Acceleration Programme for the Arts 2023
The 4-week programme, by UOB FinLab and National Arts Council, aims to support arts organisations and Self-employed Persons (SEPs) through a series of workshops and expert-led learning in leveraging digital solutions to enhance their business and financial competencies and strengthen their digital capabilities.
In Collaboration with
Week 1 - Reimagine your Business with Value Proposition
Opening Ceremony
The opening ceremony began with Janet Young, Managing Director and Head of Group Channels and Digitalisation, Strategic Communications and Brand, UOB, and Lynette Pang, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, National Arts Council, delivering the opening address.
This was followed by a panel discussion on “Navigating the Intersection of Arts, Business and Digitalisation” moderated by Ning Chong, Co-Founder, The Culture Story, with panellists Goh Beng Kwan, UOB Painting of the Year Artist, Hazeleen Goh, Founder and CEO, ArtAF, Kevin Lim, Director of Digital Innovation and Transformation, National Gallery Singapore, and Kuo Jian Hong, Artistic Director, The Theatre Practice, who shared their insights on the topic.
Janet Young delivers the opening address
Lynette Pang delivers the opening address
Janet Young with panellists
Opening Ceremony Group Picture
Business Model Canvas Workshop
Participants then took part in a Business Model Canvas workshop led by Felix Tan, Mentor-In-Residence at UOB FinLab.
Felix first shared about the nine components of the Business Model Canvas and guided participants in creating one for their own business.
Afterwards, participants took part in one-on-one mentoring sessions with Felix to address their questions about their business ideas.
Week 2 - Grow your Business with Digital and Content Marketing
Business and Marketing Strategies Fundamentals for Creatives
The second week of the programme was a learning session conducted by Luke B. a lecturer at Media, Arts & Design School, Singapore Polytechnic and OKJ (Ong Ka Jing), a Documentary Storyteller at OKJ Works.
OKJ conducted various activities to teach participants to persevere with their marketing strategies while Luke B facilitated a brand audit on each art group and shared insights into maintaining consistency in branding.
Afterwards, Tan Jia Yee, Director, Creative and Social at Tate Anzur, shared her experience working for an arts programme with participants and how they can get the most out of their marketing strategies.
Week 3 - Improving Your Business Operations
Sharing Session
The third week of the programme began with a sharing session by Sharon Ong, Vice-President of Design and Communications at Inmagine.
Sharon shared on how arts organisations can leverage AI-powered content creation tools to save time when creating digital marketing creatives.
The panel gathered insights from Benedict Tay, Head of CED & Partnership, Business Banking, UOB, Candice Zin Ni Chua, Branch Manager, UOB, Jasdeep Sandhu, Founder, Gajah Gallery, and Chan Kee Siak, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Exabytes
A panel discussion on “Innovation in the Arts Industry: Leveraging Digital Tools to Reshape Business Operation” was then conducted by moderator William Phuan, Executive Director at Singapore Book Council.
The panel discussed various topics such as omni-channel marketing, data analytics, the importance of engaging the younger audience, and the power of Web 3.0 technologies such as AI chatbots and NFTs.
Week 4 - Closing Ceremony: Tech Meets Art
The Future of Arts, Business and Technology
The closing ceremony began with a sharing session by Damian Kim, Managing Director, Singapore at Meta and Clarence Chan, Founder of Bandwagon.
Damian spoke to participants about how the metaverse is the next step in internet and social technologies while Clarence shared about the opportunities that metaverse and VR technologies bring to art practitioners.
Watch the highlights of Acceleration Programme for the Arts 2023!
Past Articles
UOB and NAC team up to help arts sector on digitalisation journey
UOB and NAC launched a digitalisation programme to help arts organisations adopt business tools. Through expert-led sessions, participants built skills to grow their reach and impact.
大华银行与艺理会推出计划助艺术工作者 扩大影响力
This is the first Acceleration Programme for art practitioners. Over four weeks, participants explored business and digital tools through expert-led workshops and peer exchange.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Acceleration Programme for the Arts 2024 Run 2 aims to help arts organisations strengthen their business and digital capabilities to achieve their vision for growth and development.
To do so, the program aims to equip arts groups with hands-on learning and expert sharings on rethinking their business model and streamlining operations, consultations and business advisory, and group discussions with peers.
The programme is from 19 March to 5 April and will span three weeks of programmes.
Participants are encouraged to attend all three weeks to maximise your learning and takeaways.
The programme is open to all arts organisations. It will be conducted in Singapore in English.
Arts organisations who are already utilising digital solutions in daily operations and business and are looking to improve or explore other ways to optimise digital solutions to support your business
It will benefit companies who are:
- Operating across all art forms (visual arts, music, performance, etc.)
- Interested to grow the business through leveraging on sales and operations solutions and/or looking for partners
Preferably Business Owners, Key Decision Makers, Directors, Business Unit Representatives, or Sales and Marketing Managers
This programme is brought to you by
