The Singapore International Festival of Arts is an annual highlight of Singapore’s cultural calendar. It began as the Singapore Festival of Arts in 1977 and was a biennial event up till 1999. Started at a time when Singapore was often called a “cultural desert”, ...
The first Singapore River Buskers’ Festival was held along the Singapore River from 15 to 23 November 1997. Organised by The A Team Promotions in collaboration with the Singapore Tourist Promotion Board (STPB), the festival was part of the three-month Celebration ...
Music festivals play an important role in developing audiences and Singapore’s music scene. Grouping music events into a festival results in an intense and exciting audience experience. Music festivals have been staged in Singapore since the early 20th century. ...
From 1959 up till the early 1960s, Singapore's then Ministry of Culture (now known as the Ministry of Communications and Information) organised a series of free, open-air cultural concerts with a strong multi-racial theme. Known as Aneka Ragam Ra'ayat, or “People's ...
A platform to showcase dance practitioners and choreographers, and endear Singaporeans to dance as an art form – then known as the Festival of Dance – had begun as early as 1982. In 1993, the dance festival was subsumed under a bigger performing arts congregation, ...
The “elephant statue” is a bronze monument located at the High Street entrance of the Old Parliament House (formerly known as the Old Court House, now The Arts House) in the Downtown Core of Singapore’s Central Region. It was a gift from Thailand’s King Chulalongkorn ...
World of Music, Arts and Dance (WOMAD) Singapore was an arts event that made its debut in 1998 at the Festival of Arts. The first WOMAD to be held in Southeast Asia, the event ran for 10 years in Singapore before it was put on hold in 2007.
The National Arts Council (NAC) was established as a statutory board on 17 August 1991 to spearhead the development of the literary, performing and visual arts in Singapore.1 The council’s mission is to help nurture the arts and make it an integral part of the ...
The Arts Housing Scheme is a project under the National Arts Council (NAC). It was introduced in 1985 by the former Ministry of Community Development to support local artists and arts activities. Recognising the scarcity and high cost of land in Singapore, the ...
Held in key global cities, the Singapore Season is a cultural diplomacy effort to showcase Singapore’s multicultural heritage, vibrant arts scene and attractiveness as a global business hub. The aim is to give audiences in the world’s leading cities a different ...
The Singapore Indian Fine Arts Society (SIFAS) is a non-profit cultural organisation, dedicated to the preservation and transmission of Indian culture through the arts. Its motto is “kala samskriti lakshanam”, meaning “art characterises civilisation”. SIFAS provides ...
The Tanglin Barracks was built by George Chancellor Collyer in 1861 for European troops. The barracks served the British garrison infantry battalion until the fall of Singapore in 1942. After the war, it was home to the General Headquarters of the Far East Land ...
Located at 51 Canning Rise, the Fort Canning Bunker (now known as The Battlebox) was built between 1936 and 1941 to serve as a command centre for the Malaya Command, which oversaw British military operations in Malaya during World War II. On 15 February 1942, it ...
Art in Transit is a programme in which artworks are seamlessly integrated within the environs of Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) stations. Approved by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) in 1997, the programme was first unveiled to the public in 2003.
Folk singer-songwriter Art Fazil is often regarded as Singapore’s Bob Dylan. Like Dylan, he is known for singing socially conscious songs accompanied by the acoustic guitar and harmonica. Art writes and sings both Malay and English songs, and has written many songs ...
Dismissed workers of the Hock Lee Amalgamated Bus Company went on strike from 25 April 1955. Joined by supporters and Chinese middle school students, these strikers picketed the bus depot and disrupted bus services. Police were called in to disperse the crowds ...
Established in 1949, The Singapore Art Society (SAS) is considered the first multicultural art society in Singapore. The society aims to foster the practice and appreciation of art in Singapore. SAS organises regular art exhibitions and overseas painting tours. ...
The ARTS FISSION Company is a local non-profit dance company founded by choreographer Angela Liong and visual artist S. Chandrasekaran in 1994. As the first multidisciplinary contemporary dance group in Singapore, the company creates original works and new dance ...
Formal art and music education programmes in Singapore were established by the British colonial government in the 1920s and ’30s respectively. Private Chinese-medium schools also offered art education through courses run by professional artists. After Singapore ...
Singapore hosted the 36th Miss Universe pageant on 27 May 1987. The extravaganza was staged in Hall 4 of the former World Trade Centre (now known as HarbourFront Centre), and televised worldwide to at least 600 million viewers in 56 countries. Organised at a cost ...