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Singapore Youth Festival Celebrates 60 Years with Enriched ArtsXPerience for Students

Published on: 26 Mar 2026

NewsPress releases

New Drama Category for Primary School Students to Build Communication Skills

  The Singapore Youth Festival (SYF), Singapore's longest-running youth arts festival, will celebrate 60 years of inspiring young artists, connecting them with audiences and mentors, and empowering them to develop their creative voices this year.

2 Themed 'SYF60: The ArtsXPerience — Inspire, Connect, Empower', SYF60 will build on the festival's signature showcases and introduce new elements to deepen creative collaborations and inspire students to grow through the arts. These include a new Arts Presentation Drama category for primary school students, an 'XP' card journey for participants and audiences, and cultural exchange opportunities with young artists across ASEAN.

3 The festival will showcase youth artistic talent across three platforms:

  1. SYF Arts Presentation from 30 March to 30 April, featuring over 22,800 students and 808 performances across 22 performing arts categories;
  2. SYF Celebrations from 3 to 11 July, where over 3,000 students have the opportunity to explore and showcase diverse performance styles, including collaborations with other schools and professional artists; and
  3. SYF Art Exhibition from 4 to 19 July, featuring works that capture students' artistic growth and creative breakthroughs.

SYF 2026 Arts Presentation

4 A new drama category will be introduced for primary school students to provide them with more opportunities to engage with the arts, build confidence and communication skills in English and Mother Tongue Languages, as well as showcase their creative expression. This new category will enable a total of more than 1,600 students from 60 primary schools to bring their stories to life on stage at this year's Arts Presentation.

5 To encourage learning and growth through meaningful dialogue and exchange, student performers will receive feedback from industry professionals serving as adjudicators. Schools participating in music and dance categories can also attend adjudicator sharing sessions to further develop their arts programmes, while pre-university drama students can engage in post-performance peer discussions to share insights and reflect on their creative journeys.

6 For the first time since 2016, the Parade of Bands will return for a special SYF60 band showcase at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, featuring Thailand's Marywitthaya School Marching Band and young musicians from four Singapore secondary schools.

The Arts Presentation showcases, including the Parade of Bands, will be open to members of the public who wish to support our young performers. Please see Annex A for more details.

SYF 2026 Celebrations

7 The SYF Celebrations provides a platform for students to showcase their passion in dance, drama, and music in the community. At Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay, audiences can enjoy student performances through "Kaleidoscope" featuring contemporary and traditional instrumental ensembles, "Shall We Sing" with interactive choir performances, and "Band Jamboree" featuring student musicians from school bands. At *SCAPE The Ground Theatre, "Dance Extravaganza" will introduce "HypeMoves" that showcases student-choreographed performances. "The Youth Station Project", which showcases students' talents in songwriting, music arranging, production and performing, will also celebrate its tenth edition this year, bringing together current students and returning alumni for performances at *SCAPE and the National Library Building.

8 The highlight of SYF60, the Festival Concert, will return to Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay after two years, bringing together talented student musicians, dancers and actors in an hour-long multidisciplinary performance. The concert blends diverse art forms with film, shadow play, art installation and technologies such as motion tracking and artificial intelligence to create an immersive experience for the audiences. Please see Annex B for more details on SYF Celebrations.

SYF 2026 Art Exhibition

9 Themed 'Artist and XPerience', the 2026 Art Exhibition invites secondary and pre-university students to showcase artworks that reflect key moments in their creative development, from breakthrough discoveries to challenges that shaped their artistic voice. The exhibition will be presented at the National Gallery Singapore, with an online gallery available on the SYF website from June 2026.

SYF60 Artsxperience Cards

10 Throughout SYF Celebrations and Art Exhibition, festival-goers can embark on their own interactive ArtsXPerience journey by collecting specially designed SYF60 'XP' cards from different venues. These commemorative cards feature distinctive characters and bite-sized information about the various SYF programmes, and encourage exploration of diverse artistic disciplines. Participants can redeem their 'XP' cards for exclusive SYF60 memorabilia at the SYF venues.

11 For more information on the programmes, please visit: