School of Creative
Industries
Otavio Sequeira
Otavio is a musician and writer who has been active in Singapore's independent music scene throughout the duration of his studies. From his involvement in local underground acts as a guitarist, to his work as an artist manager in Sony Music and his recent ventures with local indie music collective Big Duck, Otavio's work has been based around bringing local musical acts to the forefront with a focus on ground-up initiatives.
Work
Research interests
Creative industries, independent music scenes, musicology
Thesis abstract
G-Town: The study of a musical creative cluster in Singapore’s Geylang neighborhood, its impacts and implications for the wider Singaporean creative landscape
The Geylang music cluster is a creative cluster of musicians, producers and other cultural stakeholders in the Singaporean independent music scene who have established music production and rehearsal studios, as well as living arrangements within the units of a heritage shophouse located on Singapore’s Geylang district. A case study of the cluster was carried out through a series of qualitative interviews conducted with its key stakeholders, as well as a supplementary empirical analysis of Geylang’s property transactions.
Through the case study, the research evaluates the cluster’s characteristics, the causes and timeline behind its formation, the characteristics of the Geylang neighbourhood leading to its formation and the implications of its existence on the wider Singaporean arts ecosystem. The research gave greater insight into how Singapore’s land use policies impacted the growth of the country’s creative activity, as well as the importance of authentic cultural production and social hegemony in developing Singapore’s creative and cultural industries.