The Esplanade’s biennial Asian hotshot artist powwow/mega-networking session/and other stuff for arts professionals and students is back. ConversAsians 2012 is set to take place from May 31 to June 2. Representing Singapore are The Necessary Stage’s Alvin Tan and Haresh Sharma, TheatreWorks’ Ong Keng Sen and Singapore Chinese Orchestra’s Tsung Yeh. Also in the lineup are biggie choreographer Akram Khan, Five Arts Centre’s Marion D’Cruz, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon art director Tim Yip, Indonesia’s choreographer Ery Mefri and composer/gamelan musician Rahayu Suppangah and Japan’s multidisciplinary artist Hiroaki Umeda. Here’s the bigger news: Compared to the inaugural ConversAsians’ super expensive ticket prices, which got some flak in 2010, it’s cheaper this time around. Daily passes are reduced from S$270 to S$120. Even better is the full delegate price for the entire three-day event, which has shot down from S$810 to S$300. We're not finished. If you sign up from now until April 16, there's the early bird promo of S$200. And if you’re Singaporean or PR, you’re eligible for a further 50% discount courtesy of an NAC grant, i.e. S$100. ConversAsians 2012 details here. Register here. Grant details here.