Programmes
Gather at 42 Waterloo Street and join us in cooking up care practices across Singapore’s arts ecosystem.
DAY 1 – 28 June, Friday
Bye for Now! Recess Time: CITRUS fest
BRING YOUR PLATE (GATHERINGS)30 June, Sunday
7.00-10.00 PM
Rear Courtyard
We want to close CITRUS fest in the same spirit as its opening – with lively and self-reflexive conversation over delicious food prepared in sustainable ways. And so once again, we are very pleased to have Practice Tuckshop to host, in a special edition of their ‘Recess Time’ programme!
Combining the art of cooking, making conversations and storytelling into a single encounter, Recess Time by Practice Tuckshop is an "ugly produce" communal dining experience. It is a long-running participatory work that stages a social event, i.e. a meal, as the site for performance and engagement.
"Makan Masters" go on veggie rescue missions to salvage unwanted or ugly produce, and incorporate them into a menu of their choosing. Recess Time conversations are also documented using an auto-ethnographic approach by a floating interviewer, known as the "Kaypoh" (Busybody) Queen/King and recorded inside the Recess Journal, which also contain messages from past chefs, photos and food-waste friendly recipes.
Note: The menu contains no pork, lard, beef and alcohol. Please let us know if you have any dietary restrictions or food allergies at least 7 days before the event. Halal-certified bento boxes can be made available upon request.
ABOUT THE ARTS WORKERSPRACTICE TUCKSHOP
A key initiative of The Theatre Practice, Practice Tuckshop has advocated for sustainability in green practices since our inception. Our works push theatrical boundaries, to open up critical conversations on sustainability. As an arts space, we work with our artist-collaborators to incubate new works, and cultivate a space where different communities (and ideas!) can converge.
IG: @practicetuckshop
practice.org.sg/tuckshop
ANG XIAO TING
Ang Xiao Ting (she/her) is a freelance hyphenated theatre practitioner (actor, director, dramaturg, facilitator). She is an Associate Artist with The Theatre Practice (Singapore) and Programmer for Practice Tuckshop. Her practice in Eco-Theatre prioritises the various degrees of an integrated ecological practice, with a focus on Southeast Asian foodways. In 2023, her Eco-Theatre work was featured in Vogue.sg.
IG: @angxiaoting
angxiaoting.com
Curiosity Circles
BRING YOUR QUESTIONS (CONVERSATIONS)30 June, Sunday
4.30-6.30 PM
Black Box
Is there a particular question you want to ask others, or a topic around care that you’d like to raise and discuss? Or maybe you have a lingering thought from the workshops that you’d like to dive deeper into? In this session, participants will be supported to form small group discussions around one or more topics of your choice. In previous CITRUS gatherings, people have led somatic exercises, annotation exercises, as well as suggested younger practitioner circles and raised ideas around fight and intimacy choreography collaborations.
ABOUT THE ARTS WORKER
CHONG GUA KHEE
Chong Gua Khee (she/her) is a director, dramaturg and facilitator who wants to create art that is as 'shiok' as possible for herself, the team, audiences and the environment. She sees the work of CITRUS practices as deeply crucial to finding the 'shiok' in artmaking for everyone involved, and is excited to collectively dream up more playful and sustainable ways of caring for each other.
IG: @togentlerdays
guakhee.com
it’s not worth talking about?
30 June, Sunday
3:00-4:00 PM
Black Box
I’m happiest when someone buys me kopi o kosong peng during early morning calls but the people who do that will never think much of it. It’s just instinctual for them, it’s not something they feel is worth talking about.
For CITRUS fest, The Backstage Affair attempts to compile some voices of backstage practitioners as they talk about their ideas of care. Honestly, the thing about our arts industry is that those who really care don’t usually want to be involved in all these gatherings and dialogues. How shall we proceed then? We have no answers, just an invitation to come and sit and find your own nook in the space to listen to all these voices. And then let’s see what happens from there…
Featuring the voices of Bobbie Ng, Carolene Ruth Liew, Chan Silei, Cheralynn Yeo, Dot, Edith Podesta, Evelyn Chia, Faith Liu Yong Huay, Goh Shou Yi, Isis Koh, Izz, Jiong, Joel Tan, Julian Wong, Lam Dan Fong, Lim Zhiying, M. Nurfadhli Jasni, Neo Kim Seng, Saffa’ Afiqah, Sandra Tay, Shridar Mani, Sim Yan Ying, Suraya Ab Rashid, Wann Nurul Asyiqin and Yingzhi.
ABOUT THE ARTS WORKERSTHE BACKSTAGE AFFAIR
We are from The Backstage Affair (BA). We came together with a question on how to make a career in the backstage scene more sustainable. We are invested in shaping the professional and personal development of backstage management professionals and believe in the importance of community and collaboration in creating this better tomorrow.
