Fan clubs are furious that this year’s event is ticketed with high prices.
By Rachael Boon
For the first time, fans will have to pay to attend the Star Awards, MediaCorp’s annual glitzy affair which honours the best in local television.
The awards ceremony this year will be held at Sands Grand Ballroom at Marina Bay Sands on April 29. Tickets cost $58 and $98, and went on sale from April 5 from Sistic and the MBS ticketing site.
The event was previously held in the MediaCorp TV Theatre and places such as St James Power Station in 2006, and Resorts World Sentosa last year. Tickets were distributed to fans of nominated artists, which depended on the nominations an artist got, or to fans who wrote in.
The admission fee was a surprise to fan clubs of local artists, whose members are regular attendees of the show.
Undergraduate Rina Oon, 24, chairman of Jollity Club for fans of actress Joanne Peh, has attended at least three shows. “I’m shocked. In previous years, MediaCorp allocated tickets to fan clubs but when we wrote in for tickets this year, they said they’d be charges,” she said.
The Star Awards this year will feature a performance by Korean-American R&B singer Jay Park.
Mr Paul Chan, vice-president of MediaCorp Channel 8 Branding & Promotions, said: “In line with the practices of international award shows, the Star Awards will be a ticketed event and 95 per cent of the tickets have been snapped up.”
Some fans, who are students, said the tickets prices were too steep for them. Ms Oon said:”Some of our secondary school members cannot afford to pay.”
Only five Jollity Club members, including Ms Oon, will attend the show this year, compared to more than 20 members last year. They are all working adults who bought the $58 tickets.
To cope with the costs, fan clubs such as RBKD, which supports actress Rui En and the Yverlasting Yvonne Official Fanclub, which supports actress Yvonne Lim, have plans to help members.
RBKD has an instalment plan for student members, who can pay for tickets in three instalments over three months, while an anonymous donor is sponsoring more than 10 tickets for members of the Yverlasting Yvonne Official Fanclub.
Student Yip Kah Yin, 17, who is a RBKD member, took up the instalment scheme. She will pay for her $98 ticket in three parts and has already paid $41.
Freelancer Stephanie tay, 23, president of Yverlasting Yvonne Official Fanclub, said it was unreasonable to ticket the Star Awards. “The event seems to be catering to international fans who went to see artists such as Jay Park,” she said.
This defeats the purpose of the awards, she added, because “this is an event for Singapore, which is a very big deal for people like us who support local stars and it is held once a year.”
Asked if subsequent Star Awards would be ticketed, Mr Chan said: “We will review this on a year-by-year basis.”
The main reason local fan clubs are so furious, said Ms Tay, is because MediaCorp has not been helpful with the tickets.
She said: “I understand they are ticketing it to make it an international show.
But if they want to maintain the standard of being a prestigious event, at least help local fan clubs by blocking off seats or giving better seats, the way organisers block seats for official fan clubs at concerts.”
Source: The Straits Times
Categorised in EN, RBKD, Star Awards, Star Awards 2012, The Straits Times.
