SINGAPORE ART WEEK 2019 JANUARY 17-20, 2019 TOUR LEADER: ROBERT VEEL

‘The Paradox of Beauty’, oil on canvas, Myoung Jo Jeong

Overview In the last 20 years the island-nation of Singapore has transformed itself from a bustling commercial city into a vibrant cultural one – a leading Asian centre of art, music and design. It boasts remarkable museums and galleries, a fine symphony orchestra and an energetic and outward-looking culture. Our new tour has been timed to coincide with Singapore Art Week, held every January. The itinerary combines Singapore’s complex heritage, tropical gardens, the visual arts and live performances. Singapore Art Week takes place at multiple venues, including the recently opened National Gallery of Art, a comprehensive survey of Southeast Asian art housed in a vast structure that combines heritage architecture with brilliant contemporary design. We also visit a converted army barracks and the contemporary art fair, held at the impressive Marina Bay Sands complex. Singapore’s historical and artistic heritage is also covered, with a visit to the excellent Asian Civilizations Museum, the Peranakan Museum and the World War II remains at Fort Canning. Also included is a concert by the excellent Singapore Symphony Orchestra and visits to some of Singapore’s best gardens. Five-star accommodation is provided at the Fullerton Hotel, converted from the colonial-era post office and a short walk from many of the venues we visit.

Your tour leader Robert Veel has a BA and M.Ed from the University of Sydney, where he taught for many years before co-founding Academy Travel in 2004.

Robert is a cultural historian with over 20 years’ experience leading tours to Italy, South East Asia, the USA, Scandinavia and Turkey. He has a strong personal interest in the visual arts, architecture and music, and has designed and led more than 50 tours for Academy

Travel. More recently Robert led the first offering of Academy Travel’s tours to Tasmania and New Zealand. He has travelled to Singapore many times and is familiar with all the venues visited on this tour. Robert attended Singapore Art Week in 2017.

“Robert was very personable, very knowledgeable and nothing was a trouble to him, an excellent leader in every way.” – New York: Music, Theatre, Art & Food, March 2017.

“Our tour leader Robert Veel was humorous, very knowledgeable and had an attention to detail that was quite exemplary. He was quite meticulous and extremely well organised. One of the best tour leaders I’ve ever had the pleasure of travelling with.” – Palermo and Naples, January 2018.

SINGAPORE ARTS WEEK 2019

Tour dates: January 17-20, 2019

Tour leader: Robert Veel

Tour Price: $2,650 per person, twin share

Single Supplement: $780 for sole use of double room

Booking deposit: $500 per person

Recommended airline: Singapore Airlines

Maximum places: 20

Itinerary: Singapore (3 nights)

Date published: March 28, 2019

Enquiries and bookings

For further information and to secure a place on this tour please contact Kathy Wardrop at Academy Travel on 9235 0023 or 1800 639 699 (outside Sydney) or email kathy@academytravel.com.au

Tour Highlights

SINGAPORE ART WEEK In seven short years the Singapore Art Week has emerged as one of Asia’s leading fine arts events. Like Art Basel it combines exhibitions in public and private museums with commercial shows from leading galleries around the world. The Singapore Art Week takes place at multiple venues around the city, including the National Gallery, the Singapore Art Museum, the Marina Bay Sands Complex and Gillman Barracks.

NATIONAL GALLERY OF SINGAPORE Opened in 2015 the National Gallery of Singapore is an architectural marvel. The colonial-era, classical-style Supreme Court and Municipal building have been joined together within a contemporary shell created by the French architectural firm Studio Milou. The Gallery has a beautifully displayed historical collection, housed in the former courtrooms, and schedules major international exhibitions to coincide with Art Week.

