Singapore International Festival of Arts 2021 Goes Virtual with SIFA V2.020, Festival Director Gaurav Kriplani Continues to Helm SIFA 2021

Following the announcement of a hiatus for Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA) 2020, Arts House Limited (AHL) together with festival commissioner National Arts Council (NAC) have requested Gaurav Kripalani to stay on in his current capacity as Festival Director for one more year. This would give him the opportunity to complete the three-year arc he envisioned, ending his tenure with SIFA in 2021.

Said Kripalani, “The response to the 2020 line-up was overwhelmingly positive. It was heartbreaking for us to make the necessary decision not to go ahead. I would like to thank AHL and NAC for the chance to move as many of the shows as possible from this year to next year, especially the four Singapore commissions.

Art reflects our collective conscious. It is a mirror we hold up to look back on the year we would have all lived through in 2020 as well as look at the new future ahead for society. As our national festival, I want SIFA 2021 to not only ask those questions, but also to be an opportunity for us all to come together in a communal bonding to celebrate life.”

SIFA V2.020

Over the next few months, Kripalani and the SIFA team will be presenting a series of digital programmes to bring the communities together. Accessible through the new SIFA All-Access online platform, SIFA v2.020 features a series of curated virtual events including talks, workshops, performances and more from 25 May 2020 till the end of the year.

Beginning with three programmes on 25 May, SIFA v2.020 will kick off with a panel session between Gaurav Kripalani, and directors and producers for SIFA 2020 local commissions, discussing the impact of COVID-19 on the arts, and will focus on the exciting and innovative ways they will create and conceptualise art in the new normal.

Over the course of the next few weeks, Kripalani and the SIFA team will continue to reach out to artists in Singapore as well as internationally to explore ways in which they can be part of SIFA v2.020. Audiences are encouraged to subscribe to the SIFA e-newsletter or to follow SIFA’s various social media channels to receive updates on the artists who will be joining the line-up throughout the year.

Four arts groups who were commissioned to premiere new work at SIFA 2020 will work with the SIFA team to create online content from late May to December this year. Audiences can anticipate online talks, workshops and vodcasts centred around their productions: Oiwa – The Ghost of Yotsuya by The Finger Players, Three Sisters by Nine Years Theatre, A Dream Under The Southern Bough: Existence by Toy Factory and The Year of No Return by The Necessary Stage. Their engagement with SIFA will culminate in the world premieres of their works which will be presented in SIFA 2021.

Low Eng Teong, Deputy Chief Executive (Sector Development), National Arts Council, says, “Though SIFA cannot be presented as planned, it is important for SIFA to re-imagine innovative modes of presentation and connect festival lovers digitally through the power of the performing arts. The creative possibilities offered by SIFA v2.020 will allow our arts groups and practitioners to strengthen their digital capabilities and engage new and existing audiences, both at home and abroad. We hope that SIFA v2.020 will have Singaporeans and the world enjoy and experience our nation’s distinctive performing arts, anytime and anywhere.”

For weekly news and updates on SIFA v2.020, subscribe to the SIFA newsletter or visit SIFA Website