Arts&Health Festival 2026: Songs & Stories 🎶🎨
The Arts&Health Festival marked a major milestone this year as it celebrated its 10th edition from 01 to 07 October 2026. What began a decade ago as a platform for bringing the arts into healthcare has since blossomed into a much-loved annual celebration of creativity, connection and wellbeing across JurongHealth Campus (JHC).
Centred on the theme Songs & Stories, this year's Festival filled the campus with music, laughter and shared experiences. Through exhibitions, performances and creative encounters, patients, staff, artists and community partners came together to celebrate the moments that connect us and the enduring role of the arts in enriching the healthcare journey.
The Festival opened on a high note with a lively performance by TenTation, featuring familiar favourites that had audiences singing along and swaying to the music. Throughout the week, a diverse line-up of performers, including Do-Re-Mi & Friends, Voices of Singapore, SP Piano Ensemble and Rulang Primary School, brought energy and joy to the campus through music that resonated across generations.
Stories and shared memories were also woven throughout this year's Festival. Inspired by the lived experiences shared by patients during the six-month Artist-in-Residence programme, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) student artists showcased creative works, including a theatre performance, that encouraged reflection, connection and the sharing of memories. Complementing this, PRESENCE Collective engaged patients through interactive sessions using photographs, objects and music to spark conversation, imagination and self-expression.
Our own colleagues also took to the stage during lunchtime to share their talents, while Weyoung, Hwa Chong Institution's Chinese songwriting club, debuted two original songs inspired by patients' journeys, adding fresh voices to the Festival's celebration of memory, creativity and human connection.
🎨 Turning Personal Stories into Art
Staff and visitors also got hands-on with a range of creative workshops. Participants crafted miniature worlds inspired by their identities and experiences, explored decoupage and fabric art rooted in cherished memories and meaningful moments, and joined Broadway Belters SG for an interactive sing-together celebrating the joy of music and musical theatre. Together, these sessions provided opportunities for creativity, self-expression and connection.
Staff also had the opportunity to attend a session led by Wong Swee Yean of Erudite Stories, which explored the power of storytelling in the workplace and how stories can be used to communicate ideas, build relationships and engage audiences more effectively.
A key highlight of the Festival was Touchstones: Art Rooted in Memory and Story, the culmination of JHC's second six-month Artist-in-Residence Programme with the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, University of the Arts Singapore (NAFA, UAS). Guided by the Life Storybook, a person-centred care resource developed by JCH and NAFA, patients shared memories, experiences and reflections about their families, relationships and interests. These experiences inspired a collection of artworks and, for the first time, a theatre storytelling performance, offering audiences an opportunity to reflect on memory, identity and lived experience.
Bringing Art into Everyday Care
The Festival also highlighted how the arts can be woven into everyday care. At JCH's dementia ward, an arts-led enhancement commissioned through Healing Arts Singapore introduced new opportunities for engagement and participation. Developed by artist Xin Xiaochang in collaboration with patients, caregivers, family members and healthcare professionals, the project features The Play Trolley, a mobile activity cart designed to encourage meaningful interactions, alongside murals that bring colour and visual interest to shared spaces within each cubicle.
Together, these enhancements create a more welcoming and engaging environment, supporting meaningful interactions between patients, caregivers and staff.
❤️ Ten Editions of Creativity & Connection
From familiar melodies and original songs to artworks inspired by patients' life stories, Songs & Stories celebrated the many ways people can express themselves, share experiences and connect with others.
As the Arts&Health Festival marks its 10th edition, it is also a moment to look ahead. Building on a decade of creativity, collaboration and community, the Festival continues to explore new ways of bringing the arts into healthcare and enriching the experiences of patients, staff and visitors alike.
Here's to many more moments of creativity, compassion and connection at JurongHealth Campus.
This event was proudly brought to you by the JHC Community Relations team.