Dean of Students’ Message

I am thrilled to welcome you to our much-loved annual SMU Arts Fest, set to captivate imaginations from 18 August to 24 September!

SMU Arts Fest 2023 presents six exciting programmes – comprising music, dance, media, literary and visual arts, as well as a hosting competition. The Arts Fest organising team has come up with a provocative theme, POST, for this year’s edition. Student artists are invited to delve into the complexities of post-modernity, post-truth, and various other post-concepts, and explore meaningful conversations about our past, present and future.

This year’s festival features nearly 500 talents; among them, more than 300 undergraduates from 15 SMU arts CCAs, as well as 120 alumni spanning 16 batches from SMU Eluminix, the alumni wing of hip-hop group SMU Eurhythmix, who will present their first full-scale dance production MMRS! The narrative touches on friendships forged during university days, and how fond memories and a common passion for dance help overcome life’s adversaries, post-graduation.

SMU Arts Fest 2023 is a university showcase and a celebration beyond artistic expressions. Significantly, it underscores the vital role CCAs play in the holistic development of the SMU undergraduate.

Organising and participating in the SMU Arts Fest provides an opportunity for students to develop several SMU Graduate Learning Outcomes, such as leadership, communication, teamwork and organisational skills, among others.  As students engage with peers with diverse personalities and skillsets, they also gain precious insights into themselves and others which help hone their social and life skills.

This year, our students work with over 50 of their contemporaries from neighbouring institutes of higher learning in the Bras Basah.Bugis Precinct such as NAFA, LASALLE College of the Arts, and SOTA. These meaningful collaborations include Beyond Human, where students from LASALLE’s Fashion Design and Textiles Programme designed original costumes for contemporary dance club SMU INDANCITY; and Me, Myself and AI, where students from NAFA’s School of Design & Media present their take on AI alongside SMU’s visual and literary artists. There will also be a special collaboration with Singapore Night Festival called The Social Post. This piece, performed on SMU Campus Green, is informed by popular apps and social media – like what our students are listening to on Spotify or posting on TikTok.

These collaborations highlight SMU’s embrace of Singapore’s vibrant and diverse arts community through uniting talents from various artistic backgrounds and disciplines and encourages our students to learn from other artists and arts enthusiasts.

So, mark your calendars and come journey with our students as they proudly showcase the culmination of months of hard work in this collective display of talent, personal artistic goals and learning outcomes.
I look forward to seeing you at SMU Arts Fest 2023!

Paulin
Professor Paulin Straughan
Dean of Students