By Eef Gerard Van Emmerik

THERE was some fuss made some time in the late 1990s about making Singapore into some kind of a Renaissance City.

While there were naysayers, more money was eventually pumped into promoting the arts in schools, the Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay was built and museums were refurbished. As a kid who grew up during the period when the authorities made a push for the arts, I can say that the money spent on infrastructure and promoting the arts is finally paying off.

A year ago, a friend I had met in junior college asked me to manage his jazz band. They were aiming to stage a concert at the Esplanade.

To be honest, I was more than sceptical at first. I wondered if the local audience was mature enough to be interested in a youthful interpretation of jazz. Would the Esplanade let us perform there and would it be expensive? Being a typically money-minded Singaporean, my foremost concern was that we would make a loss.

The band's enthusiasm and determination to fulfil their aspirations was too infectious for even a cynic like me, however, and I eventually agreed. Besides, the band members had put in the seed money themselves.

So I set about liaising with the people at the Esplanade and prepared a proposal for a performance.

I was somewhat surprised that the Esplanade got back to me with a favourable reply. They reserved a Monday evening slot for us at their recital studio, which was a slow day for them. The Esplanade was behind us all the way, complete with professional stage and sound technicians.

While word-of-mouth was the main means of publicising the concert, the Internet was also an extremely useful marketing tool. We had a blog and a Facebook events page which helped us introduce the band and give an overview of what to expect from the concert.

In the end, our concert had an 80 per cent attendance rate, which was decent for a new band and we managed to break even.

I was especially taken aback by how few entry barriers there were to produce a concert. I did not have to obtain a licence from the Media Development Authority as instrumental music performances were exempt from licensing requirements. It was also easy to fulfil copyright and royalty requirements with the Composers and Authors Society of Singapore.

I learnt from the band that there are youths out there who will make use of the opportunities presented to them when it comes to promoting art forms they love.

And judging from our encouraging reception, more people are prepared to spend money on a night out at a concert instead of at a movie or the malls.

Singapore is emerging with a more vibrant and experimental nightlife scene and is all the better for it. From my perspective as a former detractor of the arts promotion movement, I must say I am a convert.

The writer, 20, will read law at the Singapore Management University later this year.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.