Image: Home Kitchen by Nine Years Theatre

SINGAPORE, 9 May 2025 – Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre (SCCC) conferred the Singapore Chinese Cultural Contribution Award (SCCCA) to this year’s recipients at the opening ceremony of Cultural Extravaganza (CE), SCCC’s signature annual cultural festival celebrating the best of SINGAPO人 arts.  

Guest-of-Honour Ms Low Yen Ling, Senior Minister of State for Culture, Community and Youth & Trade and Industry graced the event and applauded SCCC’s continuous efforts in promoting Singapore’s unique local Chinese arts and culture.

Image: (From left) SCCCA 2025 (Organisation) recipient Siaw-Tao Chinese Seal Carving, Calligraphy & Painting Society, SCCCA 2025 (Individual) recipient Mr Quek Ling Kiong, Ms Low Yen Ling, Senior Minister of State for Culture, Community and Youth & Trade and Industry and SCCC Chairman Mr Ng Siew Quan

SMS Low also presented this year’s SCCCA (Individual) to Mr Quek Ling Kiong, Principal Conductor of the Singapore Chinese Orchestra (SCO), and SCCCA (Organisation) to Siaw-Tao Chinese Seal Carving, Calligraphy & Painting Society. Mr Quek was recognised for his visionary leadership in shaping SCO’s distinctive Singaporean voice and bringing Chinese orchestral music to new audiences. Siaw-Tao was honoured for their dedication to preserving the traditional Chinese art forms of seal carving, calligraphy, and painting, and for their consistent efforts in showcasing these art forms both locally and internationally.

With the conferment of the SCCCA 2025, nominations for next year’s SCCCA 2026 are now open, and members of the public can nominate deserving candidates for the award from now till 30 September 2025, 5pm. The category criteria (Individual and Organisation) can be found on the SCCCA website here.

Image: LOVE Across Time: No Expiry Date! by LOVE 972

Following the award ceremony, more than 200 representatives from local Chinese arts and cultural community were treated to the CE opening show comprising excerpts of this year’s CE performances, including Home Kitchen, a heartwarming theatrical performance by Nine Years Theatre;  LOVE Across Time: No Expiry Date!, a time-travelling comedy by LOVE 972; and Intersections, a groundbreaking multi-disciplinary dance performance by Dance Ensemble Singapore (DES). Nine Years Theatre and Mdm Yan Choong Lian, founder of DES, were both recipients of SCCCA 2024.

Image: Intersections by Dance Ensemble Singapore

This year’s CE features a dynamic mix of veteran and emerging practitioners and groups, bringing together traditional and contemporary expressions that reflect the evolution of Singapore Chinese arts and culture. 

The festival features a range of programmes that showcase the vibrancy and distinctiveness of local Chinese arts and culture, and will include free arts and cultural programmes at SCCC’s Concourse for the first time – to make local Chinese cultural offerings more accessible to parents and children. 

Speeches and photos of the opening ceremony can be found in the media kit here.