ASIAN CIVILIZATIONS MUSEUM Ranked among the top 10 museums in Asia, Singapore’s Asian Civilizations Museum takes visitors on a journey through the diverse cultures and civilizations from which the ethnic groups of Singapore trace their ancestry – China, Southeast Asia, the subcontinent and West Asia. Highlights of the museum include a large haul of Chinese Tang Dynasty ceramics found in a shipwreck off the Malaysian coastline, and a textiles gallery.

PERANAKAN MUSEUM Peranakan is the name given to the ‘straits Chinese’, descendants of the 16th and 17th-century immigrants from China’s coastal regions who settled in the period of Dutch and British colonisation. Although ethnically Chinese, their language is a mix of Hokkien and Malay and their dress, architecture and design are heavily influenced by Indonesian, Malay and Indian cultures.

SINGAPORE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Founded in 1979, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra has established itself as Southeast Asia’s leading ensemble, thanks to enthusiastic official support and Singapore’s excellent education system, which includes music. Each year the orchestra attracts top international soloists, and has appeared at the Berlin Philharmonie, the BBC Proms, the Lincoln Center in New York and in Beijing.

Detailed itinerary Included meals are shown with the symbols B, L and D.

Thursday January 17 Arrive Singapore

Many day flights from Australia arrive in the late afternoon. Meet your fellow participants and tour leader over drinks at the bar of the Fullerton Hotel, then proceed to dinner on the banks of the Singapore River, adjacent to our hotel. Overnight Singapore (D)

Friday January 18 Heritage and art

We begin our program with the Asian Civilisations Museum, housed in the historic Empress Building close to our hotel. A curator introduces us to the main collections of the museum and any special exhibitions which are showing. After a break we head to the National Gallery of Singapore for the first of two visits. Our initial investigation covers the permanent collection, located in the court rooms of the former supreme court building. These galleries not only showcase the visual world of the region in the 18th and 19th centuries, but also contain important historical displays relating to colonial Singapore. On the roof of the museum there are elegant bars and restaurants with great views over the city. After lunch we visit the Peranakan Museum, generally regarded as the best museum of its type in the region. The collection is a delightful journey through a unique culture, surveying decorative arts, domestic architecture and design. In the early evening we head to Gillman Barracks, about 30 minutes out of the city centre. These former army barracks have been converted into a contemporary art precinct. During Singapore Art Week they host exhibitions from leading European and regional commercial galleries. Overnight Singapore. (B)

Saturday January 19 Orchids and orchestras

Early this morning we head to the Singapore Botanic Gardens, carved out of a remaining section of Malay forest not far from the city centre. Our visit concentrates on the fine orchid garden. We then return to the National Gallery to inspect both the Singapore Art Week galleries and the visiting international exhibition timed to coincide with the fair (details expected September-October 2018). We enjoy lunch at one of the restaurants atop the Gallery. This afternoon there is the option of visiting the Singapore Art Museum, housed in a historic

Above: The annual Light to Night festival takes place during Singapore Art Week Below: The orchid garden at Singapore Botanic Gardens; and Singapore Art Museum focuses on contemporary painting, design and film

Tour start & finish time

The tour starts on Thursday 17 January at 6.00pm, at the Fullerton Hotel, Singapore. The tour ends on Sunday 20 January at Singapore Changi Airport at approximately 6.00pm.

Above: Street art commissioned for Singapore Art Week; and old and new blend seamlessly in Singapore’s built environment Below: The Marina Bay Sands, home to the commercial gallery shows at Singapore Art Week

building near Raffles Hotel. During Singapore Art Week, this museum is usually dedicated to film and contemporary art. This evening we attend a performance by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, either in the Victoria Hall or the visually striking Esplanade Theatre. (B, L)

