THE three-month-long Nanyang Arts Festival, organised by the Cultural Activities Club (CAC) every year, held its opening ceremony, “M.A.D.ness: The Revelation” outside Canteen A on January 16th.

The arts festival’s theme this year is music, arts and dance, in a word – M.A.D.ness.

The launch featured performances by member clubs of the CAC, and beat-boxer Charles Wong. It also presented artwork from the School of Art, Design and Media, Hwa Chong Institution, and Creative Home, an organisation that promotes the arts among youths.

Colourful dustbins, photographs and other works are being displayed around campus in a new initiative called “Arts aRound The School” (A.R.T.S) in conjunction with the festival, which will last till the end of March.

The dustbins display by Creative Home showed that “even ordinary items can be very beautiful” and that anyone can appreciate art, said Dixie Tan, 20, from NIE.

Associate Provost Professor Er Meng Hwa graced the ceremony. Students and staff interested in learning Latin ballroom dancing or Lindy Hop can pay $2 to attend any one of the dance workshops. Proceeds will go to the Chen Su Lan Methodist Children’s Home, the beneficiary of “Arts from the Heart”, a CAC charity project.

“It will be a win-win situation because you get to learn something new and do charity at the same time,” said Tan Kar Soon, 23, a third-year Accountancy student.

Another NAF showcase, “M.A.D.ly in Love,” will be a Valentine’s Day special held on Febuary 13th and 14th. One highlight of the event is a competition where participants submit pictures with their loved ones taken at a booth outside Canteen A.

Two years of hard work paid off for the NAF committee, when the National Arts Council finally recognised it as a nationwide arts event. The festival was noted for its efforts to raise public awareness of the arts through quality performances, art displays and workshops, said organisers.

Planning the festival was not easy for the committee which was largely made up of first-year students. They faced an initial lack of sponsors, said chairperson Lim Yong Xi, 22.

The first-year School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE) student and his committee heads ended up canvassing for funds on their own, and managed to get sponsors for the festival’s goodie bags.

Despite the hard work, overcoming difficulties boosted the committee’s confidence, said Alvin Sim, 23, a first-year student from MAE and the Chief Business Manager for the NAF.

Looking forward to the festival’s closing ceremony in March, Lim said: “It will make people remember and anticipate the next NAF,” he said.