IG: @thebackstageaffair
thebackstageaffair.com
Care as Action in Image-Making
BRING YOUR SOCKS (WORKSHOPS)30 June, Sunday
12:30-2:30 PM
Black Box
*Free with Expression-of-Interest by 7 June
12 spaces availableIn today’s oculocentric world, how do we actually read a photograph? In this workshop, Chelsea Chua and Nurul Huda Rashid delve into the importance of the photograph as a tool of communication across various media. In the arts, photographs are used and reproduced in marketing and publicity channels in advertisements, media reportage, policy documents and resources in curriculums. On social media, we also see behind-the-scenes images from rehearsal spaces, artist studios and work-in-progress presentations.
How can we approach the creation and circulation of such images through a lens of care? Through a discursive process, participants will collectively unpack select case studies and simultaneously create a resource on how to care better in working with images in the arts.
Note: Participants of this workshop will have to bring one image of their own. This can be a headshot or one that has been used recently for an artistic work.
ABOUT THE ARTS WORKERS
CHELSEA CHUA
Chelsea Chua (she/her) is a cultural worker who frequently works with artists, photographers, curators and filmmakers across Southeast Asia to develop projects such as exhibitions, talks and mentorships. She is Programme Director at Objectifs, a visual arts centre focused on photography and film.
IG: @iamchelseachua
LinkedIn
Photo credit: Joe Nair
NURUL HUDA RASHID
Nurul Huda Rashid (she/her) is a researcher-writer whose research focuses on images, visual and sentient bodies, feminisms, and the intersections between them. These have been articulated through visual projects, workshops, and programmes with various art and cultural institutions. She loves smelling old books and hopes to adopt a cat someday.
IG: @nurulh_rashid
nurulh.weebly.com
Gentle Ferocities
BRING YOUR PLATE (GATHERINGS)29 June, Saturday
8.00-10.00 PM
Rehearsal Studio
How are we listening to each other, our environments, our bodies, our creaturely companions, and reconfigured rhythms of time and disembodied sounds from virtual realms? What might we witness and what is animated when we situate ourselves in places that ask for your whole body to listen? How can we allow and trust our senses and instincts to lead us in times of crises, transition, healing, dreaming and transformation?
Come sit and unfold these questions for yourself and others through the sharing of food, storytelling and the crafting of a small handmade effigy/talisman (made from a recipe of organic materials, soil, selected spices, aromatics and flowers).
ABOUT THE ARTS WORKERSRUMAH RIMAU DAPOR
Rumah Rimau Dapor (Zarina Muhammad) is a peculiar habitat and shelter that invites and welcomes delight, softness, ferocity, and the quiet pauses and spaces of multispecies cohabitation. Zarina Muhammad (she/her) is an artist, educator and researcher whose practice is deeply entwined with a critical re-examination of oral histories, ethnographic literature and other historiographic accounts about Southeast Asia.
IG: @girlsandghostsintrees
girlsandghostsintrees.com
PORT OF RECIPROCITY
Port of Reciprocity (Irfan Kasban) is a space and time shared to alleviate the aches of being a burnt-out artist. Irfan Kasban (he/him) is a transdisciplinary artist who writes, directs, performs and designs, as a way to create intricate universes to honour space and time.
IG: @irfan.kasban
irfankasban.wordpress.com
Introduction to Intimacy in Performance
BRING YOUR SOCKS (WORKSHOPS)29 June, Saturday
7.30-9.30 PM
Black Box
*Free with Expression-of-Interest by 7 June
20 spaces availableWhat kinds of structures and practices help keep performers physically, emotionally and mentally safe? This joint workshop by accredited Intimacy Coordinator Rayann Condy and The Consent Collaborative will cover the fundamentals of care and intimacy in and around performance. Weaving together theoretical insights and experiential learning, participants will be led through improvisation tasks, embodied exercises and learn to navigate care and consent dynamics. By working in pairs, attendees can try out diverse ways of expression, refining their attunement to and enactment of embodied communication.
ABOUT THE ARTS WORKERS
RAYANN CONDY
Rayann Condy (she/her) is the first qualified Intimacy Coordinator in Singapore (as far as she knows:). Having trained in the USA with Intimacy Directors and Coordinators (IDC), she is keen to continue adapting the processes that she’s learnt within a greater South East Asian context. Through her work, Rayann hopes to help foster accountable and consent-informed spaces that allow storytelling to flourish.
IG: @rayann_condy
rayanncondy.com
LinkedIn
The Consent Collaborative (Chew Lihong and Prescott Gaylord)
Chew Lihong (she/her) and Prescott Gaylord (he/him) are part of The Consent Collaborative, which is an affiliation of artists, actors, and directors who are working to make the performing arts more safe and consensual. They share experiences, techniques, and education around intimacy work with the arts and performance community in Singapore.
