TPSA - Bringing the TP spirit to you!

The Temasek Polytechnic Staff Association (TPSA), formed in April 1991, is an association for the staff of TP as well as ordinary members. They organise events such as the Chinese New Year festive shopping all the way to Johor Bahru as well as the 7-A Side Soccer Game and many many more monthly events.

The mission of TPSA is to be able to proactively engage all members through cultural, sports, recreational and social activities and their main goal is to create connections and nurture networks while enriching the experiences.

Despite the official Patron of the Association being the Principal and Chief Executive Officer of TP, more than 75 per cent of the association are ordinary members. You need not be a TP alumni or a TP staff to officially join the team! You just need spirit!

Embracing the TP Spirit during last year's Dinner and Dance

2 Days 1 Night Sibu Kelong Fishing Trip – 21 and 22 September 2013

What they would like to achieve:
a) To raise the standards of its members in the discharge of their duties and to assist them in upgrading and
     enhancing their skills;
b) To explore methods by which productivity of members in the Polytechnic could be increased;
c) To maintain and consolidate the status of the staff and to enhance the image of the Association;
d) To promote the interests and welfare of its members;
e) To foster and promote friendship and goodwill among its members;
f) To promote cultural, sports, recreational and social activities among its members thereby inculcating
    sportsmanship, team spirit, fair play, comradeship and personal enrichment

Most important factors:
Togetherness
Personal Development
Social Networking
Action-oriented

Read More

There's no market for local musicians? (IA3)

The dying population of local talents in the music industry has been the talk of the town recently after Stephanie Koh aka StephMicayle's Youtube video went viral especially among the youths; with many agreeing to some of her points on creativity being limited/restricted in Singapore.

Her video tells us why she is not proud to be a Singaporean. One of the points touches on Singaporeans being small minded, lacking of creativity and the education system too rigid for creativity.

Although most netizens agree that her points are valid, some did not agree on her say on how 'majority' of Singaporeans are 'not creative', debating that there are plenty of talented, creative people and that the problem was lack of exposure.

With lacking platforms for budding artists, is exposure possible? Maybe.

A good example for this would be Still Sunrise. They are slowly yet surely sharing joy through their music one step at a time.

Still Sunrise performing at Temasek Polytechnic's singing competition - The Biz Factor.

Still Sunrise is a local indie-folk band consisting of four young lads, three of which graduated from Temasek Polytechnic. With a fresh start in their music career, they have flourished as performers and performed gigs every now and then.

Two of the members took part in MediaCorp's The Final 1 competition last year but didn't manage to win, however, they did not feel like they have lost in Singapore's 'creative industry' yet instead found a new reason to keep lovin what they love.

The Final 1 finalist, Yuresh Balakrishnan, said: "The ultimate goal is to have smaller goals every step of the way. There will never be a final goal. You need to take things slow.

"Just like how there used to be very divided music genres and scenes, but now there's more emphasis on local music. I think as a generation we’re more inclined to express ourselves artistically and we want to pursue different venues of art. Things look pretty optimistic to me."

Glen Wee said: "I would never be where I am today, if not for the singing competitions that I took part in."

Other local musicians such as Ko Xinyi and Nathan Hartono are one of the many musicians in Singapore whose fans agreed that they should be more exposed by now. With YouTube being their main platform for exposure, fans all over the world anticipate their videos and covers online. But why are majority of Singaporeans clueless about their existence then?

Selling EP albums in Starbucks or busking for fun in public are some of the examples of platforms the minority take to gain exposure in Singapore's music industry.

Glen added: "The thing that is most lacking in the music scene in Singapore is the fact that locals are unwilling to give them a listen – if they don’t support us, who will? The music and talents exist and they aren't bad at all. We just need more ears. So we will try harder, one step at a time.”

Read More