Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay Announces the Return of MARCH ON

Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay has announced the return of March On, the company's annual children-centric festival for people below 12 and their families, from 9 - 13 Mar 2022. At the heart of this year's festival is the question: How does a child's environment impact their learning and growth? Explore the answers at the festival's participatory arts experiences and multi-disciplinary programmes for families and schools.

This year's festival commission, titled I Have Something to Say, explores the topic of bullying in the safe space of theatre. The performance uses music, movement and multimedia to invite children to build empathy, and gives children and adults alike a common language to speak honestly about bullying. After directing the well-received The Feelings Farm last year, Edith Podesta is joined by acclaimed playwright Jean Tay for this headlining production at the Esplanade Theatre. The play draws from stories, ideas and drawings generously shared by children in Singapore. It is suitable for audiences five years old and above. There will also be two ticketed workshops for children and families on this topic.

We are also excited to introduce Barrowland Ballet to Singapore audiences. One of Scotland's most exciting contemporary dance companies known for their high-quality and accessible works for young audiences, they are supported by Singapore dance collective The Kueh Tutus in the work Family Portrait. This is an interactive experience, with a dance video installation created during the pandemic. Audiences are brought on an immersive journey into the Scottish

highlands with the choreographer and her family as they create precious memories while exploring nature. We hope families who attend this experience will be encouraged to create "family portraits" of their own. To enable even more people to join us at the festival, Family Portrait has captions and audio description, and the set-up is designed to allow for wheelchair access.

The young continue to take the driver's seat in our children-led programme-SEEDLINGS. Facilitated by arts practitioners Chong Gua Khee and Faye Lim, a panel made up of children between 7 to 12 years old will watch and participate in selected programmes and workshops at the festival. They will have exclusive behind-the-scenes access and eventually share their own perspectives on topics close to their hearts.

March On is also committed to the sharing of ideas through panel discussions and talks involving educators, artists, children and their caregivers. This year, we welcome the following to our growing community of professionals and children who share our vision of creating critical, thoughtful and children-centric work: The Artground, DJ Cherry Chan (co-founder of Syndicate.sg), Void Deck Games, Tak Takut Kids Club (TTKC) and many more.

The March On line up will also feature works created under Esplanade's PLAYlab-a developmental platform targeted at budding artists and collectives that are interested in Theatre for Young Audiences (three- to six-year-olds) and work-in-progress showcases for the upcoming PLAYtime! production Together, to gather valuable feedback from audiences. Students from Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts will also be involved in the planning aspects of the festival's free programmes taking place at the Concourse. And finally, we would like to thank our Principal Sponsor Naturel for their generous support of March On 2022.

March On was launched last year in the midst of the pandemic. Last year, despite all the safe management measures (SMMs) to protect the young and vulnerable, many were still not able to join us at the festival. This year, with the SMMs streamlined and simplified, we are optimistic that #mydurian will once more be filled with the joy and cheer of our little ones and their families as they enjoy the arts at Esplanade.

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