SINGAPORE, 27 August 2025 – From 22 August to 28 September 2025, the Singapore Management University (SMU) will open up its campus and surrounding precinct for SMU Arts Fest 2025 — a six-week celebration of creative expression in honour of SMU’s 25th anniversary and Singapore’s 60th birthday.
Anchored in this year’s theme of “2560”, the festival bridges two milestones to reflect on how both institution and nation have grown together. The festival will explore heritage and imagination through youth-led storytelling, professional collaborations, and a showcase of original, homegrown works.
Organised by SMU’s Office of Student Life, the festival spans five major flagship programmes and several campus-wide activations, boasting a stellar cast of over 300 SMU performers and crew, and another 160 from other universities.
Among the headline acts is MAD The Musical (26–28 Sep), an original production co-created by SMU students and some of Singapore’s top theatre professionals including playwright Jo Tan and director George Chan. Inspired by the little-known history of the Bras Basah precinct, the musical tells the story of a young woman navigating madness, memory and identity across time. The score includes new songs by veteran songwriter Jimmy Ye, who also serves as the show’s executive producer.
Weaving together tradition and innovation, COMMISSIONS (11 Sep) will see the SMU Chinese Orchestra perform three world premieres of Singaporean compositions. The concert will also include a multicultural music segment and performances by guest musicians, including artists from Singapore’s Purple Symphony and unique instruments from Asian countries where SMU has her overseas centres.
Festival-goers can also experience Live, Laugh, Lor (29–30 Aug & 5–6 Sep), a vibrant music-and-dance showcase featuring, for the first time, all eight Singapore universities on the same stage, as well as Return of RE:TURN (20 Sep), a full-length hip hop-meets-heritage dance production by SMU Eurhythmix. Visual art lovers can explore 25x25 (22 Aug–6 Sep), a multi-medium exhibition of students' unique reinterpretation of 25 works from the SMU Art Collection, curated in collaboration with SMU Libraries.
"SMU Arts Fest is our annual canvas for youth expression, but this year it also reflects something larger: our journey as a young university in a young nation," said Seah Wee Thye (Weetz), Festival Director and Head of Arts & Creative Experience at SMU. "We wanted to create space for students to tell stories of Singapore in surprising ways, from a bold original musical, to a penta-university dance ensemble performing in the heart of the Singapore Night Festival."
All shows are open to the public, with ticketed productions priced at $25, in a nod to SMU’s 25th Anniversary. The festival reinforces SMU’s commitment to nurturing student talent, contributing to place-making in the precinct, and fostering a vibrant arts culture on campus and beyond.
