THE ARTGROUND – A CURIOUS PLACE TO BE: LAUNCH OF NEW CHILDREN’S ARTS CENTRE FOR CHILDREN

The Artground, Singapore’s Newest Multi-Disciplinary Arts Centre Designed For Children Aged 12 And Under, officially opened its doors at the Goodman Arts Centre. Featuring purpose-built spaces that cater to the different ages and learning stages of children, the Artground offers enriching artistic experiences across a variety of art forms, encouraging a sense of curiosity and self-expression in our next generation. The Artground is developed by The Ground Co Limited, in collaboration with the National Arts Council.

Ms Luanne Poh, Director of The Ground Co Limited, shares, “We believe that all children are intrinsically curious, and at The Artground we hope to provide opportunities for them to remain so. With the space and the myriad of programming possibilities, we aim to facilitate learning through play and empower children to express themselves in multiple ways. We are driven by our vision ‘to let art do, what art does’ – to provide experiences that keep our children thinking, questioning, exploring, appreciating and discovering through art.”

Occupying over 500 square metres, The Artground comprises four accessible arts play spaces. Baby Stage is a safe space for parents, babies and early walkers to explore together. It features walkways and slopes with a slight incline, a feature essential to motivating crawlers to transition to walkers. Over at the Ground Floor, kids aged 2 and up can look forward to interactive installations which will be refreshed thrice a year, while at the WhiteBox, they can catch child-friendly performances in a bright, cosy theatre space. To encourage children to embrace the wonders of nature, The Artground has also created the Good Garden, a whimsical outdoor space that invites visitors to interact with the greenery around them.

The various venues will host both indoor and outdoor arts programmes, free and ticketed throughout the year. An interactive visual art exhibition titled Down The Rabbit Hole by mixed media artist Poh Ya See will be the inaugural installation at the Ground Floor, inviting visitors to hop, skip, climb and crawl to explore the hidden world of animals that live underground. For the first time in Southeast Asia, Baby Space, a multi-sensory installation designed for babies 16 months and below, will be on show at the WhiteBox. Melding together contemporary dance, music, poetry and visual art together for most babies’ first encounter with the arts, babies are encouraged to explore and interact with the performers and elements of the installation. Baby Space is created by Sweden-based award-winning choreographer, theatre maker and cultural worker Dalija Acin Thelander.




The Artground offers regular programming for the public and welcomes school groups as well as the special-needs and underserved communities. Educators can look forward to workshops that are designed to inspire and equip them with new skills. In addition, The Artground will serve as a platform for artists to develop new and innovative ways of engaging children through multiple art forms. Practitioners keen to create art programmes for young audiences can use The Artground as an incubation space for original home-grown content, and look for opportunities to collaborate with other like-minded home-grown and overseas artists. The Artground also hopes to present works created and developed within this space, at regional and international platforms for young audiences; and likewise serve as a space to feature quality works from around the region. (Read The Artground Programmes for further information on programmes)

Ms Grace Ng, Director, Education and Development, National Arts Council, says, “We are very excited to be introducing The Artground to make quality arts experiences accessible to children of all abilities, needs and backgrounds. The arts are a powerful way to help children develop creatively and we are happy that this space will provide differentiated programming reaching out to diverse communities. Collaborations such as this with The Ground Co Limited are important to drive the ongoing development and growth of the arts ecosystem, as we strive to make the arts integral to the lives of young people’.”

The Artground is open to the public from 8 July 2017 onwards. Interested parties can find out more about the space and its programmes here and join the conversation via Facebook and Instagram at @TheArtground, and hashtag #theartground.

The Artground
Address:
Block J #01-40, 90 Goodman Road, Singapore 439053

Opening Hours:
Wednesday – Thursday: 9.30am – 5pm
Friday – Sundays & Public Holiday: 9.30am – 6pm
*Closed on Mondays and Tuesdays

Admission Charges:
Free admission for the opening month of July. Interactive installations at the Ground Floor are free year-round.

Programmes:
Ticketed programmes and workshops have varied prices and can be purchased on-site.

Accessibility:
Suitable for children aged 0 to 12.

The Artground welcomes visitors with limited mobility and special needs. The centre is designed to accommodate visitors on wheelchairs and everyone is welcome regardless of their sensory needs.

Venues within The Artground
Baby Stage (ages 0 – toddlers)
Designed for the really little ones, crawlers and those who have only just learnt how to walk, the Baby Stage is a safe and comfortable space for parents and babies to hang out and explore.

Ground Floor (ages 2 – 12)
The Ground Floor is the main space that houses The Artground’s tri-annual installations. This space will always feature something new and exciting for those aged 2 and up to crawl through, climb over, listen to, observe, touch and feel to learn more about the world around them.

WhiteBox (ages 0 – 12, depending on programme)
The WhiteBox is the heart and soul of The Artground. A black box with a lighter brighter feel, it is a cosy and unadorned theatre space for children to learn, discover and be curious.

The Good Garden (ages 2 – 12)
A whimsical space that invites visitors to connect with nature and to use their senses to cultivate and celebrate creativity, diversity and life. The Good Garden is where visitors will learn what it means to help things grow.

Photo credit: Courtesy of the National Arts Council

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