Goodman Arts Centre has never been just a collection of studios. Long before it became one of Singapore’s most familiar creative enclaves, the grounds were home to schools, students and educators, gathering generations of people whose memories remain woven into the place.
This October, those stories come back into focus with HOME | GROUND, a new signature programme by Arts House Group that will transform Goodman Arts Centre into a festive arts village on 24 October. From 4pm to 10pm, visitors can wander through its studios, fields, carparks and Amphitheatre, encountering performances, installations, workshops, music, food and conversations that reflect both the Centre’s history and the creative community that occupies it today.
The programme comes alongside Open Studios, which begins earlier at 10am, with more than 20 artist tenants opening their workspaces to the public. Together, the initiatives offer an invitation to experience Goodman not simply as a venue for the arts, but as a place where artists work, neighbours gather and memories accumulate.
Goodman Arts Centre’s story stretches back well before its current life as an arts hub. The site was once home to Tun Seri Lanang Malay Secondary School, LASALLE College of the Arts and the School of the Arts (SOTA), each leaving its own imprint on the grounds.
Today, almost 70 arts tenants occupy the Centre, alongside artists, students, gardeners, visitors and the wider Mountbatten community. HOME | GROUND brings these different chapters together, looking at how a place can continue to evolve while carrying traces of the people who came before.
“Goodman Arts Centre has always been shaped by the people who have passed through its spaces – from its years as a school to the artists, tenants and communities who call it home today. With HOME | GROUND, we are bringing these chapters together through performances, installations, workshops and shared experiences across the Centre. We hope HOME | GROUND will invite people to rediscover Goodman Arts Centre not simply as a venue, but as a cultural homeground where memories, creativity and community continue to meet,” said Sharon Tan, Executive Director, Arts House Group.
That idea of a shared homeground runs through the programme. Rather than keeping the Centre’s past and present separate, HOME | GROUND places them side by side, allowing former students, educators, artists, tenants and neighbours to encounter one another through creative experiences.
Among the programme highlights is kiss the raindrops, a series of performances and installations inspired by the communities that once called the Centre home. Storytelling sessions by Natalie Hennedige and Suhaili Safari will pay homage to Tun Seri Lanang Secondary School, bringing another layer of the site’s educational history into the present.
ROOTED | Site Encounters takes a more physical approach, placing site-specific installations and artistic interventions by alumni and resident artists across the grounds. Elsewhere, HOME | Frequencies and ilmu fills the Centre with live music, dance and cultural experiences, with artists including NADA, Kiat and Cherry Chan.
There is also plenty of room for the everyday. Under i thought you knew, artist-led workshops explore the artistry hidden in familiar acts and skills. One session looks at the craft of ironing a shirt with Nicole Goh, while another turns hair-plaiting into a moment of connection between fathers and their children.
Around these activities, Ground Goods brings together food trucks, makers and local creatives, giving the event the atmosphere of a neighbourhood festival. The Commons Gathering, meanwhile, creates spaces for conversation, reflection and shared experiences.
Taken together, the programme makes Goodman itself part of the experience. Visitors are encouraged to wander rather than simply move from one scheduled performance to another, discovering different corners of the Centre and the stories they hold along the way.
For those curious about what happens behind the finished work, Open Studios offers an even more direct encounter with Goodman’s creative community. From 10am on 24 October, more than 20 artist tenants will open their studios, allowing visitors to see works-in-progress, observe creative processes and speak with artists in the spaces where they actually work.
The initiative follows the launch of Goodman Artventure in June, which introduced year-round trails around the Centre. Together, these programmes are part of a wider effort to make the creative process more accessible, moving audiences beyond the conventional experience of simply viewing a completed artwork.
Inside the studios, the relationship is more immediate. A visitor might encounter an unfinished piece, a work table covered in materials or an artist explaining how an idea has evolved. It is an opportunity to see Goodman not only as somewhere art is presented, but somewhere it is made.
The sense of place extends beyond Goodman’s gates with the launch of Heritage Activation Node @ Mountbatten, or HAN@Mountbatten, a collaboration between Arts House Group and the National Heritage Board.
The initiative is part of NHB’s Heritage Activation Nodes programme, which supports communities in celebrating and championing the heritage of their neighbourhoods through sustained partnerships and activities.
HAN@Mountbatten will bring artists from Goodman Arts Centre together with communities around the precinct to uncover and reinterpret local stories. Its first activation will be unveiled on 24 October with a mural at Mountbatten Community Club.
A public call for stories will also invite people with connections to Mountbatten to contribute their own memories, particularly those relating to the area’s shipbuilding and shipyard history, changing flora, heritage businesses and evolving built environment.
The project is rooted in the theme Stories We Share, encouraging residents and visitors to look again at a neighbourhood that can sometimes feel familiar simply because it is part of everyday life.
“Every neighbourhood is defined by the stories of the individuals, families and heritage businesses that make up its community. Mountbatten has a long history as an eastern seaside suburb known for recreation in the past, distinctive architecture, and is now famous for landmarks such as Goodman Arts Centre and the Old Airport Road Food Centre. We hope that HAN@Mountbatten will uncover more of Mountbatten’s storied history and encourage residents and visitors alike to learn more about its stories and character,” said Gerald Wee, Director of Education and Community Outreach, National Heritage Board.
In that sense, HOME | GROUND is as much about looking around as it is looking back. Goodman Arts Centre’s history is not presented as something fixed in the past, but as a living collection of memories that continues to grow with every artist, student, neighbour and visitor who passes through.
For one evening, the Centre becomes a village of its own — part arts festival, part open house, part community gathering. And perhaps that is the most fitting way to celebrate a place whose identity has always been shaped by the people who call it home.
More details on HOME | GROUND can be found here: https://artshousegroup.sg/gachomeground.
