TLDR
Key Takeaways
- August in Singapore features exciting events like National Day and the Singapore Night Festival.
- Art exhibitions and cultural experiences, including ‘Our Favourite Haunts’ and Maria Taniguchi’s ‘Afterimage’, enrich the month.
- Enjoy live music with events like RASA presents Perc (UK) and the P. Ramlee Suite at Wild Rice.
- Participate in GREEN-HOUSE, a sustainability festival running August 28-30 at Temasek Shophouse, with free entry.
- Check the Islandwide release of ‘We Are All Strangers’, premiering August 20, alongside community activations.
August in Singapore carries a certain charge. National Day sits right in the middle of it, and the city leans into that energy well beyond the parade itself. Singapore Night Festival returns to light up Bras Basah.Bugis for three weekends running, while GREEN-HOUSE turns Temasek Shophouse into a weekend-long sustainability festival after dark. Anthony Chen brings his “Growing Up” trilogy home, P. Ramlee’s music gets a full orchestral tribute at Wild Rice, and a handful of new exhibitions and club nights round out a month that rarely slows down. Here’s where to spend your evenings and weekends this August.
Our Favourite Haunts: Through the Lens of Migrant Workers
Date: 2 August–13 September 2026
Address: National Museum of Singapore, 93 Stamford Road, Singapore 178897
Website: nationalmuseum.nhb.gov.sg
This photography showcase marks the first time the Migrant Workers Photography Festival has been hosted at the National Museum, presented as part of the biennial festival’s fourth edition. Inspired by the dual meaning of “haunt,” the exhibition features work by selected finalists, moving between scenes of everyday community and belonging and more otherworldly, staged portraits. It sits alongside the museum’s Once Upon a Tide exhibition, which includes a feature on migrant workers who helped build Singapore, and a “Thank You” corner where visitors can leave handwritten notes of appreciation. Winners are announced at the opening on 2 August. Free admission to the museum’s permanent galleries.
RASA presents Perc (UK)
Date: 7 August 2026, 5pm–3am
Address: RASA Space, 9 Raffles Place #02-01, Republic Plaza Tower 1, Singapore 048619
Website: yourtessera.com/e/rasa-presents-perc-uk
British techno producer Perc, aka Ali Wells, brings his industrial-tinged sound to RASA Space’s Floor room for a night that leans into the label he’s spent two decades building. As the founder of Perc Trax, he’s known for pairing driving 4/4 techno with noise and post-punk influences, and has played rooms from Berghain to Fabric. Expect a set built for a proper sound system, in a venue whose TPI rig was designed with exactly that in mind.
Tunggu Sekejap: The P. Ramlee Suite
Date: 13–30 August 2026
Address: Wild Rice @ Funan, 107 North Bridge Road, Singapore 179105
Website: wildrice.com.sg
P. Ramlee’s music returns to Wild Rice for a second run, this time as a three-movement orchestral suite arranged by Julian Wong and anchored by three of his best-known songs: Azizah, Getaran Jiwa and Tunggu Sekejap. Performed live by the 30-member chamber orchestra re:mix under conductor Foo Say Ming, the production is directed by Ivan Heng and stars Fadhli Ramlee as P. Ramlee himself, in an imagined conversation with Wong. Read our full feature on Tunggu Sekejap for more on what to expect from this tribute to one of Malay cinema’s most enduring songbooks. Tickets come with discounts for students, seniors and groups of 20 or more.
Maria Taniguchi: Afterimage
Date: 24 July–22 November 2026
Address: SAM at Tanjong Pagar Distripark, 39 Keppel Road, Singapore 089065
Website: singaporeartmuseum.sg
Singapore Art Museum presents the first major solo museum exhibition by Filipino artist Maria Taniguchi, bringing together nearly two decades of her practice across painting, sculpture and video. The show is anchored by her ongoing “brick paintings,” towering canvases built from thousands of hand-painted rectangles, shown alongside Runaways, a series of circular wood sculptures carved from Java plum. Four video works trace her interest in repetition and labour, including a newly commissioned piece exploring her relationship with her mother. Admission is free for Singapore citizens and permanent residents, with standard charges for international visitors. The exhibition runs at Gallery 3.
We Are All Strangers: National Day Homecoming
Date: Islandwide release 20 August 2026 (Gala Premiere 7 August; activations run through August)
Address: Golden Village & Filmhouse, multiple locations islandwide
Website: filmhouse.sg
Anthony Chen’s We Are All Strangers closes out his Golden Horse-winning “Growing Up” trilogy, arriving home after a festival run through Berlin, Hong Kong and Sydney, with its Singapore theatrical release timed to National Day Month. The film follows a hawker family in Ang Mo Kio as a 21-year-old son and his father confront a shifting household. A month-long calendar of activations runs alongside the release, including retrospective screenings of Ilo Ilo and Wet Season, a director-and-cast Q&A at Golden Village Suntec, and a Strangers No More karaoke afterparty at Filmhouse. Tickets are Culture Pass eligible via Golden Village.
