art-tistic movies

woah, time flies when you are having fun! in a twinkle of an eye, it's almost the end of february. (guess i forgot to set the alarm clock for the end of september!) so much has happened over the past few months, lots of meetings and planning for 2014. this year, a personal goal of mine is to 'go big or go home'. after all, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

anyway, instead of telling you of all the wonderful things that have been happening for the kaki bukit cac team, i would like to recommend you two movies that you must catch. one is from a while back while the other is on the big screens now (so do catch it!).

so the first movie is CZ12. 

it a jackie chan flick. you will get your usual martial arts moves but more importantly, it speaks of the rich art of china and its cultural significance. i watched the full movie online so if you are keen on watching it, just google for it. it's an easy search. 

the other movie that i caught over the weekend is the monuments men. 

it stars george clooney and matt damon (ladies, SCREAM!). you can read one of the reviews here. beyond that, the real stars are the artworks that one gets to see. the plot is simple yet the message is multi-tiered. is art worth dying for? that is a question that only the individual can answer.

if you are wondering what to do with that $10 in your pocket this week, i hope that i've helped you solve that problem.

catch the hARTbeat @ kaki bukit!

edwin

wake me up when september ends!

sure, it's a corny and lame title for this month but you get the drift! it is finally september. come to think of it, it's almost a year since i took over the reins of the team. the journey has definitely been interesting but we are barely getting started. if i can say it myself, the programmes and activities that we have lined are will be getting bigger and better (and one in particular, scarier!)

anyway here's a glimpse of what went on in august!

showcase of KBdARTS

as part of their 'graduation' from our dance arts programme, the children showcased their talents at our kaki bukit national day celebrations. for those of you who joined us at the event, we hoped you enjoyed our item. if you missed their performance (*wags naughty finger*), the second cycle will commence this month and our KBdARTS will be performing at an even larger scale event! more details over the next couple of months...

hotspot: percussion performance

i've always enjoy partnering performing groups to bring a little razzle-dazzle to our community. hence for the month of august, we invited the students from guangyang primary school for a percussion performance. it was definitely an enjoyable morning with them bringing us an extra groove at our annual 'one community walk'. if you want to catch a glimpse of their performance, just go over to our facebook page!

mural, mural on our walls

when our original wall mural was whitewashed over, we made many students from bedok town secondary school upset. they thought that it was the end of their masterpiece but little did they know that something else was installed for them. 

well, the students did not have to wait for long before they got an opportunity to exercise their creative muscles and put up a new mural. anyway, do swing by the new mural and take a selfie! if you are on instagram, do use the hashtag #kakibukitcac or add us @kakibukitcac.

singing kakis' night

well, in august, singing kakis' night returned to green rc. beyond a night of karaoke, it was also a bbq party hence it was definitely a treat for the senses. if you ask me, we can't wait for september to end and for our next singing kakis' night! 

finally, we wish each and everyone of you has a great month ahead, till the end of the september...

catch the hARTbeat @ kaki bukit!
edwin

august action

so another month has ended and the start of a new month awaits. on the surface, it seems that we have been lying low with not much action but the truth is far from that. take for instance the three contributing writers, our 八六九一 is away on holiday, The Kimchi Fairy is currently in korea. how about Mr Couchsurf Critic and myself? it's just been work, work and more work. just to reveal a little about the identity of Mr Couchsurf Critic, he's a new daddy (*salutes and applause*) and recently made some changes to his career path hence the silence because the sound (and fury!) is fully managed by his newborn.

busy schedules and travels aside, july was definitely a fruitful month for the kaki bukit community arts & culture club. let's talk about what you would have witnessed around the neighbourhood.

community art gallery

community art gallery (blk 550)

the panels are up!!! more importantly, you will see artworks by our very own kaki bukit residents. since the art panels have been in place for the past month, we are very thankful for everyone who helped us keep a lookout of the pieces. for instance, we have had multiple calls with regards to the works slipping through the cracks. we have rectify the problems to the best of our ability. for a couple of the panels, we need the contractors to come in and do some repairs but nonetheless, thank you for being our eyes!

community art gallery (blk 526)

another exciting piece of news about the art gallery, the pcf centre at blk 526 have decided to adopt the panels right outside their school. this means that the artwork of the children will soon have a place in our gallery. expect to see the big masterpieces of our little ones from 1st october!

