By Yee Suet Mun And Natalie Chan
(From left) Kakiseni president and film director Low Ngai Yuen (moderator), classical dancer Ramli Ibrahim, producer Tiara Jacquelina and fashion designer Bernard Chandran at the arts forum organised by the Merdeka Award Trust.KUALA LUMPUR: Award-winning producer and director Tiara Jacquelina has opened up about the immense challenges of financing the arts in Malaysia after pouring her own money and energy into creating large-scale productions that championed Malaysian stories.Tiara, a driving force behind some of Malaysia鈥檚 most iconic productions, described the pressure of justifying art in commercial terms as exhausting.The arts advocate told a forum here today that despite her commitment to national identity and cultural storytelling, she grew tired of constantly having to 鈥渒nock on doors鈥 just to make a case for support.鈥淚 did it all for the love of the arts, but I learned the hard way that passion alone isn鈥檛 sustainable,鈥 said the founder of the Enfiniti Academy of Musical Theatre and Performing Arts.At one point, Tiara secured RM1 million in sponsorship from a major corporate body. However, she said it was an amount that came with strings attached.She was expected to deliver up to three times in returns, alongside key performance indicators (KPIs), publicity deliverables, and media coverage.Instead of nurturing creativity, she found herself buried in spreadsheets.鈥淛ust as I was stepping into the director鈥檚 role, I was handed demands for publicity and ticket targets. That鈥檚 not the role of an artist 鈥 that鈥檚 a media agency鈥檚 job,鈥 she said.She was speaking at a forum titled Profit Meets Performance: When Arts Means Business organised by the Merdeka Award Trust here.Low Ngai Yuen, president of the arts and culture NGO Kakiseni and moderator of the session, agreed that the arts ecosystem in Malaysia lacks the structure and support needed for creatives to thrive.She said that because of the lack of proper partnerships available to artists, many of them have had to compromise their visions to fit into corporate moulds.鈥淏eyond sponsorships, what we really need is a model thinking in terms of community and ecosystem building,鈥 she said.鈥淚f we want to see a thriving arts sector in the next five years, both the government and corporate Malaysia must commit to long-term investment in the development of artists and their work.鈥滵ancer and founder of the Sutra Foundation, Ramli Ibrahim, noted that the value of the arts should not be measured by financial metrics alone.鈥淵ou can鈥檛 define the success of the arts in ringgit and sen,鈥 he said, stressing that the 鈥減rofit鈥 of arts lies in its influence on people.Fashion designer Bernard Chandran took the conversation further, stating that the problem runs deeper than just funding.鈥淚n the end, we鈥檙e not just in the business of entertainment, we鈥檙e in the business of creating meaning,鈥 he said.鈥淯ntil we begin treating the arts as fundamental to our national identity, we鈥檒l always be running uphill.鈥