History
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.
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