Singapore Festival 2020 is Back With a Palace Garden Party
By Lwin Mar Htun 17 January 2020
Singapore Festival 2020, the fourth celebration of Singapore in Myanmar, will bring a glamorous garden party to the grounds of the Chin Tsong Palace on Feb. 1-2.
The two-day festival will feature creative collaborations between chefs, musicians, artists and fashion brands from both Myanmar and Singapore and give visitors a taste of the diverse offerings of Singapore.
“This annual festival is aimed to deliver surprising and innovative experiences to the Myanmar people,” said Soo Siew Keong, the director of trade engagement and new markets at the Singapore Tourism Board. “[For 2020], we are excited to bring you a garden party like you have never seen before.”
The Singapore Festival was first held in 2016 and is organized by the Singaporean government’s Tourism Board (STB) with the support of Myanmar’s Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture and the State School of Fine Arts.
This year’s festival will feature an art walk with artworks commissioned specially for the festival by both Myanmar and Singaporean artists. The art walk will be curated to complement the architecture and layout of Chin Tsong Palace.
“Chin Tsong Palace is truly unique, with its blend of Eastern and Western architectural influences and its rich history, including housing the National University of Arts and Culture and now the State School of Fine Arts,” said Soo Siew Keong.
The works in the art walk are creative collaborations between Myanmar and Singaporean artists and galleries, including Bart Was Not Here, Calvin Pang, Marc Nair, Maung Day and Trish Gallery.
At the end of the art walk, there will be a designers’ market which will showcase retail brands from both Myanmar and Singapore.
According to Soo Siew Keong, 145,000 people from Myanmar visited Singapore for leisure and business purposes in 2018 and data from January to October in 2019 show 130,000 arrivals, up more than 7 percent compared to the same period in 2018.
“Myanmar continues to be an important visitor market for us and we treasure this relationship that we have been building up over the years,” Soo Siew Keong said.
Each part of the festival will involve partnerships between Myanmar and Singapore talents including chefs, musicians, artists, and fashion brands, illustrating the strong collaborative element that has become a signature of the Singapore Festival.
For the foodies, the festival is bringing in culinary experts from both countries, including Aaron Wong, Malcolm Lee, and Michelin Star-winning Hawker Chan from Singapore, and local favorites Rangoon Tea House, The Pansodan, and Shwe Sa Bwe will be there too.
Music lovers can enjoy different genres of live music with acoustic singer-songwriters performing throughout the day. In the evening, there will be electronic dance music by DJs from Zouk Singapore, one of the top three clubs in the world, as well as top Myanmar DJs.
Soo Siew Keong also said that Singapore Festival 2020 will be socially responsible and sustainable. “This means there will be minimal use of plastic at the event and there will also be no smoking at the event,” he said.
Entrance tickets are required for the festival. General admission tickets come with a free drink at 20,000 kyats per person. There will be VIP ticket access as well, with details and prices online through the Facebook event, Singapore Festival 2020.
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