You may have heard the saying: “An artist spend 10 years training hard just for 10 minutes of good stage time”. That only starts to describe the real pain felt when a well-anchored gig gets lost because of an unprecedented situation. Among the COVID-19 crisis, a unique team of seven saw the need for solidarity amidst adversity. All it took was some simple innovative thinking and a bit of technology to form ilostmygig.sg.
Keith Tan, Nicholas Chee, Jerry Lim, Jeremy Ho, Loh Hsiao-Shan, Ally Chua and Leem Jiayuan, members of the founding team, came together through this common initiative. They took a page off the I Lost My Gig (ILMG) initiative from the US which first began when SXSW had to cancel their Arts Festival and leave in its wake, many people with displaced work arrangements and capital losses.
Team: Nicholas Chee 
Team: Loh Hsiao Shan 
Team: Keith Tan 
Team: Jerry Lim 
Team: Jeremy Ho 
Team: Ally Chua 
Team: Lian Jiayuan
“I felt a need for us to do the same out here so that we could at least tabulate our losses to create more effective dialogues over the loss that the industry was facing and the support it needs”
Keith Tan, CEO of Slate Entertainment
This sentiment was shared by the team, fueling a strong commitment to start a similar movement for Singapore’s Performing Arts community. With a bit of coding and the help of Google forms, the team set up ilostmygig.sg in just 1 week! Very soon, with media coverage coverage and with the help of people across #MADEinSG (Media, Arts, Design, Entertainment) industries, word about the site quickly spread. This ripple effect continued to permeate beyond Singapore, sparking similar movements in Japan, Malaysia, and the Philippines.
Unfazed by skeptics, the website provides a platform for people to find solidarity, and acts as a call to rally performing artists across Singapore to present their losses and participate in a cohesive conversation. To date, the website has consolidated a total of more than 8000 lost gigs worth a total of more than 30 million dollars, with nearly 3000 people impacted. The team remains optimistic and has encouraged performing artists to continue staying hopeful for ‘Lights, Sound, and Magic!’
“Hang in there, this all shall pass and we hope to see everyone back in full swing again!”
ilostmygig.sg Team
Writers Note:
As a strong advocate of our local arts scene myself, I stand by ILMG in encouraging Singaporeans to continue patronising their favourite art-form online, whether it’s watching live streams, contributing to local businesses, or even expressing their support for fellow artists on their profile pages. After all, it’s the smiles in the crowd that keep performing artists coming back for more.
