Aug 20 to 26 The first part of this year’s Night Festival kicked off, bringing the Bras Basah Bugis district to life in what was a whirlwind weekend that included the 25th anniversary restaging of Army Daze, the Malaysia-Singapore arts event Causeway Exchange (which included the launch of a book on the late Yasmin Ahmad), visual artist Ming Wong receiving the Distinguished Alumni Medal from Nanyang Academy Of Fine Arts (only the fourth and the youngest, after Thomas Yeo, Wee Beng Chong and Han Sai Por), and photographer Edwin Koo bagging this year’s Icon De Martell Cordon Bleu prize. Unfortunately, that week also saw the cancellation of civil society group Function 8’s event at the Substation—a twin book launch (Escape From The Lion’s Paw, Reflections Of Singapore’s Political Exiles, and Smokescreens And Mirrors: Tracing The ‘Marxist Conspiracy’) and a reading of ex-detainee Wong Souk Yee’s play Square Room. A production of the latter was also apparently in next year’s line-up for the M1 Singapore Fringe Festival and has also been taken out.