Singapore International Festival of Arts

How it began

The first version opened in 1977 under the name Singapore Arts Festival, and for more than twenty years it came round every second year. In 1999 two older festivals, one devoted to performing arts from Asia and one covering the arts generally, were combined, and the event became annual. In 2012 the National Arts Council passed the running of it to a company created for the purpose, and the festival took the longer name it uses today. The council still commissions it.

A month of arts

The programme runs for roughly four weeks and gathers theatre, dance, music and visual art. Singaporean companies appear beside visiting ones, and some of the local pieces are made jointly with partners abroad. An opening show and a closing show give each edition its frame, and organisers have used both to set a mood: in 2008 the first and last performances were both staged on water. Editions also reach beyond the stage. com.mune began in 2010 as an outreach strand, and in 2022 the virtual venue Life Profusion carried part of the festival online.

Editions and themes

Each year's programme has carried a theme. The 2008 festival turned to water: Water Fools, by the French company Ilotopie, opened it with a performance given on the Singapore River at Boat Quay over three days in May, and the Dutch group The Lunatics closed it with Hydro Sapiens at Bedok Reservoir in June. The 2010 edition was titled Between You and Me and set out to bring people nearer to the art on offer. The 2011 festival ran from 13 May to 5 June under the theme I Want To Remember, opening with Ishinha's When a Gray Taiwanese Cow Stretched, a work about migration from the South Sea islands, staged at Esplanade Park.

Directors and commissions

A festival director shapes each edition. Anthony Steel led the 1982 and 1984 festivals, Robert Liew took 1986 and 1988, and Tisa Ho (Ng) took 1990. Liew Chin Choy was in charge for 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998 and 1999. Goh Ching Lee followed from 2000 to 2009, Low Kee Hong from 2010 to 2012, Ong Keng Sen from 2014 to 2017, and Gaurav Kripalani from 2018 to 2021. Natalie Hennedige began a three-year term in 2022. Chong Tze Chien holds the post for 2026 to 2028. Singaporean work shown over the years has included ECNAD's Missing In Tall Pillars, Mark Chan's Little Toys, Opiume and Dreaming of Kuanyin Meeting Madonna.

The pandemic years

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the calendar. In 2020 Arts House Limited and the National Arts Council called off the festival in answer to the Singapore government's pandemic measures. The following year's edition, held from 14 May to 20 June, set out a working model for running an arts festival while a pandemic was still going on, and it closed Gaurav Kripalani's last term as director. It was counted among the biggest arts festivals anywhere to have gone ahead since the outbreak began in 2020. Natalie Hennedige then took over; her 2022 edition, titled The Anatomy of Performance, Ritual, ran from 20 May to 5 June.

How Singapore International Festival of Arts is kept

An edition is put together by a festival director, who picks the programme and the artists. Over about four weeks in the middle of the year, audiences move between venues around Singapore for theatre, dance, music and visual art. Local companies and visiting ones both take part, and some productions are collaborations with partners overseas. An opening show starts the run and a closing show ends it. In 2020 the whole festival was called off during the pandemic; it returned the next year with a programme that ran from 14 May to 20 June.

When and where

SIFA is usually held in the middle of the year for about a month. Recent editions have run from mid-May into early June, among them 2019 (16 May to 2 June), 2021 (14 May to 20 June) and 2022 (20 May to 5 June). The 2008 shows took place in May and June, and 2011 ran from 13 May to 5 June.

The festival belongs to Singapore, and its events are spread across the island. Boat Quay, on the Singapore River, held the 2008 opening on the water itself, and Bedok Reservoir held that year's closing show. The 2011 opening was staged at Esplanade Park, described as the festival's biggest outdoor performance up to then. Work from Taiwan, Japan, the Netherlands and France has appeared in the programme.

What Singapore International Festival of Arts means

The festival's 2010 theme, Between You and Me, was framed around drawing audiences nearer to the work, and a new outreach strand, com.mune, was meant to widen who takes part. One production from 2011 followed the movement of people from the South Sea islands into South East Asia, Taiwan and Japan. The 2021 edition came to stand for something practical as well: evidence that a large gathering of performers and audiences could still be arranged in the middle of a pandemic.

Questions people ask about Singapore International Festival of Arts

See also

Taiwanese operaA Taiwanese theatrical art of Hokkien balladry, stylized staging, and expressive song.Chinese operaA sung, danced and acrobatic theatre from China, in over a hundred regional stylesGhazalA short rhyming poem of love and parting, recited and sung from Arabia to South AsiaLion danceA dynamic ritual dance featuring costumed lions, drums and martial acrobatics

Good reading and sources

• Singapore International Festival of Arts on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-05.