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SINGAPORE — Playwright Chong Tze Chien was like many Singaporeans who have a fond memory of the annual Singapore Arts Festival, and now that he sits as its festival director, Chong knows exactly how to put up a festival that people, including non-Singaporeans, would want to watch.
Chong takes helm of the festival at the turn of its milestone 50th year next year. He comes at its 49th year as the Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA), and he is set on telling stories that resonate with both the casual viewers and artists from around the world.
“People always think of the Singapore Arts Festival as special because of its significance and its impact in the ‘80s when nothing was going on in Singapore.
"It was the only festival in town, the only time in the one year where you could see some shows from Japan, from America, from even Singapore's artists who have been given a huge budget to put up a very big show," Chong told Philstar.com over lunch at Cafe Bricolage in The Old Parliament building in Singapore.
"I always go back to what the festival was to me growing up. It was three weeks of my life in one year where I could see the best of things that I've never seen before or I didn't think could have been could be done," he added.
From just a participant who loved browsing through booklets to earmark shows he plans to watch, Chong comes full circle as its newly named festival director, a responsibility that he will carry on for the next three years, including helming SIFA’s milestone 50th year next year.
His exposure and experiences from the past festivals helped him curate this year’s lineup, which he had been working on since February last year.
“Being my first year, obviously there's a lot of pressure to people. I'll be looking at how I delivered the first year. I always think about it as one year. I'm not trying to finish telling the story this year. I'm just introducing the story,” Chong said.
This year’s lineup turned into an exciting one. Philstar.com was able to catch some of the shows, and many of these shows were engaging. “Lighthouse” allows participants to play with lights at the Arts House building, while “Makan Culture” spotlights Singapore’s best dishes served one pun at a time through music, theater and puppetry at the Empress Lawn of the Festival Village.
The Festival Village, which had been foregone in the past editions, is back. It is a SIFA signature, where festivalgoers get to enjoy outdoor festivities that focus on the arts, good food and camaraderie.
Chong said SIFA is a direct reflection of Singapore’s multi-cultural aspect — one that constantly evolves through the influx of new immigrants, new histories and new identities.
Singapore might be seen as a bustling commercial hub, or like a business center, but it is a melting pot of many cultures, such as Chinese, Malay and Indian.
For Chong, the succeeding years have been cut out for him with a clear direction on where he wants to take the festival.
“How do we take stock of where the festival was, where the festival is and where it could be. It’s almost racked itself in that way,” the director said.
“I would like to be remembered for creating a bigger way of or rather to to help artists and audiences think about or help audiences and artists think that the arts can be reimagined in many different ways.
“And it's not just indoors or outdoors or one particular culture or spoken in one particular language, it's part and parcel of our lives and the idea of the Singapore culture is both cosmopolitan and deeply personal at the same time. It can be both. It can coexist. There's no conflict between them,” Chong ended.
The Singapore International Festival of Arts runs until today, May 30. — Video by Philstar.com / Kathleen A. Llemit, editing by Anjilica Andaya
RELATED: Playground for all: Art is relatable, communal at Singapore Int’l Festival of Arts 2026
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Editor's note: The trip to Singapore was hosted by Singapore International Festival of Arts. At no stage does the host organization have a say on the stories generated from the coverage, interviews conducted, publication date and story treatment. Content is produced solely by Philstar.com following editorial guidelines.
