote both in Malay and English.

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