SMU’s signature arts event returns to our city campus and venues around the Bras Basah.Bugis Precinct with a refreshing theme, and I am excited to welcome you to it.
SMU Arts Festival 2022: Lost & Found is an artistic interpretation of what we have lost and found through the passage of time, as well as newfound ideas: fresh perspectives, strategies, and tools that allow us to reimagine and adapt, especially in the wake of the pandemic.
In 2020, our first-ever virtual arts festival was themed A-PART, where students co-curated works while physically apart and these were showcased online. In 2021, we themed our festival 2GETHER AS 1, with programmes that demonstrated unity despite adversity with small group performances that abided by safe management measures. It is thus apt that this year, as society opens up once again, our festival theme Lost & Found inspires both reflection and an optimistic look towards the future.
In the past two years, SMU students may have lost some opportunities to socialise in groups and take part in physical events together, among others, but they have also found creative ways to navigate the new normal. In doing so, they demonstrated adaptability and resilience. This SMU Arts Festival is as much a celebration of the arts as it is of innovation and grit; the month-long festival exemplifies this in its six programmes that blend a variety of art forms such as dance, music, song, drama, literary, media and visual arts. These works are curated by some of the most prolific names in the local arts industry and feature the artistic talents of more than 200 SMU undergraduates from 15 arts clubs, together with special guest collaborators.
Please do come and celebrate with us. The performances run from 2 September to 2 October 2022. There will also be a sustainability-themed visual arts exhibition of 20 creative works, including some by guest artists from Pathlight School, as well as a media arts project documenting life-changing stories. Both are free events that will run throughout the festival period on SMU Campus.
I am delighted that several festival programmes are held at venues around the Bras Basah.Bugis Precinct, allowing SMU to contribute once again to the vibrancy of Singapore’s arts and heritage district.
I look forward to meeting you at these showcases and wish everyone a memorable SMU Arts Festival 2022!
Professor Paulin Straughan
Dean of Students