Profile of Founder and Chief Executive: Faris Basharahil
"Experience, experiment and excite new possibilities as the world is your playground. Let your ideas fly high but plant your heart to the ground"
Faris Abdulkadir Basharahil is a young Creative Entrepreneur but with a very old mind and experience. He helps to bridge the arts and social sector together through starting a non-profit social enterprise built by his motivations, earlier involvements and education that helps to create projects for ripple positive impact.
Motivations
Through acknowledging he is Dyslexic, affected by issues on the ground, Faris Basharahil started Social Creatives after being involved with the community since he was 14 and felt society needed more colours in its social fabric.
Being Dyslexic, Faris acknowledges it as both a strength and weakness. He frequently think outside the box, believes in service before self but faces challenges with writing among other setbacks.
He has experienced many issues on the ground that motivates him to do more and do his part. For example, a family friend and classmate of his committed suicide, which motivated Faris to create an ongoing programme where murals are painted in confidential wards of Institute of Mental Health to help bridge greater awareness among artists and corporates about the issues and remove stigma. With over 10 years of experience in arts management, corporate partnerships, and community building, Faris has produced over 400 artworks, created concepts of everyday art galleries, tunnel art and painting out poverty where non-artists and artists enter the homes of the poor to help with emotional poverty. He has raised more than $5million dollars for Social Creatives with less than 1% fundraising cost.
Earlier involvements
Faris was first involved with community work since the year of 14 years old. He was an active student leader and was part of Community Service Club of Temasek Polytechnic that clinched the 2007 President's Award for Social Services (Informal Group). His first involvement at a national level was being on the Youth Panel for MCYS Feedback Unit. His later volunteering experiences include Young Changemakers, the National Youth Forum, ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Youth, Korea ASEAN Youth Exchange among many other portfolios. He also received a long service award for his grassroot services but left the "system".
In 2006-2007, Faris led a team of youths and created a programme to paint dustbins as a ground up initiative to best connect different groups of people through art by adding vibrancy to Singapore's tourist belt- Orchard Roach and it triggered the passion to start Social Creatives and its inclusive arts objectives.
Education and its influences
As a graduate of Hospitality and Tourism, Faris believes that the world is your canvas and through cultural handshakes, art connects people together despite our physical and emotional walls. He has created projects art beyond borders where Social Creatives painted in Toronto, Nepal, Berlin and China and participated for Spotlight Singapore in Cebu and Bratislava-Prague. These projects assisted with international diplomacy, cultural collaborations while improving capabilities of the team.
Faris was awarded a WSQ Professional Diploma on Creative Entrepreneurship and initiated corporate social investments, $1 agreements and artistic team-building concepts. His efforts had led to collaborations with over 50 companies, secured a $500,000/year museum space in Millenia Walk. This operated as a formal art gallery, free exhibition space for artists exhibiting artworks for the first time and a studio that hosts art jamming for the low-income groups. In 2014, he secured a 6000sqf office from Philips Electronics through a $1 agreement.
In 2012, Faris became an alumni of Lee Kuan Yew School of Policy Public through an Executive Programme on the inaugural Non-Profit Management. The programme helped much to fine tune his community spirit, understanding of policies and integration of the non-profit sector. He is perhaps the youngest alumni of the post-grad university. To date, 60 welfare organisations have benefited from the works of Social Creatives. According to an impact analysis created, every $1 received has led to $96 worth of impact through benchmarking the artistic and social impact of Social Creative to the cheapest form of the arts- movie tickets and benchmark of the advertising sector.
Projects and its outreach
In 2011, the first Void Deck Art Gallery appeared on CNN while its third Void Deck Art Gallery appeared on the cover page of Straits Times. He also curated a mural in Clarke Quay as the first mural to commemorate SG50. However due to pressing requirements and opportunity costs, Faris does not curate artworks that often. Faris currently believes that SC is facing a challenge beyond its capabilities as currently there are many challenges at sector level that is affecting the progress of Social Creatives. These include policies, pricing of mural arts and awareness of social businesses and community arts as well as government charities receive most of the philanthropy pie. As Singapore is a unique country and still growing, Faris feels less in advocacy but more in a balanced approach of top, middle and group up initiatives to co-exist together for a colourful Singapore.
In 2013, Faris experimental with the a concept of Mural-VolunTOURISM in Kathmandu where teams of artists and non artistic delegates come together to create over 10 murals including the facade of Nepal Cultural Association.
Social Creatives is currently aiming for greater impactful projects at both international and national levels. These include building mural towns, festivals and welfare projects. A recent project in China 2015 was under the artistic direction of legendary Taiwanese composer Liu Jia Chang, who created an outdoor gallery to develop tourism, community building and artistic cultures.
On a formal note, Faris does not like to be called Founder.
On an informal note, Faris prefers to be known as witty and a creative. His favourite vegetable is popcorn and he has a white cat named Kitty that he loves very much.
