Singapore is emerging as a cultural centre for arts and culture, including theatre and music. As a cosmopolitan and multi-racial society, Singapore is often identified with the "gateway between the East and West". In the past decade, there is an emergence of several performing arts groups in Singapore, especially in theatrical arts. A number of productions were staged successfully and several groups, such as Theatre Works, have performed overseas. In recent years, more and more contemporary dance companies were formed as dancers from pioneering companies become individual artists. The Singapore government encourages a product-oriented arts scene within its master plan to include arts as a commodity for its economy. For indigenous artistic works, it's best to explore and find out about local private arts companies. Another festival that is going strong is the Singapore Youth Festival organized by the Ministry of Education, in fact, it has become a magnet that provide bread and butter works for local performing artists to work for most local schools to compete for the gold! Singapore hosts an annual Singapore Arts Festival when international and local artists gather in the country to perform in a wide variety of events including music, dance and theatre. The Singapore Arts Festival has become an event for Singapore to showcase its ability to buy international renowned performing arts products. In 2003, the Esplanade - "Theatres on the Bay", a centre for performing arts, was opened. The Esplanade is also known as "The Durian", due to its resemblance to the fruit. Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) and LaSalle College of the Arts are the two main arts institutions offering full-time programmes for the performing arts in Singapore. Institutions including government schools nowadays receive good funding for their arts programmes.