The Singapore Management University (SMU) Arts Festival is an annual showcase of creative expression through the arts. Featuring free and ticketed events comprising a range of art forms including music, dance, literary as well as visual arts, the festival provides a purposeful opportunity to bring the arts to the public. SMU Arts Festival 2019 is its fifth edition and runs from 6 to 15 September 2019.
Through the theme of Roots, this year’s SMU Arts Festival celebrates the collective memories of our people, culture and land. By retelling shared stories and reimagining our past, we trace Singapore’s transformation from a backwater entrepôt to a bustling economy, and witness the 700-year journey that continues to mould our identity and destiny on and beyond Singapore’s Bicentennial.
More than 300 students from a total of 16 SMU arts clubs will put up six main showcases, most of them first-time inter-club collaborations. For example, three very diverse dance clubs (contemporary dance, Latin ballroom and street funkstyle) will come together in one feature-length production LEGENDA, retelling three folklores of Singapore such as Bukit Merah, Pulau Hantu and Dragon’s Teeth Gate, thru’ dance!
As the only university in the city, the arts festival once again enables the university to foster strategic and deeper connections with the precinct. This Arts Festival marks our inaugural collaboration with beneficiaries mainly from the Central Singapore Community Development Council (CDC). For months, our students have rehearsed with different segments of our community – residents of central Singapore precinct, seniors as well as youths in the “Arts with Heart” initiative.
The festival also works with NParks to bring vibrancy to Armenian Street. It opens on 6 September with enthralling “Tales from the Garden”, an outdoor extravaganza featuring live performances and visual artworks celebrating Singapore’s heritage and greenery. There will be performances on the main stage by SMU Chamber Choir, percussion ensemble SMU Samba Masala, and hip-hop dance troupe SMU Eurhythmix, involving beneficiaries from the community. One can also share an Instagram moment with walkabout historical figures such as Sir Stamford Raffles, Sang Nila Utama, Naraina Pillai, Tan Tock Seng and a war heroine, Elizabeth Choy.
In addition, there will be Makers’ booths featuring organic and sustainable products, and F&B booths selling Southeast Asian cuisine, all in line with the theme.
Website: http://artsfest.smu.edu.sg/
When: 6 - 15 Sep 2019,
By: Singapore Management University
