Singapore's first arts festival which was a showcase of local talent was staged in 1959. It was a one-time affair.
The Singapore Festival of Arts in its present form was born when John K. B. Lim in 1975 conceived and mooted the idea of a festival modelled on the Llangollen Eistedfodd to encourage, improve and create an awareness of the arts in Singapore by giving awards to performers of standard and introducing Singaporean and foreign artistes of international calibre for inspiration and example.
Organised by the Young Musicians’ Society in conjunction with the Ministry of Education, and sponsored entirely by Mobil Oil Singapore, the Singapore Festival of Arts 1977 staged in April that year was an unprecedented success. There were over 1,300 participants and every performance during the week-long festival played to a full house.
Encouraged by the success of the 1977 Festival it is now planned to make the Festival of Arts a regular feature of Singapore's cultural calendar. Mobil will continue sponsoring the Festival and it is the intention of the organisers to gradually expand the scope and improve on the standards to ultimately make the Singapore Festival of Arts a cultural event of international stature.
(Source: Ministry of Culture Programme)