The Substation

The Substation (Chinese: 电力站) is Singapore's first independent contemporary arts centre. It was founded in 1990 by Kuo Pao Kun. The Substation is centrally located in the city's civic district and was the first building under the National Arts Council's "Arts Housing Scheme". It officially opened on 16 September 1990. The Substation is a non-profit organisation and registered Institution of Public Character in Singapore, which relies on financial and in-kind support from the general public, commercial organisations and government ministries to cover the costs of operating and developing arts & educational programmes.

The Substation is committed to nurturing 'local voices' in Singapore arts and culture, and supporting diversity and depth in the arts. It also functions as a multi-cultural arts space with a commitment to raising awareness of Singapore's cultural memories. The Substation presents a wide range of artists and programmes, from traditionally-trained dancers to local rock bands; established visual artists to young poets; publications to international short film festivals; experimental theatre to seminal conferences on Singapore arts and culture. Over the years, The Substation has worked with some of Singapore's most critically acclaimed artists, writers and intellectuals. The Substation also supports proposals and ideas by younger and emerging artists.

The current Artistic Director is Alan Oei, who succeeded Noor Effendy Ibrahim in September 2015, after Effendy stepped down in January. The Board is chaired by Chew Kheng Chuan.

The Substation's mission is to support research and innovation in the arts by nurturing and challenging Singapore artists, providing an open space for artistic experimentation, promoting interaction between diverse artists and audiences, facilitating critical dialogue in the arts and fostering regional and international arts networks.

As an arts space The Substation aims to be approachable, versatile and open to all kinds of arts and cultural practices; yet at the same time challenge artists. The Substation has always had a preference for work that takes risks and explores and aims to support research and innovation in the arts and to bring different artistic perspectives together in critical dialogue. The Substation is committed to supporting depth and diversity in local arts practices through developing long-term relationships, and engaging in intense curatorial and artistic dialogue with artists.

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