IG: @consent_collaborative_sg
Article
Conflict & Communication 101
BRING YOUR SOCKS (WORKSHOP)29 June, Saturday
5.00-7.00 PM
Black Box
*Free with Expression-of-Interest by 7 June
10 spaces availableWhat do we need to foster connection through conflict and communication? In this workshop, Teo Xiao Ting will lead participants to explore how they communicate and ways to navigate conflict to facilitate repair. Drawing upon frameworks from CITRUS practices’ Library of Care online resource, as well as principles from embodied nonviolent communication and trauma-informed therapeutic modalities like Internal Family Systems, participants will have the opportunity to understand themselves amidst tension. Through interactive exercises, workshop attendees will engage in paired activities, deepening their understanding of themselves and what they need to feel grounded during conflict.
Note: Participants will be sent some reading material before the workshop. In the event of oversubscription, these materials will be shared on CITRUS fest’s website.
ABOUT THE ARTS WORKER
TEO XIAO TING
Teo Xiao Ting (they/she/it) works in intimate and sometimes invisible spaces. Presently, its practice materialises as art criticism, workshops and one-to-one therapy sessions. They are an affiliate clinical mental health and somatic therapist at Sol Therapy, and are committed to CITRUS practices. She co-created the Library of Care online resource.
The Artist Is Apparent – dialogue on parenting and caregiving
BRING YOUR QUESTIONS (CONVERSATIONS)29 June, Saturday
3.00–4.30PM
Black Box
How have we made it work? How have arts workers in Singapore made decisions and created structures of support for parenting in our workplace? This conversation focuses on informal and formal strategies and hacks that have made it more possible for parenting (and caregiving) arts workers to maintain or grow aspects of their practice, including but not limited to creative work, residencies, networking and touring. The dialogue will start with sharing from interviews and research conducted by Faye Lim and arts researcher Dr. Hoe Su-Fern. Thereafter, invited panellists will kick off a broader conversation with audiences.
Panellists
Julie Wee, Checkpoint Theatre (Actress and Voiceover Artist)
Michele Lim (Independent Producer, Arts Management Consultant and Educator)
Dr. Natalie Alexandra Tse, SAtheCollective & LittleCreatures®️ (Performer, Educator and Researcher) / @sathecollective, @hellolittlecreatures
Moderator
Dr. Nidya Shanthini Manokara (Dance and Theatre Practitioner-Researcher, Educator, Performer and Dramaturg)
Interviewees
Hasyimah Harith and Norhaizad Adam
Saiful Amri
Titisa Jeamsakul (Ice)
This dialogue is part of The Artist Is Apparent, a project that welcomes artists, producers and arts workers to consider support structures for parenting /caregiving artists and arts workers in Singapore. It was first conceptualised by a few local parenting artists and is currently run by Faye Lim.
Three interviews were conducted with local parenting artists as part of the project. They complement existing interviews with parenting artists in Singapore. This offers supportive possibilities for parenting artists and a network of peers to reference from one another.
Note: Speech-to-text interpretation (by Equal Dreams) and child minding services will be provided for this programme.
ABOUT THE ARTS WORKERSFAYE LIM
Faye Lim (she/her) is a dance and teaching artist, with a background in research, training and sexuality education. As co-director of Rolypoly Family, she produces body-based art, programmes and body safety education, and leads the team’s training, professional development and consulting projects. Her advocacy work includes expanding on care practices in the arts through CITRUS practices and safeguarding children’s rights to safety, health, education and joy.
IG: @fayeminlim
DR HOE SU-FERN
Dr Hoe Su-Fern (she/her) is an arts researcher and educator. She specialises in the engaged and ecological analysis of cultural policy, comprising three strands. The first focuses on the impact of cultural governance on the conditions of creative labour. The second is cultural value-based, and looks at how the arts shape urban and community development. The third is concerned with policy from below, particularly mutual aid, care and solidarity.
Rehearsing for ‘Better’
Adib & Gua Khee
BRING YOUR SOCKS (WORKSHOPS)29 June, Saturday
12:30–2:30 PM
Black Box
*Free with Expression-of-Interest by 7 June
24 spaces availableWhen we are told 'this is just how things are done here' or 'this is how things are', how might we respond? What are some small steps we can take to change our surroundings for the better? In this workshop, Adib Kosnan and Chong Gua Khee adapt a forum theatre script about working conditions in the arts into an intimate discussion and roleplay exercise. Participants will get to try out their own scripts for change, as well as watch and learn from other folks' experiments. By rehearsing together in a safe space, participants will build their own vocabularies for making a difference in their own contexts, regardless of art form or role!
