U Mobile, BMW and Nippon Paint front MY creative arts festival Urbanscapes

U Mobile has once again come on board as the presenting sponsor of Malaysian creative arts festival Urbanscapes 2019, as well as the presenter of the Unlimited Grooves Festival, a music festival within Urbanscapes. Meanwhile, BMW Group Malaysia and Nippon Paint have also jumped on board as official sponsors of the festival.

BMW will present this year’s edition of the short film competition titled "BMW Shorties" at Urbanscapes, as well as "Tayangan BMW Shorties", a week-long screening of genre films from Southeast Asia. The mini-film festival will culminate with the BMW Shorties Awards Night on 23 November. Nippon Paint will show its support for up and coming street artists that are commissioned to paint the city of Kuala Lumpur with public art and artistic story-telling via "Colour of Life". Through "Colour of Life", Nippon Paint aims to showcase Nippon Paint’s Trend Beyond Colours 2020/2021 and its through inspiring key themes – precious tale, gentle whisper, pop life and raw beauty into the works of art that brings life to spaces.

Each brand partner will work with Freeform, the events company behind the festival, to curate and produce content for Urbanscapes 2019. Other partners include Epson, Visit KL, filamen, TerryandTheCuz, DBKL, REXKL, and iNyala. The festival aims to reconnect the citizens of Kuala Lumpur with the vibrant arts and culture scene and engage with the community at a deeper level. Freeform said in a press statement that it expects about 50,000 attendees for this year's festival, which will run from 16 to 24 November. Urbanscapes will transform spaces in Kuala Lumpur including Medan Pasar, River of Life, REXKL, The Godown KL, Sentul Depot, Kwai Chai Hong and back lanes of Lorong Bandar 13 and Lorong Panggung into a showcase of music, visual, and performance art activities over nine days.

Tiffany Chew, U Mobile's head of corporate branding and communications said it is always looking for ways to bring customers closer to their passion in music and Urbanscapes is an excellent initiative for the telco to be involved in under its Unlimited Grooves pillar. "We are looking forward to seeing once again on the talents from Malaysia and around the world to unleash their unlimited creative potential," Chew added.

Adrian Yap, founder of Freeform and curator of Urbanscapes 2019 said its sponsors recognise that when today's society becomes increasingly digital, there is a yearning to connect viscerally. As such, the team is working with them to engage consumers that have a real impact on their businesses.

“Having these partners on board is important to us, as we work with them not only to curate experiences but to build something worth something to today’s consumers. By combining the shared interest of arts and culture, and reintroducing historic spaces within Kuala Lumpur, we are able to create a unique sense of community that has a transformative power to how festival-goers perceive the local arts scene, the city as a whole, and the brands that made it all possible,” Yap added.