MDA initiatives and Fusionopolis

Today I decided to pay a visit to MDA(Media Development Authority) to thank them for the Media Education Scheme (which they don't categorize as scholarship) as well as to inform them that my "commitment period" aka bond had finished.

The start of the conversation was unconventional. It was my rant of how difficult it was to reach the building. Firstly, Bouna Vista is not centrally located and the East-West bound trains are rather slow... Secondly, I had difficulty locating the shuttle bus stand. After waiting for 30-40mins, I ran out of patience and took a cab with another confused lady who was also heading to MDA. Apparently, the free shuttle buses stated on their website were non existent during off-peak times.

So finally we reached this "Fusionopolis" which is basically a rather large futuristic building. It looks impressive from far but...it's just a building, no "polis". And if you should make a trip down, you can also take bus 91 from Bouna Vista, it stops right outside the building and no, you don't need to wait for 40mins like I did.

Cancellation of many MDA iniatives for individuals

Unfortunately, it is confirmed that the First Time Writers and Illustrators Publishing Initiative has been canceled, along with many other schemes such as IGNITE (for comics), which didn't even manage to ignite, and the Animation Grant.

It is rather disappointing as my friends and I had looked forward into polishing up our skills to vie for these initiatives. The current schemes that MDA have now, according to their website, are all catered towards the companies for "big" projects.

I personally have doubts about this move because everything starts small and it is through these small initiatives for individuals that we can develop our own home grown content. Now we can only approach big companies and publishers to see if they're interested. It'll be tough, because they won't be obliged to work with Singaporeans, as they can always look for better materials from overseas.

A Conducive Environment to develop home grown stories and content

This brings about another interesting topic. We have lots of talents, in fact, many people, including some of our best students can draw and paint better than me. So why do we see so little work being published, animated and marketed?

The answer could be our weak storytelling skills. But hey, we have our Singapore Book Council who always organizes workshops sponsored by MDA. In fact, I had attended quite a number of them. So we have a good pool of inspiring writers and immense number of artists. But nobody is match making them except for the publishers who of course only work with established creators.

For comic book publishing, we need not just good writers and artists, but also editors who can help feedback about our work, know about the market trends and encourage us. However, such editors are rare, if not, non-existent in Singapore.

Reduction of budget

The declining number of MES recipients and the cancellation of initiatives can only mean one thing: Cut in budget. So if any diploma student is reading this and interested in getting funded for further studies, you better act fast before it's gone! The deadline for this year is 31st March.

Concluding Statement

I'm really worried on how long the government can sustain the various schemes and if their direction is going to lead us to the holy grail. However, you'll be darn sure that determined small fries like me will be constantly looking out for opportunities and work on our skills.