if you are truly inspired to adopt a panel, do drop me an email at kakibukitcac@gmail.com and write community art gallery as the subject.

hotspot: singapore memory project

for this month, we are in partnership with our friends from the national library board and brought in one of their roving exhibitions. while the panels are about geylang serai, you can participate in the project by telling us what your favourite memory of kaki bukit is. hopefully we collect enough contributions to, one day, have our own exhibition as well. do remember to pick up your gift after you have written down your memory for us.

singing kakis' night

wow, time flies. we went back to ville rc for another night of song. it's our second cycle already. that means that four months have gone by since we launch this initiative. it's great to see residents join us regularly for an evening of music and singing.

anyway, beyond what we accomplished in the month past, there is more lined up ahead before we bid 2013 farewell. here are a list of dates that you want to keep free: 25th august, 30th august, 27th september, 29th september, 25th october, 26th october, 16th november. the programmes will be getting more exciting. i'm sworn to secrecy about the exact details about some of the events BUT there is one that i can share with you about!

we are celebrating children's day in a unique fashion. we want to invite all children who are malay, speak malay or interested in the malay language to join us for an afternoon of pure fun! tickets are on sale as you read this post. grab them early because there is a seating capacity! call 64454223 to purchase your tickets!

i'm having a blast putting together the second half of 2013 for you but let's not overload this post so ta-ta for now. here's wishing you an early happy national day! oh, do join us on 3rd aug at the kaki bukit neighbourhood park at 6pm for celebrations. you will get to meet the KBdARTs too!

catch the hARTbeat @ kaki bukit!

edwin

it's july already?!!

hey everyone,

it's the first day of a new month. it's that time when i sit down to reflect on all that went on in the month for the kaki bukit community arts and culture club. it is also a time for me to share some of the upcoming offerings.

so june has been an interesting month (other than the fact that i was away for reservist for three and a half weeks, thus taking me away from my grassroots work significantly), there was the dengue outbreak, the haze problem and of course, the hello kitty queues!

yup! i have my own full collection!

it was definitely interesting to witness the reactions of singaporeans and personally, i think it shows an evolution of our culture. while we may be 'kiasu' or 'kiasi', we have developed this ability to laugh in the face of adversity. just think of the number of jokes and jibes you heard with regards to the psi levels.  anyway, due to the haze, we had to cancel a number of our events but we are looking at how we can bring those activities back on a later date.

but what's in the past is in the past.

here are a couple of things that you are going to witness in your neighbourhood!

1) community art gallery: as you read this post (assuming that you are reading this on 1st july), panels are going up around the neighbourhood. these panels will be serving as our very own community art gallery. the first artworks that you will see are the products from our recently concluded parent-child cartooning workshop. 

primarily, we are hoping to feature as many of your works as possible hence if you have any works of art that you would not mind putting up for display. do drop me a note at kakibukitcac@gmail.com

2) singapore memory project: towards the end of july, when you swing by the community centre, you can also view a couple of panels from the singapore memory project. these are specially put together to help us remember our heritage as a nation. as part of this exhibition, we are also gathering your memories of the kaki bukit estate. with each contribution that you make to the singapore memory project, you will also receive a special gift from our friends of the singapore memory project.

3) singing kakis' night: this has become a signature of our estate and guess what? it gives me great pleasure to announce that we are going for a second cycle of singing kakis' night. having personally attended all four nights (over the last four months), it was great to see each residents' committee package their singing kakis' night differently hence don't miss out on any of them, especially when it comes to a space near you. you don't always have to sing, it would be just as fun if you join us as a member of the audience.

well, with that, i wish all of you the best of health!

catch the hARTbeat @ kaki bukit!

edwin

super jun(e)ior!

so we bid another month farewell. the month that went by was definitely less busy (and i am using this term VERY loosely) for us compared to april but nonetheless, it was an interesting month. a part of the month was spent planning for the year ahead, from june 2013 to may 2014 but most of it was having meeting after meeting. for one of the weeks, i had about eight cacc-related meetings. it was either having internal discussions, meeting fellow cacc chairpersons or working out potential partnerships. hence i am glad i survived.

look out for our bottled water!

some of those plans, i can share with you via this platform (maybe not this post but future updates). the others will be a surprise! yes, there is a BIG project that i am personally handling that even the staff assisting me has no idea what i am doing (sorry, nicole! it's a secret...)

anyway, here is a pictorial update of the things that we presented you with for the month of may!

