Singapore Arts Festival

The Singapore Arts Festival (Chinese: 新加坡艺术节) is an annual arts festival held in Singapore. Organised by the National Arts Council, it is one of the most significant events in the regional arts scene. The festival, usually held in mid-year for a stretch of one month, incorporates theatre arts, dance, music and visual arts, among other possibilities. Besides local participants, approximately 70% of the events are put up by international artists.

Today, the Singapore Arts Festival is no longer managed by the National Arts Council. It has a new name and new direction under Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA), organised by Arts House Limited and commissioned by National Arts Council. In 2014 - 2017, the Festival Director for Singapore International Festival of Arts is Ong Keng Sen. He designed a two-part festival with a pre-festival of ideas The O.P.E.N. (Open, Participate, Engage, Negotiate). The O.P.E.N. runs from June - July and thereafter followed by the main festival SIFA in August and September. Details on the new Singapore International Festival of Arts can be found at www.sifa.sg.

The Singapore Arts Festival started in 1977 as a national arts festival to celebrate local arts from the diverse communities in Singapore. 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 local artists as well as increasing public awareness and demand for the arts, spawning new cultural platforms, events, and movements that help underpin the lively cultural scene in present Singapore. It was formed in 1999 when the existing Festival of Asian Performing Arts and the Festival of Arts were merged as an annual event.

In addition to international acts, Singaporean productions (some in collaboration with overseas partners) in previous Arts Festivals include ECNAD's Missing In Tall Pillars (2002),Mark Chan's Little Toys (2003), Opiume (2004) and Dreaming of Kuanyin Meeting Madonna (2007).

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