SINGAPORE — Details were rolled out for two of next year’s biggest arts events. Organisers of the Singapore International Festival Of Arts (formerly Singapore Arts Festival) revealed some of the artists for next year’s edition in August — Michael Nyman, The Wooster Group and Jerome Bel — as well as a pre-festival “public art academy” called OPEN. Art Stage Singapore likewise announced a new showcase platform for its fourth edition in January: Eight curated sales sections focusing on countries and regions. Works from Singapore, which previously had their own section, will now be subsumed under a South-east Asian platform. A new international contemporary art contest based in Singapore, Prudential Eye Awards, hit town and will reveal winners in January. The Asian Film Archive will also come under the National Library Board from Dec 1. Contest winners have also been announced for TheatreWorks’ 24-Hour Playwriting Competition this year and the Singapore Media Academy’s 180 Short Film Competition. Meanwhile, a discussion has cropped up regarding the tightening of foreign employment and how it has affected arts groups like orchestras and dance companies. MAYO MARTIN