ABSTRACT
In this chapter the theatre director Ong Keng Sen reflects on his time as the Artistic Director of the Singapore International Festival of Arts. He shows how a ‘festival dramaturgy’ frames the festival and has a role in creating more open and participatory public forums for the arts. It can reimagine the city and make interventions into cultural and political life. Arts festivals are always complex institutions with multiple stakeholders. Festival dramaturgy, it is argued, can address hierarchies and keep a focus on the artist and the public.