Sunday January 20 History and happenings

After checking out of the Fullerton Hotel, we head to Fort Canning Park to visit the Fort Canning Bunker, popularly known as the Battle Box. The complex includes a telephone exchange, signals and operations rooms, sleeping quarters and a cipher room for coding and decoding messages. It was used from 1936 right up to the fall of Singapore to the Japanese in World War II. We then head to the Marina Bay Sands complex, another striking piece of contemporary architecture. The main commercial galleries of Singapore Art Week are to be found in the exhibition halls here, and there will be time to explore them and have a light lunch. If you prefer you can visit the remarkable (if somewhat vulgar) Gardens by the Bay, directly outside the Marina Bay Sands. In the afternoon we head to Changi Airport. Depending on the time of participants’ flights, there may be time to visit the small museum on the site of the notorious former Japanese POW camp at Changi before arriving at the airport. (B)

The Fullerton Hotel The Fullerton Hotel was commissioned in 1919 as part of the British colony’s centennial celebrations. The neo-classical style building was opened in 1924 and housed the General Post Office, the Exchange, the Singapore Club, the Marine Department and the Import and Export Department. Today it is a five-star hotel and is perfectly located within walking distance of the major galleries and museums which form the core of our itinerary. The hotel has numerous cafes, bars and restaurants, an outdoor pool, fitness centre and spa. www.fullertonhotels.com/the-fullerton-hotel

Tour Price The tour price is $2,650 per person, twin share (land content only). The supplement for a single room is $780 per person. A non-refundable deposit of $500 per person is required to secure a place on the tour.

Tour Inclusions

Included in the tour price

Three nights’ accommodation in the five-star Fullerton Hotel

All entry to Singapore Art Week and other sites Best available tickets to a performance by the Singapore

Symphony Orchestra All breakfasts, one lunch and one dinner, including drinks All land travel around Singapore by private coach and

taxi All tipping at for group meals and activities Local guides and services of experienced tour leader

throughout

Not included

International air fares, taxes and surcharges (see below) Travel insurance Meals not mentioned in itinerary Expenses of a personal nature

Air travel OPTIONS The tour price quoted is for land content only. For this tour we recommend Singapore Airlines which offer several daily flights from most Australian cities. Please contact us for further information on competitive Economy, Business and First Class airfares. Transfers between airport and hotel are included for all passengers booking their flights through Academy Travel. These may be group or individual transfers.

Enquiries & bookings For further information and to secure a place on this tour please contact Kathy Wardrop at Academy Travel on 9235 0023 or 1800 639 699 (outside Sydney) or email kathy@academytravel.com.au

Weather on Tour Singapore has a tropical climate, 24-32 degrees and humid year-round. Wear lose, comfortable clothing and bring an umbrella and comfortable walking shoes. All indoor sites are well air-conditioned, so a light jacket may also be handy.

Fitness Requirements of THIS tour

GRADE ONE

It is important both for you and for your fellow travellers that you are fit enough to be able to enjoy all the activities on this tour. To give you an indication of the level of physical fitness required to participate on our tours, we have given them a star grading. Academy Travel’s tours tend to feature extended walking tours and site visits, which require greater fitness than coach touring. We ask you instead to consider carefully your ability to meet the physical demands of the tour.

Participation criteria for this tour

This Grade One tour is appropriate for travellers in good health with good mobility. You should be able to comfortably participate in up to three hours of physical activity per day on most days, including walking at an easy pace, sometimes on uneven terrain, climbing stairs and standing in galleries. You should be able to: keep up with the group at all times walk for 2-3 kilometres at a moderate to slow pace with

only short breaks stand for a reasonable length of time in galleries and

museums negotiate stairs and bridges get on and off a coach, ferry or boat with steep stairs

unassisted move your luggage a short distance if required

A note for older travellers

If you are more than 80 years old, or have restricted mobility, it is likely that you will find this itinerary challenging. You may have to miss certain activities and may not get the full value of the tour. Before submitting your booking form, please contact Academy Travel to discuss your situation and the exact physical requirements of this tour. While we will do our best to reasonably accommodate the physical needs of all group members, we reserve the right to refuse bookings if we feel that the requirements of the tour are too demanding for you and/or if local conditions mean we cannot reasonably accommodate your condition.