Singapore Night Festival 2026
Date: 21 August–5 September 2026
Address: Bras Basah.Bugis precinct, Singapore
Website: heritage.sg/sgnightfest
Singapore’s largest nocturnal arts event returns for its 17th edition, taking over the Bras Basah.Bugis precinct across three weekends. This year’s theme, Myths and Legends, runs through a line-up of projection mapping, light installations, live performances and experiential programmes staged along the streets, museums and heritage buildings that make up the district. Past editions have drawn crowds for their scale and variety, and 2026 continues that format with a mix of festival villages, food and retail offerings, and after-dark programming that turns the precinct into a walkable, evening-long experience. Full artist and programme details are released closer to the festival dates.
A Date with Tradition 2026
Date: 21 August–5 September 2026 (Fri & Sat only)
Address: Stamford Arts Centre, 155 Waterloo Street, Singapore 187962
Website: artshousegroup.sg/a-date-with-tradition-2026
Arts House Group’s contribution to Singapore Night Festival brings three weekends of performances, workshops and installations built around this year’s Myths and Legends theme. Traditional Arts Centre’s Breaking the Opera Walls sends Chinese opera characters roaming the centre’s corridors, while Bhaskar’s Arts Academy reworks Journey to the West through Kathakali and NAFA’s Gamelan CCA pairs local folktales with gamelan and shadow puppetry. Drop-in activities include batik painting, origami lamp-making and a Chinese opera horse-whip workshop, alongside Where the Wildflowers Grow: Rooted, a touch-responsive light installation. Most programmes are free; select workshops are ticketed from S$5.
Fragment of a Story by Akai Chew
Date: 21 August–4 October 2026
Address: LOY Contemporary Art Gallery, 36 Armenian Street, #01-06, Singapore 179934
Website: loygallery.com
Presented as part of Singapore Night Festival, this installation by Singaporean artist Akai Chew treats the Malay Annals not as a linear record but as a collection of poetic, sometimes surreal fragments. A section of the gallery floor is symbolically lifted, with text pointing toward Fort Canning Hill, while an LED display cycles through fragments of the text itself. The show also revisits three 2020 works, Bukit Singapura, Kuala Singapura and Pasir, which layer photographs of Malay Annals sites with laser-cut text. Chew leads artist tours on select evenings, discussing hyperlocal mythologies and their erasure through urban development.
GREEN-HOUSE 2026
Date: 28–30 August 2026 (Fri 6–10pm, Sat–Sun 11am–10pm)
Address: Temasek Shophouse, 28 Orchard Road, Singapore 238832
Website: green-house.sg
Singapore’s largest sustainability festival returns for its fifth edition, and for the first time runs into the night as part of the Singapore Night Festival programme. Held across Temasek Shophouse and its garden terrace, this year’s line-up brings together Mercedes-Benz, Cora, L’Occitane en Provence, GoRentalSG, Oatside, nottofu and Bricolage, among more than 70 local brands and community groups. Highlights include a solar-powered kinetic installation built from 800 recycled aluminium cans, a six-course walking menu made entirely from kitchen scraps, and free Oatside matcha oat milk while stocks last. Entry is free across all three days, with selected workshops and guided tours requiring registration.
Village Encounters @ Holland Village
Date: 29–30 August 2026
Address: Holland Village (Lorong Mambong & Lorong Liput precinct), Singapore
Website: instagram.com/districtafterdarksg
District After Dark brings its precinct pop-up format to Holland Village for the first time, turning the neighbourhood into a two-day playground as day turns to night. Expect social game zones, a communal Art Jam Backdrop, Giant Beer Pong, neon face painting and a pet-friendly Paw Quest Zone, alongside live sets from DJ Shane, DJ Sirkid and DJ Luqhere. Spend a minimum of S$30 at participating merchants such as Sweet Cheeks, Wala Wala and Hyggerium for a Festival Pass unlocking drink redemptions, workshop access and a photobooth print, while stocks of 1,000 passes last. Entry to the pop-up itself is free.
This is a developing list and will be updated throughout August as more events are confirmed. For dining deals and parade-day specials, our guide to National Day 2026 promotions in Singapore covers the rest of the birthday celebrations. Bookmark this page and check back regularly for the latest things to do in Singapore this month.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
August is anchored by National Day and Singapore Night Festival, which runs from 21 August to 5 September across the Bras Basah.Bugis precinct. Other highlights include GREEN-HOUSE at Temasek Shophouse, Anthony Chen’s We Are All Strangers homecoming, and new exhibitions at SAM and the National Museum.
Singapore Night Festival runs from 21 August to 5 September 2026, across three weekends in the Bras Basah.Bugis precinct. This year’s theme is Myths and Legends, with projection mapping, performances and installations staged throughout the district, including Arts House Group’s A Date with Tradition at Stamford Arts Centre.
Anthony Chen’s We Are All Strangers opens islandwide on 20 August as part of a month-long slate of screenings and community activations tied to National Day Month. For dining deals and parade-day specials, see our separate guide to National Day 2026 promotions in Singapore.
Yes. GREEN-HOUSE runs from 28 to 30 August 2026 at Temasek Shophouse, with free entry across all three days. Selected workshops and guided tours require registration, and this year’s edition extends into the evening for the first time as part of Singapore Night Festival.
RASA Space hosts UK techno producer Perc on 7 August, while District After Dark brings its first Holland Village pop-up, Village Encounters, to the neighbourhood on 29 and 30 August with live sets, games and pet-friendly activities.