1) launch of KBdARTS

in case you are wondering why they are called darts, part of it is due to the swiftness of movement and the precision that we hope to nurture in our little ones who go through this programme. the main reason is because KBdARTS stands for kaki bukit dance arts. yes, we are still trying to hunt down the person who served up the cheese platter!

2) flower power (hARTbeat @kaki bukit - may)

we brought back one of the favourite workshops from the arts village. boy, were we surprised by the warm reception of the residents! even before we completed the setup of the event, we had a huge group of residents gathering to learn from the instructors. well, we will not let the cat out of the bag BUT the pandan rosette workshop will make another return to kaki bukit.

3) singing kakis' night (bloom rc)

this is fast becoming one of my favourite community outreach programmes. other than the obvious engagement of residents, i think the song and music brings a nice musical touch to the neighbourhood. this is what a community is all about. there will always be room for big fanciful events but nothing says family like gathering a group of like-minded people coming together to participate in one of their favourite activity: karaoke.

for the month of june, we will still have our signature singing kakis' night and hotspot programme. if you want details, do follow our facebook page closely! beyond that, since it's the schools holidays, we are doing a little extra. we are going to bid farewell to a familiar sight that has been around for the last three months.

change is coming... snap your pics SOON!

in addition, there is also a cartooning workshop that you can be participate as a family. details are on our facebook page or the main kaki bukit facebook page. as i speak, vacancies are filling up fast so do sign up early.

finally, if you have any comments about kaki bukit cac or would like to get involved in what we are doing, do drop me a note at kakibukitcac@gmail.com. more hands make light work!

catch the hARTbeat @ kaki bukit!
edwin

come what may!

our signature KB CACC standees!

it's been slightly over a month since this blog has been launched. while we have not seen much writing on this blog per se, a lot has gone on over in the kaki bukit division for the community arts & culture club. it was definitely a busy month. here is a quick recap of all that has gone on:

1) 'eat your art out!' - passionarts village

enough has been mentioned on this blog about the village and if you want to take a quick stroll down memory lane, do click here! being the forward-looking person that i am, i actually have a concept for next year's village but not giving anything away for now. 

2) singing kakis' night

this is one of the signature roving activities that you will see and hear a lot of within the kaki bukit neighbourhood. since this is the first time i'm talking about it, singing kakis' night is essentially a night of karaoke that occurs every last friday of the month. what is unique about this is that it moves around the entire neighbourhood.

big thanks to the chairperson of green rc, fannie!

so in april, we partnered with one of our residents' committee and went over to green rc. what a night it was! as a part of their singing kakis' night, they had a block party complete with food, dance, games and exhibition booths. so if you've missed april's installation of singing kakis' night, fret not! it's the month of may already.

3) 'shall we dance?' - hotspot programme

another of our monthly features are the hotspot programmes. once again, these are activities that occur on the last weekend of the month. whilst singing kakis' night is on a friday, our hotspot offerings are on either saturdays or sundays. in addition, the programme duration is much shorter so blink and you will probably miss us.

shall we dance @ kaki bukit?

so in april, we decided to invade a rather tranquil area of the neighbourhood. we plonked ourselves right in front of sheng shiong and macdonald's, danced our hearts out for four hours and made a lot of new friends. if you haven't seen us gyrating to the tunes of justin bieber, you need to click here! 

yes, it was a busy april BUT we are not about to slow down our engines. in the month of may, there are more offerings coming from the kaki bukit community arts & culture team.

other than our regular singing kakis' night (24th may) and our may hotspot programme (26th may - morning), we'll be launching a couple of programmes and partnerships. more updates in my next monthly update. of course, you will be hearing from the kimchi fairy and mr couchsurf critic over the month and in june, we will be adding a third contributing writer to our humble blog. =)

if you want the latest news, just join our facebook page or follow us on instagram (@kakibukitcac).

engage us online! ;-)

catch the hARTbeat @ kaki bukit!

edwin

the art of writing

whether i like it or not, the arts village is going to take place in under 10 days! (*scream* *pant* *attacks of every nature*) anyway, no stone has been left unturned (except going to your house and dragging you out of bed to tell you about the event).