ABOUT THE ARTS WORKERSADIB KOSNAN
Adib Kosnan (he/him) is a theatre actor, director and playwright passionate about creating platforms for communication through theatre. He believes in creating works in environments that prioritise mutual respect and understanding of each collaborator's strengths and needs whilst not shying away from healthy conflicts that challenge them.
IG: @adibkosnan
Photo credit: Boban James
CHONG GUA KHEE
Chong Gua Khee (she/her) is a director, dramaturg and facilitator who wants to create art that is as 'shiok' as possible for herself, the team, audiences and the environment. She sees the work of CITRUS practices as deeply crucial to finding the 'shiok' in artmaking for everyone involved, and is excited to collectively dream up more playful and sustainable ways of caring for each other.
IG: @togentlerdays
guakhee.com
Photo credit: Shirlene LooOpening Dinner: Come Say Hi!
Practice Tuckshop & Chef Priscill Koh
BRING YOUR PLATE (GATHERINGS)28 June, Friday
7.00-10.00 PM
Rear Courtyard
In the spirit of all CITRUS gatherings, we want to meet old and new friends around tasty and healthy food. To kick off CITRUS fest, we have thus invited special guests Practice Tuckshop & Chef Priscill to cook up a storm for our opening dinner! Inspired by the colours of CITRUS’ logo and the festival’s focus on care and intentionality, Chef Priscill will present a three-course communal dining experience. Her vegetarian dinner spotlights sustainably-grown local produce, and will include a selection of rescued veggie pickles and condiments.
Note: The menu contains no pork, lard, beef and alcohol. Please let us know if you have any dietary restrictions or food allergies at least 7 days before the event. Halal-certified bento boxes can be made available upon request.
ABOUT THE ARTS WORKERSPRACTICE TUCKSHOP
A key initiative of The Theatre Practice, Practice Tuckshop has advocated for sustainability in green practices since our inception. Our works push theatrical boundaries, to open up critical conversations on sustainability. As an arts space, we work with our artist-collaborators to incubate new works, and cultivate a space where different communities (and ideas!) can converge.
IG: @practicetuckshop
practice.org.sg/tuckshop
PRISCILL KOH
Priscill Koh (she/her) is a freelance culinary instructor and consultant, whose current passion involves creating healthy alternative dishes that are super yummy. She is also a part-time urban farmer! Priscill is a long-time Makan Master for Practice Tuckshop’s Recess Time and one of the facilitators of Pickle Pop-Up.
IG: @taitaichef
ANG XIAO TING
Ang Xiao Ting (she/her) is a freelance hyphenated theatre practitioner (actor, director, dramaturg, facilitator). She is an Associate Artist with The Theatre Practice (Singapore) and Programmer for Practice Tuckshop. Her practice in Eco-Theatre prioritises the various degrees of an integrated ecological practice, with a focus on Southeast Asian foodways. In 2023, her Eco-Theatre work was featured in Vogue.sg.
IG: @angxiaoting
angxiaoting.com
Rest & Digest Corner
BRING YOUR PLATE (GATHERINGS)28–30 June, Friday-Sunday
12.00-10.00 PM daily
Rehearsal Studio
Alongside the deep and persistent work of care, we need to insist on spaces of joy and pleasure. Whether you are looking for a temporary layover between programmes or a space to decompress from work and life, the Rest & Digest Corner will be open to arts workers and all throughout the festival. There will also be a space to leave brief thoughts and to respond to other people’s reflections over the three days. (:
ABOUT THE ARTS WORKERSBoth Port of Reciprocity and Rumah Rimau Dapor were conceived as spaces of communal gatherings, offerings and collective listening, where rest, unfurling, shapeshifting and renewal are held. We hold space for gathering in ease, for dreaming, for the tenderness existing in the things that comfort, burden, bewilder or fascinate us. We welcome the restlessness between solitude, companionship and the deep presence that emerges when safety is created in the spaces and interconnected kinships-ecologies we safeguard and choose to return to.
RUMAH RIMAU DAPOR
Rumah Rimau Dapor (Zarina Muhammad) is a peculiar habitat and shelter that invites and welcomes delight, softness, ferocity, and the quiet pauses and spaces of multispecies cohabitation. Zarina Muhammad (she/her) is an artist, educator and researcher whose practice is deeply entwined with a critical re-examination of oral histories, ethnographic literature and other historiographic accounts about Southeast Asia.
IG: @girlsandghostsintrees
girlsandghostsintrees.com
PORT OF RECIPROCITY
Port of Reciprocity (Irfan Kasban) is a space and time shared to alleviate the aches of being a burnt-out artist. Irfan Kasban (he/him) is a transdisciplinary artist who writes, directs, performs and designs, as a way to create intricate universes to honour space and time.
IG: @irfan.kasban
irfankasban.wordpress.com
Article