Introduction
In our eighth year of operations, my team and I are encouraged by the record-breaking results we have achieved and the unwavering support we have received from our partners, our stakeholders and our audiences. These achievements have strengthened our conviction that our efforts have made local Chinese arts, culture and heritage more accessible, nurtured local arts and cultural groups, and brought people from all walks of life together.
Taking Stock
From November 2024 to March 2025, we conducted our biannual perception survey to find out how Singaporeans view local Chinese culture. The results are encouraging. Pride and belonging in local Chinese culture have grown steadily from 72% in 2021 to 77% in 2024, and from 69% in 2021 to 76% in 2024 respectively. Younger Singaporeans aged 18 to 35 years old showed renewed appreciation for local Chinese culture with pride levels increasing from 69% in 2022 to 75% in 2024.
The desire to enjoy Chinese food and connect with people remain the top motivations for Chinese Singaporeans to engage with local Chinese culture. More choose to participate in events for cultural appreciation and bond with family members. Our perception survey results also highlighted that festive celebrations remain the top engagement platform for Chinese Singaporeans.
The abovementioned survey results are reflected in the popularity of our Mid-Autumn Family FUN (MAFF) and CNY Family FUN (CNYFF) events where members of the public would join us year after year at the heart of the Central Business District to celebrate these festivals in uniquely Singaporean ways through family friendly arts and cultural activities.
Children taking photos at Moongazing with Monday Bruce roof garden installation
More importantly, the results from our survey provided important insights into the motivations and preferences of our target audience groups, and will form the basis of how we create and present our programmes in the years ahead.
Blazing New Paths
FY2025 was also the year that SCCC launched new projects and forged new partnerships. Together with National Arts Council, we presented the inaugural Chinese Opera Festival 2025 to showcase and celebrate the traditional performing art form of Chinese opera. The festival featured five local Chinese opera troupes, performing in five different opera traditions of Teochew, Hainanese, Cantonese, Peking and Yue opera.
We were heartened when three of the five shows were sold out and the festival attracted close to 2,000 audiences who had the opportunity to discover and experience the diversity and richness of Chinese opera in Singapore. By supporting our local opera troupes, we are doing our part to contribute to the preservation and promotion of traditional Chinese opera, and to provide the necessary support for them to develop their capabilities and facilitate their artistic growth.
SCCC management, stakeholders, partners and cast members of The Mistake of Justice Bao at Chinese Opera Festival 2025
Besides traditional Chinese opera, we also worked with new cultural organisations to showcase different Chinese traditional intangible cultural heritage. We partnered Singapore Wushu Dragon & Lion Dance Federation to host the National Traditional Wushu Championships 2025 at our Centre in December 2025 for the first time and the three-day competition attracted 1,958 participants. We also collaborated with Singapore Xiangqi General Association to co-present Singapore Xiangqi Festival 2026 in March 2026 and the two-day festival attracted 1,052 participants.
Bolstered by the positive public response to the above events, we will adopt a more expansive and inclusive approach to local Chinese culture and work with more partners to promote other forms of intangible cultural heritage such as traditional Chinese medicine and crosstalk, while continuing to support and showcase Chinese performing and visual arts.
Achieving New Milestones
As shared by our Chairman in his message, FY2025 was a milestone year for SCCC as we focused our efforts on improving and expanding our programme offerings while actively giving back to the arts scene, to the community and to Singapore.
To cap off our SG60 commemorative efforts for the year, we set three new Singapore Book of Records titles as SCCC’s birthday gifts to Singapore. For our first two titles, we invited close to 200 participants from partner organisations to make 12 varieties of tangyuan at our Winter Solstice event in December 2025, and formed a 2.4 metre by 2.4 metre SG60 logo with 168 bowls of tangyuan, successfully setting the records for “Most Varieties of Tangyuan Made at an Event” and the “Largest SG60 Logo Made from Bowls of Tangyuan” respectively.
For our third title, we commissioned Singapore-based company Unigons to produce a pair of Fortune Merlions at 115cm tall each, setting the record for the “Largest Fibreglass Fortune Merlion”. These achievements were part of our ongoing efforts to engage the public to celebrate our festivals in a more memorable way and to work local creatives to present our culture in a more contemporary manner.
SCCC and members of different communities set two Singapore Book of Records at our Winter Solstice event
We also received recognition from the media industry by clinching GOLD for “Most Creative – Specific Audience Award” at the MARKies Awards 2025 for our Chinese Opera Festival promotion campaign which comprised five videos featuring local Chinese opera troupes delivering public service messages in a light-hearted manner. The award strengthened our conviction and commitment to continue to promote local Chinese arts and culture in fresh and innovative ways.
Looking Ahead
As a cultural organisation that is dedicated to collaborating with and supporting local arts and cultural groups and the broader Chinese community to showcase and promote local Chinese culture, we are proud that our hard work for the past eight years has started to yield results in terms of instilling awareness, cultivating appreciation, attracting audiences and building connections.
My team and I continue to be thankful for the trust and support from our Board, our stakeholders and our partners in our journey thus far. As Singapore Chinese culture continues to grow and evolve, we will step up in our role as sector champion and commit to showcasing Singapore Chinese culture locally and abroad while creating opportunities to engage and inspire future generations of artists, arts groups and audiences.