About The Festival

 

The Yayasan Sime Darby Arts Festival (YSDAF) is the largest free-for-all arts festival in Malaysia. Presented by Yayasan Sime Darby and The Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (klpac), it takes place once every two years.

 

“FULL OVATIONS TO KLPAC AND ALL THE CURATORS AND HUMANS WHO TOOK PART. YSDAF WAS WELL-ORGANISED. EVERYTHING WENT RIGHT. AND IT WAS INTERNATIONAL-LEVEL WHILE STILL BEAMING WITH MALAYSIAN IDENTITY. MORE IMPORTANTLY, IT WAS ENJOYABLE.”
–
THE DAILY SENI

 

YSDAF is proud to feature almost entirely local talent. Nowhere else will you be able to sample such a wide variety of what the local arts scene can offer from the traditional to the contemporary, dance to theatre, mainstream to the experimental. And by sample we don’t mean just performances but hands on workshops, demonstrations, installations, screenings and more.

 

“THERE WAS NOT A DULL MOMENT TO BE HAD DURING THE STAR-STUDDED YAYASAN SIME DARBY ARTS FESTIVAL GALA NIGHT… ALL IN ALL, THE YAYASAN SIME DARBY GALA NIGHT WAS A BLAST…”
–
THE STAR

To ease your commute, the YSDAF organisers are providing a special service shuttle van for festival go-ers from three different pick-up and drop-off points: KTM Sentul, LRT Sentul, and the klpac guardhouse. Kindly note that the KTM Sentul station is not open for operation, but commuters can still travel to this destination via shuttle services provided by RapidKL.

What sets it apart besides its scale is that it offers a highly engaging and interactive festival experience that is unrivalled locally.

The Festival also aims to be inclusive by having a diverse representation in its line up and by also engaging different communities including under-served communities. It is possibly the first festival crew that has received Disability Equality Training (DET) and Disability-Related Services Training (DRST).

Themed “Shout It Out: Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow”, YSDAF 2020 aims to celebrate all things Malaysian.