This month sees the launch of a major arts community project that will run through 2010 and one which will see thousands of Singaporeans taking part in an in-depth exploration of identity, memory, a sense of place and a sense of self.

Entitled CIVIC LIFE, the programme has 4 key elements and there are many ways you can get involved.  At the heart of the project is the shooting of a 35mm short film in the hawker centre and streets of the Tiong Bahru heritage estate, which will star hundreds of residents and visitors to the area. There is also a short film competition, a large-scale creative writing programme and the launch of a website, where writers, filmmakers, artists, architects and community leaders will, over the next six months, be sharing their thoughts on the key CIVIC LIFE themes of belonging and identity through articles on questions such as the relationship between architecture and memory, photography and community identity (crucially!)  the central role of food in the Singaporean psyche (check out www.civiclife.sg/).

CIVIC LIFE is collaboration between the National Museum of Singapore and the British Council, with the support of the Singapore International Foundation and the Arts Council of England, and has been in development over the last 16 months. The project was sparked by the visit of London-based filmmakers Joe Lawlor and Christine Molloy in January 2009, who were invited to Singapore by the British Council, as part of their cultural relations remit, to present their body of work CIVIC LIFE, a series of acclaimed short films, which examine the relationship between community and the civic spaces they inhabit.

Nine CIVIC LIFE films had been made up to that point featuring such public spaces as parks, a leisure centre, the bridges over the Tyne river in Newcastle and a market street. What make these projects remarkable however is the extent to which the local community were involved in their realisation, from initial consultations and the contribution of story ideas to actually appearing in the final films (no professional actors are used). Another important factor is that they are shot on 35mm, the standard film stock for Hollywood productions, so that the places featured and the community taking part are rendered beautifully.  This combination of high aesthetic values, coupled with an extraordinary commitment to community engagement on the part of the artists make the films a very special proposition.

Such was the audience response to the films that the British Council began immediate talks with government agencies here about the possibility of developing a CIVIC LIFE project in Singapore, with both the National Museum and SIF coming quickly onboard.

The key question however was: where would the film be shot? Joe and Christine didn’t take long to find the answer, quickly establishing through conversations and by exploring different parts of the city, that the key civic space of Singapore had to be a hawker centre, due to its unique design qualities and its function as a bringer together of people. Equally, the historical and architectural significance of the Tiong Bahru estate, as well as its cultural importance in the memories (and appetites!) of Singaporeans pointed to the estate as being the most appropriate location for a project of this kind.

Over the last 16 months, talks and research have continued, with Joe and Christine recently completing the first stage of the consultation, spending a month in Tiong Bahru meeting residents, community groups, hawkers and traders.  They will be back at the end of May for workshops and rehearsals and will be shooting at the end of June, working with Eric Khoo’s Zhao Wei films. The film will be premiered in the estate and at the National Museum in October, before screening at the London Film Festival and embarking on a UK tour.

However, the film is but one element of the programme, which continues to grow as the potential of the project to address key themes is realised.

There will be a short film competition looking specifically at special places, the winner of which will go to the UK’s leading short film festival (Encounters); a creative writing programme, which is being developed with leading Singaporean writers, and there is an entire section on the CIVIC LIFE site in which 50 commissioned articles from significant figures in the arts and the community will be sharing their views on the themes that lie behind the CIVIC LIFE project, to which you are invited to respond (Read playwright Desmond Sim’s thoughts on the Singaporean obsession with food here).

CIVIC LIFE is also calling for people to share their memories of Tiong Bahru specifically through contributing writings, and uploading photos and videos of the estate over the years, and there is also the opportunity for people to write articles directly for the site about the ideas of belonging, place and culture and their inextricable interconnectedness.

It should be fascinating to see how this programme evolves and deepens over the next 6 months. With Yesterday.sg partnering on the programme, we do urge you to visit the site and see how you can be involved! Updates will also be posted regularly here, so keep coming back here to find out more.

For more information, visit www.civiclife.sg.

This article is written by Dan Prichard of the British Council.