The Yayasan Sime Darby Arts Festival (YSDAF) 2025 will finally be kicking off its Urban Tour with three stops over three months starting 14 June.
The beloved Malaysian festival made a bold move to scale up this year geographically by embarking on its first tour to bring the festival directly to communities across Peninsular Malaysia. After its Kampung Tour to five states and seven locations from April to May, it makes a full circle back to Klang Valley with 130 over free arts activities.
Urban Tour highlights
YSDAF 2025 Urban Tour boasts Festival Highlights from its Programme Partners including FabU, Malaysian Institute of Arts, MyDance Alliance, Orang Orang Drum Theatre, Rhizo, Soundscape Records, Stage ReSET, The Actors Studio Seni Teater Rakyat and Young KL Singers.
Staples at all locations include the Young KL Singers’ “Spice, Magic and Mystique” (Best Of, BOH Cameronian Arts Awards 2025) with folk songs from around South East Asia. YKLS will also be previewing their upcoming Coldplay and Alanis Morissette concert and festival goers are invited to sing-along.
Festival premieres include MyDance Alliance’s site-specific “Dancing in Place” which features five new dance works per location as well as Orang Orang Drum Theatre’s “Berlumba Seperti Arnab”, an exciting reimagining of the Aesop’s fable tale.
Arsyad Azrai’s “Dollah” which premiered during the Kampung Tour will be performed in full at the Urban Tour alongside “Ceritaku” a series of monologues drawn from the human library interviews that run throughout the Kampung Tour.
An eclectic lineup of buskers curated by Stage ReSET will be featured performing the blues to classical guitar salon music, celtic music to electronic music. Apart from the staples, each stop features a customised programme too.
Arts in a mall
For Malaysians who prefer to keep cool and the conveniences of a mall, then the first stop is simply perfect. YSDAF 2025 is taking over KL East Mall on 14 June with 30 epic shows and workshops by 250 artistes from 11.00am to 5.30pm.
It is not every day that you will see ballet and a 60-strong choir up close alongside crowd favourites like clowns and even a wushu dance troupe all the way from Johor. Let loose and join workshops like Magunatip dance (bamboo pole dance), Malay joget, Jom Nyanyi Trek Tek Tek kids singing workshop and Dance It Out! which will only take place at KL East Mall.
Bringing the outside inside, festival goers can explore an interactive installation “Teng-Teng: Kembali ke Akar” displayed like a hopscotch but filled with natural wonders like husks and leaves. Another rare treat will be WaaiwaiiDrum who is bringing his street rhythms indoors with his symphony from buckets, pans and woks.
Browse the full programme and register for workshops (limited places) here.
Arts in a park
From the pulse of the city, YSDAF invites festival goers to chill at PARC on 5 July from 11.00am to 5.00pm. One of Subang Jaya’s most precious gems, this thriving sustainability-driven hub nestled in a park is the perfect backdrop for its second Urban Tour stop.
Those who missed the Festival Highlights at KL East Mall have another chance to catch it alongside some new acts including winners of the YSDAF 2025 Pitch Start grant aimed at engaging Persons with Disabilities (PWDs).
“OH! Together-Gather in the Kalendar”, by Sumay Cheah of OtherHalf Studio and Sumidik, reimagines the traditional Chinese calendar in an art installation featuring suspended braille-printed paper, poetry and scent. On the other hand, “A Synesthetic Symphony : The Art of Sound and Sight” by Synesthetic Symphony of Sound & Sight (4S) brings together blind artists, marginalised and special needs children, and the wider community. Their sensory-driven experience features blind artists creating abstract art with live music performance, exploring synesthesia in visually-impaired persons.
Another highlight is the Handyzone booths. Parents should check an assortment of science, food, technology and crafting workshops by Fun4Kids, KeyNote Minds and Some Fun Enterprise. Adults can try clothes mending and communal weaving with Fashion Revolution, wooden stool making with EPIC, silver jewellery workshop with Nellevate Studio and even making a luggage tag with Precious Plastic Malaysia.
Other workshops include Lindy Hop, screen printing, picture book-making, Jikey mask-making and even a children’s drama workshop.
Taking advantage of the beautiful outdoor setting, Grow Subang will also be running gardening workshops even for the littlest gardeners. Festival goers can enjoy performances like the family-friendly Music Play Date by The klpac Symphonic Band and Hanyut by WindRiver Productions while lounging on Floating Islands and Nothing but Us – two installation-pavilions created by the Malaysian Institute of Art.
PWD-friendly event and venue
Both KL East Mall and PARC are PWD-friendly with OKU washroom and minimal barriers. Festival Ambassadors will be on duty to assist PWDs from the drop off points. Free YSDAF shuttle van service will operate from LRT Gombak to and from KL East Mall as well as LRT Subang Jaya to and from PARC.
YSDAF 2025 will culminate in the Finale at Elmina Lakeside Mall on 9 August 2025. Presented by Yayasan Sime Darby (YSD) and The Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (klpac), YSDAF 2025 is supported by Sime Darby Berhad, SD Guthrie Berhad, Sime Darby Property Berhad, and for the first time, the MADANI Government under Belanjawan 2025.