"Experience, experiment and excite new possibilities as the world is your playground. Let your ideas fly high but plant your heart to the ground"
Faris Abdulkadir Basharahil is a young Creative Entrepreneur but with a very old mind and experience. He helps to bridge the arts and social sector together through starting a non-profit social enterprise built by his motivations, earlier involvements and education that helps to create projects for ripple positive impact.
Motivations
Through acknowledging he is Dyslexic, affected by issues on the ground, Faris Basharahil started Social Creatives after being involved with the community since he was 14 and felt society needed more colours in its social fabric.
Being Dyslexic, Faris acknowledges it as both a strength and weakness. He frequently think outside the box, believes in service before self but faces challenges with writing among other setbacks.
He has experienced many issues on the ground that motivates him to do more and do his part. For example, a family friend and classmate of his committed suicide, which motivated Faris to create an ongoing programme where murals are painted in confidential wards of Institute of Mental Health to help bridge greater awareness among artists and corporates about the issues and remove stigma. With over 10 years of experience in arts management, corporate partnerships, and community building, Faris has produced over 400 artworks, created concepts of everyday art galleries, tunnel art and painting out poverty where non-artists and artists enter the homes of the poor to help with emotional poverty. He has raised more than $5million dollars for Social Creatives with less than 1% fundraising cost.
Earlier involvements
Faris was first involved with community work since the year of 14 years old. He was an active student leader and was part of Community Service Club of Temasek Polytechnic that clinched the 2007 President's Award for Social Services (Informal Group). His first involvement at a national level was being on the Youth Panel for MCYS Feedback Unit. His later volunteering experiences include Young Changemakers, the National Youth Forum, ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Youth, Korea ASEAN Youth Exchange among many other portfolios. He also received a long service award for his grassroot services but left the "system".
In 2006-2007, Faris led a team of youths and created a programme to paint dustbins as a ground up initiative to best connect different groups of people through art by adding vibrancy to Singapore's tourist belt- Orchard Roach and it triggered the passion to start Social Creatives and its inclusive arts objectives.
Education and its influences
As a graduate of Hospitality and Tourism, Faris believes that the world is your canvas and through cultural handshakes, art connects people together despite our physical and emotional walls. He has created projects art beyond borders where Social Creatives painted in Toronto, Nepal, Berlin and China and participated for Spotlight Singapore in Cebu and Bratislava-Prague. These projects assisted with international diplomacy, cultural collaborations while improving capabilities of the team.
Faris was awarded a WSQ Professional Diploma on Creative Entrepreneurship and initiated corporate social investments, $1 agreements and artistic team-building concepts. His efforts had led to collaborations with over 50 companies, secured a $500,000/year museum space in Millenia Walk. This operated as a formal art gallery, free exhibition space for artists exhibiting artworks for the first time and a studio that hosts art jamming for the low-income groups. In 2014, he secured a 6000sqf office from Philips Electronics through a $1 agreement.
In 2012, Faris became an alumni of Lee Kuan Yew School of Policy Public through an Executive Programme on the inaugural Non-Profit Management. The programme helped much to fine tune his community spirit, understanding of policies and integration of the non-profit sector. He is perhaps the youngest alumni of the post-grad university. To date, 60 welfare organisations have benefited from the works of Social Creatives. According to an impact analysis created, every $1 received has led to $96 worth of impact through benchmarking the artistic and social impact of Social Creative to the cheapest form of the arts- movie tickets and benchmark of the advertising sector.
Projects and its outreach
In 2011, the first Void Deck Art Gallery appeared on CNN while its third Void Deck Art Gallery appeared on the cover page of Straits Times. He also curated a mural in Clarke Quay as the first mural to commemorate SG50. However due to pressing requirements and opportunity costs, Faris does not curate artworks that often. Faris currently believes that SC is facing a challenge beyond its capabilities as currently there are many challenges at sector level that is affecting the progress of Social Creatives. These include policies, pricing of mural arts and awareness of social businesses and community arts as well as government charities receive most of the philanthropy pie. As Singapore is a unique country and still growing, Faris feels less in advocacy but more in a balanced approach of top, middle and group up initiatives to co-exist together for a colourful Singapore.
In 2013, Faris experimental with the a concept of Mural-VolunTOURISM in Kathmandu where teams of artists and non artistic delegates come together to create over 10 murals including the facade of Nepal Cultural Association.
Social Creatives is currently aiming for greater impactful projects at both international and national levels. These include building mural towns, festivals and welfare projects. A recent project in China 2015 was under the artistic direction of legendary Taiwanese composer Liu Jia Chang, who created an outdoor gallery to develop tourism, community building and artistic cultures.
On a formal note, Faris does not like to be called Founder.
On an informal note, Faris prefers to be known as witty and a creative. His favourite vegetable is popcorn and he has a white cat named Kitty that he loves very much.