SINGAPORE — The Substation has yet to appoint a new artistic director (AD), but it will continue with its annual festival, Septfest, which also marks its 25th anniversary.

The arts centre’s previous AD, Noor Effendy Ibrahim, stepped down last January after a five-year tenure, but his replacement has yet to be announced. The call for applications had came in November last year.

The Substation’s board of directors admitted the appointment “has taken longer than anticipated”. “We ask the community to extend its patience as we work to confirm the next artistic director, whom we hope will bring The Substation into a new exciting phase of development,” it said in a statement.

The current absence of an AD, however, will not affect its plans for this year’s Septfest, which will run from Aug 28 to Sept 27. Acting general manager Chelsea Chua said preparations began early last year and a former Substation stalwart has been helping to shape the festival. “Lee Weng Choy, former artistic co-director of The Substation, has recently come on board as artistic adviser for Septfest. Weng Choy’s experience and familiarity with The Substation has been invaluable to the team and we greatly appreciate his support and guidance,” said Chua.

Among the festival highlights are an archival exhibition and a new book. The former, titled Making Space, will look at 25 years of the arts centre and is curated by Debbie Ding. It will be held at the National Library and will have an accompanying conference that will feature speakers such as Lee, Ding, Alfian Sa’at and Tania de Rozario. Meanwhile, an anniversary book edited by former artistic co-director Audrey Wong will also be launched. It will feature contributions from artists, writers, arts managers and curators.

For something more “physical”, a nocturnal audio tour — titled Hearing Things: The Ghost Of The Substation and led by De Rozario and Terence Lau — will take you around the building. Featuring anecdotes from visitors, artists and staff, parts of the building that have never been open to the public, including the basement, backstage areas and secret landings, can be explored.

Meanwhile, other events you can look forward to include The Tree That Fell, an exhibition by Robert Zhao based on the banyan trees behind the venue that were recently felled because of ongoing construction; Bunny, a dance performance by Daniel Kok and Luke George; the return of the Asian Film Symposium, featuring short films from the region; a screening of film-maker Victric Thng’s new short film, The Boy With Many Balloons; and finally, a two-day version of the popular concert series, Tribal Gathering Of Tongue Tasters. This year’s edition will showcase some stalwarts of Singapore’s indie music scene, such as The Oddfellows and Plain Sunset, which will perform in a bill that also includes more recent stars such as Space Days and TAJ.

Septfest 2015 will run from Aug 28 to Sept 27. For more details, visit http://www.substation.org./septfest