A teepee painting area at the Kids Zone seen at the festival preview. It will be ready to welcome its junior artists at the YSDAF this August. Photo: The Star/Faihan Ghani
The Yayasan Sime Darby Arts Festival (YSDAF), back from a five-year hiatus, aims to create waves with its comeback by ensuring that the event is eco-friendly and accessible to oft-overlooked communities.
Known as one of Kuala Lumpur’s largest arts festivals, the free admission YSDAF has had its crew undergo Disability Equality Training (DET) and Disability Related Services Training (DRST) to better serve festival-goers at its finale, which is taking place on Aug 19 and 20 at KLPac, Sentul Park, Jalan Strachan, off Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah in Kuala Lumpur.
The venue's indoor theatres and outdoor lawn areas will host a line-up of diverse programmes over two-days. Nineteen "pocket" locations will feature at the fest.
At the recent festival preview at KLPac on June 15, YSDAF co-director Ian Chow revealed that over 350 events/activities will be open to the public to bring them on a journey through the event’s theme, “Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow.”
Food trucks all geared up to accommodate the guests at the recent YSDAF mini festival on June 15. In August, the YSDAF will be welcoming 18,000 festivalgoers, with food trucks and pop-up drink stations to keep them fuelled up. Photo: Robin Wong
A series of preview activities were presented at the festival preview, including music sessions and mini workshops.
This August, the YSDAF will be embracing the masses, with growth, recovery and community at the heart of this arts event. Over 1,000 arts practitioners - performers and backline crew - will be a part of the festival, presenting stories and performances big and small.
The finale, which is expected to attract an audience of 18,000 over two-days, will also feature movement workshops for neurodivergent people, a physiotherapy and dance workshop for those with Parkinson’s, as well as artistes like the talented illustrator Krithin, who lives with cerebral palsy; deaf activist Dr Anthony Chong’s new work in Malaysian Sign Language; and a handbell ensemble by the visually-impaired, facilitated by GlobDCircle Entertainment.
Guests were seen collecting their rentNreturn foodware before heading to the food trucks. Photo: Robin Wong
Chow also shared that this year, they will feature almost 60 groups that have not been part of YSDAF before, and well over 40 new works. Some groups will travel from as far as Penang, Johor, Pahang and Terengganu to be a part of the finale.
Being sustainably savvy
In addition to being inclusive, YSDAF will be implementing sustainable practices, thanks to feedback from past attendees.
The festival's sustainability guide – in these post-pandemic times – looks to reduce the amount of waste and single-use plastic materials generated at the event by encouraging visitors to BYOC – bring your own containers/cutlery – and refill their water bottles at the water stations.
If you forget to bring your own containers, don't fret: you’ll be able to “rent” returnable containers, cutlery and cups from local sustainability startup OPACK.
Guests enjoying a film screening of documentaries sponsored by Yayasan Sime Darby - 'Borneo Jungle Diaries', 'Borneo Ocean Diaries' and 'Layar Liar' at the recent YSDAF preview. Photo: Robin Wong
The programme will have eco workshops by EcoKnights, .bungkus and Precious Plastic Malaysia, as well environmental documentaries sponsored by Yayasan Sime Darby, such as Layar Liar, Borneo Jungle Diaries and Borneo Ocean Diaries.
Programme highlights include the highly-anticipated Dance the Scene live battle, KLPac's co-founder Datuk Faridah Merican’s Life Sdn Bhd: What It Means To Be Malaysian? and the screening of Tan Sri P. Ramlee classics courtesy of The Shaw Organisation Pte Ltd (in conjunction with the Malaysian entertainment icon's 50th death anniversary this year).
If you’re a music lover, you can look forward to Chow’s True Love Waits: A Radiohead Tribute, a curated line-up of independent bands by Soundscape Records, as well as the festival's Gala Night special, Unforgettable: Lagenda Malaysia.
Anak Borneo performing Kenyah songs on the sape was definitely one of the crowd favourites at the recent YSDAF preview event. Photo: Robin Wong
From the small black box spaces to the main stage, the music programme is set for the traditional and contemporary.
Three new installations will make their premiere at this year's festival, including Pitch Start grant winner JinnD Productions’ Beyond Moving With Artisans, as well as two other anchor installations, Cahaya Create’s Cloudscapes: A Journey of Hopes and Expedio Design’s Travel Through Time.
The upcoming YSDAF is also the biggest edition of the bi-annual festival, which started in 2014.
The early two editions of YSDAF in 2014 and 2016 saw a 15,000-crowd for each year, while the pre-pandemic edition in 2018 saw the attendance spike to 17,000.
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