The night Atlas quivered: See who shook up the Foundation Party

The Foundation Party, organised by the Foundation for the Arts and Social Enterprise (Fase) last month shunned the typical hotel venue and settled for the effervescent setting of a bar. Not just another drinking hole, mind, but the very sumptuous, very gilded Atlas at Parkview Square.

Touted as an “anti-gala event”, Fase director Michael Tay said he wanted the inaugural fundraiser to be “different”, untraditional in venue and dress code expectations.

See who attended the eventful fundraiser.

A private sector-led, government-supported platform to develop and promote arts projects, Fase currently supports musicians, including singer-songwriters Linying and Charlie Lim, and jazz outfit The Steve McQueens. According to Tay, funds are raised on a project basis. “For instance, if you need to record an album, then we’ll get the funds for that,” he said.

“The only way you can raise funds is when entrepreneurs and artists come together,” he continued, adding that the fundraiser was held in a relatively intimate setting to “connect the cause – in this case, the musicians and the art – directly to the donors”.

At the party, 150 or so guests were entertained by the musicians supported by Fase. Funds were raised via a silent auction, with artworks by local and international artists on the block; along with designer furniture, and special private performances by the four music acts.

The government would match the amount – $100,000 as it turned out – dollar-for-dollar through the Cultural Matching Fund. The money, Tay said, would be used to “reinvest in our musicians as well as in bigger projects that will allow us to have a bigger impact on the arts scene”. That’s just the start. “The aim of the Foundation is not to make Singapore musicians great in Singapore, but to make them great globally,” he said.