SINGAPORE — The new-look Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA) wrapped up its six-week run yesterday (Sept 21).

It drew an audience of 22,000 for its ticketed and non-ticketed events. These include 12 productions as well as other events under its festival proper banner: An outreach production, Festival Heart: Into The Wild, which was done in collaboration with Theater HORA and special needs Singaporean participants; a series of free pre-show talks under the new SIFA Shares programme; and a preview presentation of works by Singapore artists for the 2015 edition. The total figures also include those from its pre-festival event, The OPEN, which drew in 8,500 people to its 30 events in June and July.

Of the ticketed productions in SIFA 2014, four were sold out: the K-musical The Chorus; Oedipus, the Japanese production Sambaso, the Robert Wilson musical Peter Pan and the Iranian theatre show Amid The Clouds.

Gross sales for ticketed events were up to 86 per cent compared to gross ticket sales of 72 per cent in 2012, before the year-long hiatus as the festival underwent a revamp and came under a new organisation, Arts House Limited, and a new festival director, Ong Keng Sen.

The total audience figures arguably pale in comparison to the 2012 edition, which drew a total audience of 220,000 for both its ticketed and non-ticketed community events. But the drastic difference could be interpreted as a shift into a new direction for SIFA, which is tighter, meaner and more focused. This year’s organisers had skipped the mass-centric Festival Village, which accounted for 120,000 visitors alone in 2012. Many of this year’s shows were of an experimental, intimate bent that was more at home in smaller black box venues. The bigger Esplanade Theatre, which would previously host bigger arts festival shows, was also closed due to renovation. The festival had also coincided with the more populist Singapore Night Festival, which drew in half a million visitors over two weekends.

Meanwhile, SIFA 2015 is set to take place next August and will carry the theme Post-Empire. Seventy per cent of the productions will be new commissions from Singapore artists and groups, including a collaboration between dance pioneers Goh Lay Kuan and Santha Bhaskar, a performance by Kumar, and productions by Cake Theatrical Productions, W!ld Rice, T’ang Quartet, among others. Groups Drama Box, Teater Ekamatra will also be associate curators for next year.

For our wrap-up story on SIFA 2014, go here. To check out our reviews on the individual productions, visit For Art’s Sake!