the photo campaign is pretty successful. not easy to gather close to 100 shots. we would have gotten more if not for the bad weather during our movie screening last sunday. anyway, here are a couple of them!

check out the full album here...

beyond the photos, there are also a couple of bloggers who have kindly featured us on their blogs as well! here they are...

wild dragon chase, kimchi fairy, anythingalsoeat!

finally, i managed to figure out the twitter widget and can't wait for everyone of you to tweet to us! just make sure that you are not tweeting from a protected account AND add the hashtag #kakibukitcac...

catch the hARTbeat @ kaki bukit!
edwin

eat your art out!

this has to be one of my worst kept secrets EVER!

since the planning of this village started in january, i have been telling everyone i met about it. not to boost of an exciting village but more to get responses and gauge if people will buy my idea of an arts village that revolves around food. i mean, how many of us actually stop to admire the 'artistry' on a bun before we gobble it down? i certainly don't. thus in crafting up this arts village, i had a few objectives in mind.

a) see art in our everyday lives... like earlier mentioned, it's not easy to come up with interesting patterns on your daily pastry or design the frosting of a cupcake. if you think it's easy, just ask my dragonboat team mates who decorate a birthday cake for me! so i really wanted everyone to stop and just see that art can be simple and approachable too!

what do you think? A* for effort!

b) merge the passions of singaporeans! we always talk about how singapore is a food paradise and indeed it is. i love how my local hawker centre is a gourmet haven! hence if you are coming by the village, before you gobble down the food, just pause and appreciate the creativity of the matter.

so that said, here are a few reasons why you should visit MY village! (welcome to my world of shameless marketing... there are a few other villages over the same weekend BUT you don't want to miss out mine!)

1) we are the ONLY food art village. see your food turn into art or art turn into food. doesn't matter which way you prefer... you get the gist of it!

2) giveaways! i am sworn to secrecy with regards to the exact timings that we are distributing freebies but we have some interesting (and useable) items to give you. however, if you prefer the traditional pens and fans, i promise to not disappoint...

3) social media... while i like to create buzz in real life, being modern and contemporary is my mantra too. thus if you think you are big, huge or gigantic on social media, do turn up at our village to take the social media challenge OR follow our facebook page closely to be in the know of the contests that we are running.

4) community giveback... one of my guiding principles in grassroots work has always been to use the platform to bring awareness to causes amongst us that sometimes go unnoticed. for my arts village, a significant part of the food featured comes from score. you can click here to find out more about the good work that they are doing.

all in all, the village is a couple of weeks away. the stress is mounting but i'm looking forward to it because it's been an exciting three months for the team behind this entire project!

in case you missed out the earlier banner!

catch the hARTbeat @ kaki bukit!

edwin

ps: while i write the post in first person, the journey to completion is a collective effort between kaki bukit cac and eunos cac. just so that i have something to write about after the event, i will name the people behind the scenes in another post.

hARTbeat @ kaki bukit

it took me a while to think about my opening words on this blog but i decided to just share a little piece of my heart with you and hopefully, you will catch the heartbeat of this brand-new initiative.

about half a year back, i was approached to spearhead a new grassroots team within the kaki bukit area.  it was the community arts & culture club. while i was excited over the cause, i was also concerned about the effectiveness of it. many times, people pursue art. you buy a ticket to a concert, a musical or the museum. when art is delivered to your doorstep, if you are not equipped with the necessary skills, you will be distanced from the piece. that was what i thought.

months later, i start corrected. art is ultimately a form of expression. beyond the expression of the artist, it is also a conversation with the audience and the environment. it is this constant dialogue that i aspire to create within the kaki bukit neighbourhood. therefore, i have made it a guiding principle in every programme and event that we will not only bring the art to you but converse with you over the artpiece. 

Wall Mural / Street Art @ Kaki Bukit Community Centre

this blog will serve as one of those platforms for conversation and i hope that you will join my team and me as we strive to share bits of our hARTbeat with you. of course, you can also hop over to our facebook page for a piece of the action. if you are an avid instagram-mer, use the hashtag #kakibukitcac and see your pictures pop up on our widget --->

catch the hARTbeat @ kaki bukit!

edwin