The Success Chain

The Youth Olympics with occur in Singapore, August 14-26, 2010.  The Nanyang School of Art at the University of Design and Media, challenged the children of Singapore to a contest.  They are to come up with ideas for a mascot, which will capture the flavor of Singapore and the spirit generated by the games.  Some students are even creating a promotional film, a small trailer meant to advertise the coming events.  This is a true five star Singapore enterprise.  The Nanyang style of painting has been famous in Singapore for some time, this is an endeavor to bring together the world of art and the world of sports, two of the important aspects that contribute to societies and enrich the lives of those living among them.  A very famous and respected cartoonist of Singapore, Johnny Lau, is the leading voice behind the projects.  This is not simply a school project, not purely academic.  The students will be pitching their ideas and concepts in the real business and advertising world.

This is teaching the students the basics.  Some have found that original ideas must be scrapped in lieu of better ideas, and that sometimes it’s just not so bad to start over.  Some are becoming involved in the hi-tech world of computer animation and modeling, wherein they may have never been exposed to it before.  Some students came up with the concept of digitally fingerprinting those attending, and then combining the fingerprints, an artistic way to express the attendance and participating visitors, as all will be combined in just one print.  This is meant to increase the feeling and the participation of all those attending.

Another idea the students have been working on, is the ‘chill-out’ area.  One more way the arts and sports are coming together, this is a pavilion set up for musicians to play, and where the athletes can come and take a rest, to relax with the music before the competitions begin.  International participants will listen to drums and guitars, while stretching out on hammocks and chaise lounges.  The students are taking their responsibilities seriously, some commenting that they’ve been ‘up all night’ working out the logistics of their ideas.  And they are digging it.  It’s become much more than a school project in Singapore, it has become a mission taken to heart by the young ones of this country.