Esplanade Breaks New Ground with Singtel Waterfront Theatre

A new theatre for the next generation of Singapore artists and audiences

In the photo (left to right): NADI Singapura Managing Director, Mohd Yaziz Mohd Hassan; Esplanade Chairman, Lee Tzu Yang, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth, Grace Fu; Singtel Group CEO, Chua Sock Koong; Child Talent, Gwyneth Loy & her father, Esplanade Associate Artist, Ian Loy; Esplanade CEO, Yvonne Tham, and Emcee, Sharul Channa
(Photo credit: Photo credit: Photos by Alvin Ho, Courtesy of Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay)

SINGAPORE, 18 June 2019 – Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay officially broke ground today for the construction of its new 550-seat theatre situated along its busy waterfront. In appreciation of Singtel’s generous donation of S$10 million, the performance venue will be named Singtel Waterfront Theatre at Esplanade. Opening in 2021, the new theatre will fill the gap between Esplanade’s large venues and smaller studio spaces, and enable the national arts centre to further support future generations of artists and arts groups to create new works that tell Singapore and Asian stories and widen its engagement with various communities.

Minister for Culture, Community and Youth, Ms Grace Fu who officiated the groundbreaking ceremony of the Singtel Waterfront Theatre said, “As Singapore’s national performing arts centre, Esplanade plays a key role in nurturing our talents and bringing people from all walks of life together through the arts. The new Singtel Waterfront Theatre will support Esplanade in developing and presenting a greater diversity of productions for everyone to enjoy. It will also serve as a launch pad for homegrown artistes and arts groups to scale up their productions for bigger audiences, both in Singapore and overseas.”

Ms Chua Sock Koong, Singtel Group CEO said, “It has been a year since we made a commitment to help develop Esplanade’s exciting new medium-sized waterfront theatre and today, we are extremely pleased to witness the groundbreaking ceremony that marks a significant milestone for the project. With this commitment, we’ve extended our support for the arts beyond the visual to include the performing arts. Singtel has always been an ardent supporter of the arts given our ongoing support for the National Gallery of Singapore and our own corporate art collection where we further champion local artists. We hope our contribution will encourage the next generation of performance artists who will bring fresh perspectives to issues that matter to people, and we very much look forward to the theatre’s completion in 2021.”

As construction begins for Singtel Waterfront Theatre, Esplanade is also launching a series of new fundraising initiatives, which are designed for a spectrum of supporters, from the general public, to philanthropists and foundations.

Mr Lee Tzu Yang, Chairman, The Esplanade Co Ltd, said, “We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to our parent ministry MCCY, Principal Founding Donor Singtel, Founding Donors of Singtel Waterfront Theatre, and many others for supporting us in our next stage of development as Singapore’s national performing arts centre. To raise funds for our new theatre, we will add on to conventional fundraising to come up with innovative ways to create awareness for our new theatre and build affinity with our supporters. For example, we held our first-ever Gala on our Theatre stage in June last year, and organised Backstage Pass With… fundraising tours led by well-known Singapore artists.

“We are also launching a fundraising campaign called Ground Up, in conjunction with our groundbreaking ceremony today, for the public to help us break new ground for our next generation of artists and audiences, and donate to Esplanade’s new waterfront theatre at the same time. Our waterfront theatre’s Founding Donor, Bowen Enterprises Pte Ltd will be contributing a dollar-for-dollar matching donation of up to $50,000 to encourage more people to participate in this Ground Up campaign. We also welcome individuals, philanthropists and companies that wish to make a lasting contribution to the arts in Singapore to adopt a limited number of seats and various spaces at the Singtel Waterfront Theatre.”

In celebration of the development of the new theatre, Esplanade and its Mall tenant Makansutra Gluttons Bay have jointly organised The Food Stage, a special street food experience that features exclusive off-menu items such as 4 Cheese Murtabak, Carrot Cake “Fries” with BBQ Wings, Laksa Seafood Stew, Soft Shell Crab Mui Fan and many more. Makansutra has also pledged a donation of $100,000 to Esplanade which will go towards Singtel Waterfront Theatre.

More information on Esplanade’s next stage of development and Singtel Waterfront Theatre is available on www.esplanade.com/thenextstage.