More than 600 performing arts leaders, including delegates and invited guests, from over 40 countries gathered in Singapore in May 2026 for the International Society for the Performing Arts (ISPA) 2026 Singapore Congress, marking the organisation’s first return to Southeast Asia in more than two decades.
President of the Republic of Singapore Tharman Shanmugaratnam provided the opening address and used the occasion to highlight the importance of the performing arts and announce the launch of a major new arts programme in Singapore.
Each year, ISPA holds two annual congresses: one in New York each January and a second in a different region of the world. Recent mid-year congresses have included Manchester, England; Perth, Australia; and Lugano, Switzerland.
The 2026 Congress was hosted by the National Arts Council (Singapore) from 19 to 22 May. Anchored in the theme “Creative Convergence: Same Same, And Different”, the congress explored how artistic practices intersect across cultures while retaining their distinct identities. Delegates experienced Singapore’s multicultural landscape through a series of performances, including traditional and contemporary art forms.
The congress featured a diverse line-up of international thought leaders, artists and arts workers. Speakers included Maria Tri Sulistyani, founder of Papermoon Puppet Theatre (Indonesia); Gabriel Prokofiev, composer and founder of Nonclassical (UK/Russia); Forrina Chen, founder of The Arts Space for Kid (China); JoonYee Kwok, Festival Director of OzAsia Festival (Australia); and Maria Claudia Parias, Executive Director of IDARTES (Colombia). Their perspectives spanned puppetry, digital innovation, composition, youth arts, festival leadership and arts and wellbeing.
Across four days of panels, showcases and networking, including the Pitch New Works session that connected artists with international presenters, the congress provided a timely space for connection, collaboration and reimagining the future of the performing arts.
Join ISPA at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for the ISPA Series at the Fringe: Resilience in Action (19 August 2026), the New York Congress (12–14 January 2027), and at the mid-year congress in Uppsala, Sweden (8–11 June 2027).
For more information on ISPA’s congresses and upcoming programmes, visit www.ispa.org
