Things to do in Singapore today
Fill today's schedule with the day's best events including concerts, exhibitions, pop-up markets and more – all in one space
New day, new things to do. Singapore is nothing short of amazing, with plenty of live concerts, art exhibitions, theatre shows, pop-up markets, food events and family-friendly happenings dotted around the city to keep you busy. Need some inspiration for today? Here are some of our favourite events to get you started.
Plan your week and weekend from Thursday to Sunday in advance with our handy guides. Filling next month's dates already? Check out the best things happening in the Lion City each month.
RECOMMENDED: The definitive guide on things to do in Singapore
Baybeats
What better way to discover a new pool of talent than at the city’s annual alternative music festival? From post-rock and metal to folk and hip-hop, Baybeats returns to the Esplanade from August 23 to 25 with brand new sounds and faces from Singapore and around the region. A new wave of eclectic sounds – think indie-rock, hip-hop, psychedelic-rock, math-rock, funk and more – is set to dominate the new LiveWire stage at the Esplanade Forecourt Garden. On the opposite side, the Open Stage spotlights acoustic, unplugged sets. The Baybeats Powerhouse stage – last seen along the Esplanade Waterfront last year – may be gone, but the edgier, heavier sounds will be resonated across the Arena (Esplanade Outdoor Theatre). This year's line-up includes local bands like indie-rock outfit Stopgap, indie-pop trio Sobs, groove-rock band T-Rex, metal band Rudra, as well as regional acts like metalheads Slapshock (the Philippines), psychedelic-rock three-piece Sundays & Cybele (Japan), rap starlet Ramengvrl (Indonesia), funk 'n' bass group Se So Neon (Korea), and rapper Aklo (Japan). Check out the website for the full list of programmes.
Merci Marcel x Juls Exhibition
Remaining true to being an incubator of the local arts scene, Merci Marcel is playing host to its third art installation. This time, it features highly-acclaimed Singaporean artist and drawer, Juls. Pop over and witness how this artist's works explore deliberate abstraction through the art of mark-making and automatic drawing, and look for harmony and rhythms within these written vibrations. Art enthusiasts can also look forward to purchasing some of her pieces, ranging from $600 to $1,100.
Wax & Jam presents Mark Hope
Wax & Jam is Nineteen80's once-a-month jam session that's 100% vinyl-focused, featuring local DJs and their favourite tunes. This time round, Mark Hope is helming the decks, spinning tracks from his personal collection.
The New Now III: Convergence
The third edition of The New Now series features 19 up-and-coming artists, most of whom are students and alumni of prominent art institutions across Southeast Asia. The artists were handpicked for their conceptual abilities and invited to respond to the exhibition's theme, drawn from the Japanese idiom ichi-go, ichi-e, which means 'one time, one meeting'. This idea of a fleeting moment in life is represented in every piece of art, created for the 'now' and never to be repeated.
SG54 Art Exhibition
Master of painting orchirds, Khaw Sia, is having his works featured as part of the SG54 exhibitions. His painting technique, mixing the Chinese brush with English watercolour, is the perfect marriage of East and West. Don't miss the chance to glimpse his stunning projects. Four other local artists are also showcasing their works at the exhibition: Chua Mia Tee, Thang Kiang How, Ren Jian Hui, and the late Fan Chang Tien.
Singapore Night Festival
Expect plenty of interactive light installations scattered across the arts and heritage district of Bras Basah and Bugis at this year’s Singapore Night Festival. This year’s theme zooms in on ASEAN, featuring commissions and collaborations with local and regional artists. As always, feast your eyes on a kaleidoscope of kinetic visuals projected onto the facades of buildings in the vicinity as you soak in the atmosphere.
Margaret River On Tour At Grand Hyatt
Oenophiles, here's your chance to sample pours from award-winning Margaret River estates such as Vasse Felix, Cape Mentelle, and Xanadu – all without leaving Singapore. On August 22, Grand Hyatt plays host to numerous Margaret River winemakers, including chef Evan Hayter of Arimia Winery and Restaurant, who are providing the evening's gourmet delights. There's also be a photo exhibition of Margaret River by Russell Ord, and entertainment by Josh 'Koomal' Whiteland, a Wadandi custodian whose ancestry dates back 50,000 years.
Raffles, Pineapple, & The Swamp
Ripple Root, the artist moniker of Liquan Liew and Estella Ng, makes collaborative, carefree works reflecting themes of nature and wildlife. After exhibiting in cities like London, South Korea, Melbourne, and Sydney, the duo is having their first painting show in Singapore at Hilton Singapore's Yang Gallery. In collaboration with Club 21, they create special works inspired by the Singapore bicentennial and Batik patterns of Issey Miyake and Dries Van Noten's AW '19 collections.
1984
Big Brother is watching you. Performed by Singapore Repertory Theatre's The Young Company as part of its graduation show, George Orwell’s critically acclaimed dystopian fiction 1984 follows Winston Smith who is physically and mentally under the watchful eye of Big Brother. The novel may have been written during the late 40s but the theme of control over information, history and technology is more relevant now than ever before.
Arts in The City: We Love SINGApore
Those who grew up in Singapore will probably remember Singa the Courtesy Lion. Created in 2009, the friendly mascot was used for various public education campaigns in Singapore to educate the public on courtesy and graciousness – until he resigned in 2013, that is. To celebrate Singapore's 54th birthday, Raffles City Singapore collaborates with Singapore Kindness Movement to bring the iconic lion back. 200 of them, to be exact. In lieu of the Singapore Bicentennial, this year's 'Arts in the City: We Love SINGApore' exhibition will feature hand-painted 40cm-tall three-dimensional Singa the Lion Figurines designed by influential local personalities such as celebrity Fann Wong, pastry chef Janice Wong, award-winning filmmaker Boo Jun Feng, and President Halimah Yacob. The colourful figurines will be displayed at the first level of Raffles City Singapore. "I like the fact that we're using our Singa. This is something we grew up with. Since 1982, the Courtesy Lion has been associated with being kind. It evokes the image of kindness and strongly encourages us to be a kind and caring society," President Halimah Yacob said during the launch of the exhibition. "So I think the Singa lion is an appropriate theme for Arts in the City." If you want a piece of your favourite childhood lion, you can adopt one of the unique Singa the Lion figurines from $88. Approach Raffles City Singapore Concierge at level one during the exhibition to adopt and collect the figurine after the end of t