Introduction
It has been a year since I took over as CEO of SCCC and it was a rewarding 2024 for me, my team and the Centre as we work closely with the SCCC Board of Directors towards supporting and showcasing more local Chinese arts and cultural groups, and promoting Singapore Chinese culture in bold, new and exciting ways.
Innovating culture
Over the past year, my team and I have refreshed existing programmes, and introduced several new and innovative projects to make local Chinese culture more appealing and accessible, and to bring Chinese culture closer to all. Overall, our efforts have resulted in higher visitorship and participation figures, more exciting programmes, more extensive media coverage, and increased public awareness.
For our biennial Mandopop concert SING浪 The SINGAPO人 Concert in October 2024, we featured electronic dance music and invited both local and regional artistes. As a result, the concert was sold out for the first time and attracted more than 7,200 concert goers. We also dedicated one session of our monthly TGIF Music Station concerts to feature local buskers and provide them with a platform to showcase their talents.
The closing performance for SCCC’s sold out SING浪 The SINGAPO人 Concert at Singapore Indoor Stadium.
We also launched a number of new initiatives in the year 2024. In November 2024 and as part of the first wave of publicity efforts for our inaugural Chinese Opera Festival 2025, we produced a series of light-hearted videos featuring participating local opera troupes disseminating public service messages from partner public sector agencies. In May 2025, these videos won Gold for “Most Creative – Specific Audience Award” at the prestigious Marketing-Interactive MARKies Awards.
Besides our regular fitness programme Energize and as part of our efforts to improve physical, social, and mental well-being through arts and culture, we engaged local groups Drum Feng, RuanAtWorkz, and SAtheCollective to present a suite of wellness programmes for the working crowd in the Central Business District. Wellness in the City comprised fitness drumming, sound baths and transformative vibrational healing classes held during lunch time and after office hours, and attracted 316 participants over 14 sessions.
We also introduced our inaugural Grandparents’ Day programme in November 2024 comprising a series of talks titled Life Lessons with Ah Gong and Ah Ma. Six veteran local arts and cultural practitioners were invited to share their life stories and facilitate intergenerational dialogue. The response to these talks was overwhelming and the sessions were oversubscribed by 200%.
A sharing session by Mdm Oon Ah Chiam (rightmost), a popular Chinese street opera actress in the 1950s and 1960s whose life story inspired the play Titoudao.
Finally, we partnered Arts House Limited for the first time to co-present five Chinese literary programmes as part of Singapore Writers Festival 2024’s “In Conjunction With…” to promote Chinese literature and raise awareness about local Chinese writers and their works. These five programmes included talks, guided walks and experiential poetry sessions, and were part of SCCC’s efforts to foster a thriving local literary arts scene and nurture a better appreciation of the Chinese language.
Making an impact
Through the concerted efforts of SCCC, our stakeholders and our partners in 2024, we believe we have made a positive impact on our local Chinese arts and cultural practitioners and groups, and contributed to a more vibrant arts and culture ecosystem.
In 2024, SCCC commissioned a total of 17 works by with our talented local arts and cultural groups. Some of these works included Journey West: Mount Fiery by local arts group Paper Monkey Theatre which brought to life the Chinese classic Journey to the West using innovative puppetry techniques; and Hua Mu Lan by Ding Yi Music Company which seamlessly blended a theatrical experience with Chinese chamber music.
In addition, SCCC was the venue partner for a total of 46 arts and culture events in 2024, the highest number of partnerships ever since we introduced our Venue Partnership programme in 2019. These partner events included Amazing Beasts & Botanicals by The Arts Fission Company Ltd which blended dance, music and stage-art installation; and Singapore Youth Opera Showcase 2024 by Traditional Arts Centre which featured opera performances by students and young performers.
Last year, we launched the Arts Alliance Scheme to provide marketing and publicity support to local Chinese arts and cultural groups. Since then, 38 such groups have benefitted from SCCC’s integrated marketing efforts including our quarterly Lianhe Zaobao print ad, monthly digital newsletters, website event listings, and our events calendar at our Concourse.
Mr Alvin Tan, CEO of SCCC (center) with the Centre’s new arts residents Reverberance, Tampines Arts Troupe and Drum Feng.
More recently, in March 2025, we welcomed Reverberance, Tampines Arts Troupe and Drum Feng as the three new arts groups under our new Arts Residency Scheme. Building upon the success of the Arts Support Framework introduced in 2019, this enhanced scheme provides resident arts groups with affordable administrative spaces, capability development opportunities, commissioning possibilities, and complimentary use of our venues for presentations, training and rehearsals.
The initiatives that I have shared are testament to SCCC’s commitment and efforts to provide all-rounded support to local Chinese arts and cultural groups so that they can continue to create new works, hone their craft, reach out to new audiences, work towards long-term operational sustainability and contribute to vibrant arts and culture ecosystem.
It has certainly been a fulfilling year for me. I am thankful for the trust of the SCCC Board, and the support of our partners, the local Chinese arts and culture community, and my team over the past year. By constantly pushing boundaries with our programmes, and with the strong support from our partners, we hope to make a lasting impact as we work together towards preserving and promoting our SINGAPO人 culture for the next generation of Singaporeans and the generation after them.