What kind of Singapore Arts Festival do you want to see? And while we’re at it—sorta but not really—is painting really dead? You can have your say at these two (completely unrelated) public talking thingees.

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SHOUT OUT #1 The first one's a series of feedback sessions where the SAF Review Committee (which has been meeting quite regularly since July) will be sharing some of their ideas/suggestions/thoughts on the festival and then you can give your own suggestions or suggestions as well. After which, you all gather around for a group hug. Kidding. It’ll be held for four consecutive nights at different function rooms at Drama Centre on Oct 29 (Tamil session facilitated by Apsaras Arts’ Aravinth Kumarasamy), Oct 30 (English session with W!ld Rice’s Ivan Heng and SRT’s Gaurav Kripalani), Oct 31 (Mandarin session with interdisciplinary artist Choy Ka Fai and Dramabox’s Kok Heng Leun), and Nov 1 (Malay session with Era Dance Theatre’s Osman Abdul Hamid and Azrin Abdul Rahim). Limited seats, folks, so do register here.

*** SHOUT OUT #2 Is painting REALLY dead? That’s the title of the open forum on Nov 2, 2pm to 4pm, at NAFA’s Lim Hak Tai Gallery as part of the ongoing NAFA collection show. Seems like some people still can’t get over that ST article earlier this year. Never read my post ah. Wink. Moderated by Vertical Submarine’s Justin Loke, the impressive panel consists of Boo Sze Yang, Hong Sek Chern, Ian Woo and Milenko Prvacki. Is painting dead? Is it alive? Does Singapore’s painting scene suck? Does it rock? Come and join the fun! I’m not expecting any group hugs in this one. Oooh, exciting.