OVER RECENT YEARS, THE SINGAPORE ARTS FESTIVAL CONSISTENTLY BRINGS TOGETHER A FINE MIX OF LOCAL, REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL WORKS, OFTEN ON THE CUTTING EDGE AND IN A CITY IDEAL FOR AN EMBRACING FESTIVAL” – RealTime

“…MULTICULTURAL, INTERDISCIPLINARY, TECH-SAVVY” – Asian Wall Street Journal

“ THE ADVENTUROUS FACE OF SINGAPORE…” The Age

The Singapore Arts Festival first began life in 1977 as a national arts festival celebrating local arts activity of Singapore’s diverse communities. Over the last three decades, the Festival has played a symbiotic and catalytic role in the development of the artistic and cultural life of Singapore. It has helped to transform the city’s cultural landscape, turning it into one of Asia’s major cultural capitals today. It has influenced the work of artists and generated a growing public demand for the arts, spawning new cultural platforms, events, and movements that help underpin the lively cultural scene in present Singapore.

Today, the Festival is characterised by a progressive and innovative spirit, committed to commissioning new works by principally Singapore and Asian artists, investing in works that bridges disciplines, cultures, language and geographical boundaries; exploring, among others, contemporary issues related to history, memory, migration, and urban living; discovering emergent and promising artists; and encouraging regional and international artistic exchanges and collaborations. The Festival also features an extensive programme of free outdoor performances island-wide, bringing the arts to the doorsteps of Singaporeans. Placing festival networking as an important process of cultural dialogue and festival collaborations, the Festival championed and co-founded the Association of Asian Performing Arts Festivals in 2004, and has since served as its chair and secretariat, overseeing a membership of 30 organisations in the Asia, Europe, America and Australasia.  

The Festival remains the largest singular event in Singapore’s arts calendar, inviting artists from more than 20 countries, offering more than 500 activities attracting up to 700,000 attendances - a 4-week infusion of performances and events that inspire and capture the public imagination of the city.

For more information about the Festival, get a copy of the 30th anniversary publication of the Festival “Making Visible the Invisible : Three Decades of the Singapore Arts Festival”, authored by Venka Purushothaman, published in December 2007.