Meet Tze Chien Chong | Singapore Fellow | 2026 Fellow

Current ISPA Singapore Fellow and award-winning Singaporean playwright, director and educator, Tze Chien Chong is a core member of The Finger Players, and serves as the Festival Director of SIFA for 2026-2028. 

His plays, including Charged, Rant and Rave, and PIE, have been staged internationally in Singapore, the UK, Budapest, Taiwan, and Japan, and three collections have been published by The Necessary Stage, The Finger Players, and Epigram Books. He also writes for film and television, and in recognition of his contributions to Singapore theatre, he received the Young Artist Award from the National Arts Council in 2006.

You will have the opportunity to meet Tze Chien and other ISPA Fellows at the upcoming 2026 Singapore Congress, May 19-22.

You recently became the Festival Director of the Singapore International Arts Festival, which will take place concurrently with ISPA's 2026 Singapore Congress. What artistic perspective are you bringing to the role—and what are you most excited for audiences to experience?

I come to this role first and foremost as an artist. Over the years, I’ve experienced the festival from multiple perspectives: first as an audience member following it since the 1980s, then as an artist who benefited from past festival commissions, and now as a commissioner/curator shaping the lineup. Having stood on both sides of the fence gives me a more holistic view of what a festival can mean to artists, audiences, and the wider cultural ecosystem.These perspectives help me navigate the sometimes competing expectations between artists, commissioners, and audiences, and to find ways for them to meaningfully align. But more importantly, to create the most conducive conditions for artists to thrive.

For me, the festival is that moment in the year when global hit-makers and Singapore artists gather under one umbrella, creating a space for discovery, surprise, and new artistic expressions. What excites me most is creating this environment where audiences can encounter unexpected talents and newfangled ideas under such circumstances (both from Singapore and from around the world) and where artists feel empowered to take bold creative leaps.

You’ve spent years as a playwright and director with The Finger Players. How has that experience shaped the way you lead an international festival?

Being a playwright and director, and the Artistic Director of The Finger Players for 15 years, has shaped how I think about leadership in the arts. For about fifteen years with The Finger Players, I oversaw seasons helmed by different in-house artists, which meant constantly balancing artistic direction with mentorship, production realities, and audience engagement.

That experience helped me hone the skills of shaping a long-term artistic vision while supporting multiple creative voices; that meant crafting a consistent identity for the company, something audiences and collaborators could follow and connect with.

I suppose in many ways, directing a festival follows the same trajectory, albeit on a larger scale. The principles remain similar: nurturing artists and their works, building a coherent narrative across the programme, and creating meaningful encounters between art and audiences. The scope is broader, of course, but the spirit of the work feels very familiar, thankfully.

Singapore has a dynamic and diverse arts ecosystem. What aspects of the local cultural landscape are you most excited to share with the ISPA community this May at the Congress?

Many people see Singapore primarily as an efficient aviation/transport and business hub. What is less widely recognised is the depth of its cultural diversity, history, and artistic life.

Singapore is a migrant society shaped by people who brought with them the traditions of older civilisations from across Asia and beyond. Over time, these influences have intertwined with a Southeast Asian sensibility and a post-colonial identity that is uniquely our own.

I have had many opportunities hosting international collaborators in my independent practice. Whenever they encountered this richness firsthand, their assumptions about Singapore were always challenged, and even surprised by the ingenuity, diversity, and maturity of the arts scene here. For a relatively young nation, our cultural ecosystem has developed remarkable depth, and it continues to evolve in fascinating ways.

How does this year’s theme, Creative Convergence: Same Same, And Different, resonate with you, and what kinds of cross‑cultural or cross‑sector conversations do you hope it will spark among delegates?

The theme resonates strongly with the lived reality of Singapore and much of Southeast Asia. Multiple languages, cultures, and traditions exist side by side. Because of that, we’ve had to develop ways of negotiating and collaborating across these differences with sensitivity and care.

As Singaporeans, we sometimes take this for granted. But the processes of dialogue, understanding, and even conflict management that allow such diversity to function and co-exist are incredibly rich and worth unpacking.

I hope the congress becomes a space where these experiences can be shared openly. The world does not always operate in the same way, and there is much we can learn from one another. “Same same, and different” captures that beautifully: it acknowledges our common ground while recognising the value of our differences, and it invites conversations that move beyond easy assumptions toward deeper cultural exchange.

View Tze Chien's full bio