ChildAid, a charity concert organised by The
Straits Times and The Business Times in Singapore, will become the
first major event to be staged at Resorts World at Sentosa
when it takes place on 19 and 21 December 2009.
The concert, which is celebrating its fifth
anniversary this year, showcases the best of Singapore's young
musical talents in support of two charities – The ST School Pocket
Money Fund and The BT Budding Artists Fund.
ChildAid organising chairman, Mr Peter
Khoo, said, “The economic recession has led to a rise in the
number of children who need help to pay for a meal in school or to
continue their artistic pursuits. Thus, we are extremely grateful
to Resorts World at Sentosa for giving us this honour, which we
believe will boost fund-raising efforts. Their decision also
benefits Singapore's young musical talents for they will be
creating history by being the first to perform at the Resort.”
Mr Han Fook Kwang, Editor of The Straits Times,
said that the number of student beneficiaries on The Straits Times
School Pocket Money Fund had risen by about 40% since last year.
The ST School Pocket Money Fund helps around
11,000 needy children pay for a meal during recess or transport to
school. It will require $5.7 million this year – the highest it
has had to raise since its inception in 2000.
Mr Han said, “Our tie-up with Resorts World at
Sentosa will bolster ChildAid's ambition to raise money for needy
children and showcase the many talented youths here.
“We are determined to do our utmost to help the
many children affected by the economic downturn.”
Mr Alvin Tay, Editor of The Business Times, said
that ChildAid talents also serve as good role models. Mr Tay
said, “Singapore has many outstanding young musicians who want to
help. They motivate the many children we support at the BT Budding
Artists Fund.”
The BT Budding Artists Fund, initiated by The
Old Parliament House Limited and adopted by The Business Times in
2005, aims to give underprivileged children a chance to nurture
their artistic talents, be it in art or music.
ChildAid 2009 will be staged at Festive Grand,
Resorts World at Sentosa’s very own theatre which can seat up to
1,600 people.
Festive Grand, which will host Resorts World at
Sentosa's resident musical extravaganza Voyage de la Vie, is just
one of the many attractions found within Singapore’s only island
integrated resort.
Owned by Genting Singapore, the Sin$6.59-billion
venture will include South-East Asia’s first and only Universal
Studios theme park, the world’s largest oceanarium, six hotels, a
casino, and a host of other entertainment options.
Ms Andrea Teo, Vice President of Entertainment
for Resorts World at Sentosa said, “Besides being the first event
at Resorts World at Sentosa, we will be dedicating our expertise
and experience in the field of stage production, choreography
amongst many other things.”
“The talents on display for previous ChildAid
concerts were tremendous. We want to build on that success and
ChildAid 2009 held at Festive Grand is going to present these
talents on a grander and even larger scale.”
Ms Teo, a former Executive Producer and Director
of television sitcoms such as Under One Roof, Phua Chu Kang and
Happy Belly, will also be part of the ChildAid producing team,
together with Mary Loh and Jason Ramsburg from the Resorts World
entertainment team, Arts House general manager Colin Goh and
reknowned musican Iskandar Ismail.
“Resorts World at Sentosa is not scheduled to
open until early next year, but when SPH approached us with the
opportunity to contribute to the cause, our different teams,
ranging from Projects to Entertainment and Traffic, sat down and
decided that we will pull all stops to make this happen. ChildAid
will be the inaugural show in Resorts World, and the first
performance that we will raise our curtains for at our Festive
Grand theatre,’’ Ms Teo added.
Resorts World at Sentosa is on-track for its
early 2010 soft opening, which will include Universal Studios
Singapore, four hotels, part of FestiveWalk and the casino.
As in previous years, The Straits Times and The
Business Times will be conducting a nationwide search for talents.
Those who wish to
audition must be Singapore residents and not older than 19
years of age.
ChildAid artistic director Mr Iskandar Ismail,
who is last year's Cultural Medallion recipient, “Many ChildAid
performers of the past have gone on to bigger things. Our search
for the best fresh talent in Singapore begins today. So do write
to us for an audition.''
He cited the opening ceremony of the Asian Youth
Games as an example. “Three of the vocalists who performed at the
Asian Youth Games opening ceremony came from ChildAid,” said Mr
Ismail.
Teenagers Amni Musfirah, Lian Kim Selby and
Nathan Hartono performed in ChildAid before being picked up by
Asian Youth Games organisers.
It was the same for soprano Janani Sridhar, who
performed at the first ChildAid concert in 2005. The 19-year-old
sang the national anthem at last year's Singapore Formula One
race.
The first three performers confirmed for
ChildAid 2009 are 15-year-old singer Amni from School of the Arts
as well as drummers Zidann Zalizann, 8, from Greenridge Primary
School, and Aaron Lee, 13, from Queensway Secondary School.
“As this is the fifth anniversary of ChildAid,
we wanted to bring back the best of the talent we have put on show
before,” said Mr Ismail. “Amni, Zidann and Aaron were outstanding
in last year’s sell-out show.”
Interested in
Auditioning for ChildAid 2009? See:
Audition for ChildAid 2009
ChildAid 2009 is seeking sponsors to help its
charities. There are four sponsorship tiers – Diamond ($200,000
and above) Platinum ($100,000 $199,999) Gold ($50,000-$99,999)
Silver ($30,000-$49,999) and Bronze ($10,000-$29,999).
See
other recent news regarding:
Travel News Asia,
ChildAid,
Singapore,
Sentosa
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