At T:>Works, Singapore’s vanguard of transcultural, transdisciplinary performance, age isn’t a curtain call, it’s the next act. To mark its 40th year, T:>Works isn’t just celebrating longevity. It’s questioning what that longevity means in a society where, all too often, worth is measured in economic productivity and youth appeal. Enter: The AGEncy Fund — a new initiative that reaffirms the value of older, mature artists, launching 10 July 2025 alongside DnA Fest, a sprawling festival of film, drag, cabaret and nightlife directed by T:>Works’ Artistic Director Dr. Ong Keng Sen.
“The idea came from what’s all around us,” Dr. Ong tells Popspoken. “The people who sell tissues at hawker centres, those who collect cardboard in housing estates. You see a lack of value placed on human life after a certain age. Once you reach your “shelf life”, there are fewer avenues in Singapore to validate oneself.”
It’s a raw truth, and one the AGEncy Fund seeks to redress. Ring-fenced to support creators aged 60 and above, the fund will provide resources for new works and culminate in a future AGEncy Festival. It’s both provocation and promise by T:>Works: inherently, that experience is its own form of power, which Dr Ong finds natural to support, having been making and collaborated with many individuals through the decades since 1988.
For Dr. Ong, the personal is political — and aesthetic. The AGEncy Fund finds its spiritual twin in DnA Fest, a radical reinterpretation of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas that recasts abandonment not as tragedy, but transformation. “I have some friends who are marginal in conventional society, they have become inspirations for me, in their struggle to build personal meaning regardless of social obstacles against them,” he says. “I see this in voguing and nightlife in particular, how these communities create solidarities between individuals and ultimately engender confidence.”
As for T:>Works’ own legacy? “We have gone through several rejuvenations, like changing the name to highlight that we are not just about theatre. And digitalisation was a big time consideration and challenge for us in live performance,” he quips. “Thought leadership in arts and culture has been an energising concern in the last five years. It’s not just about adaptation but a shifting of personal interests too. As an arts company, it’s not easy in Singapore to last for four decades. T:>Works is older than the national arts council for instance. How did we get here and what can we mean for others?”
With a signature mix of wit and gravitas, Dr. Ong continues at how to keep older artists relevant in this day and age: “Look at how Singaporeans are constantly demolish our neighbourhoods. It’s totally unecological in the name of progress,” of which he inculcates a belief that it does take two hands to clap, for a consumption machinery driven by balance and moderated by sustainability.
Though, don’t mistake The AGEncy Fund for nostalgia. It’s future-facing, like everything T:>Works does. “Contemporary art-making is creating your own relevance at any time. So I don’t find any conflict between these two modalities of living. it can be a continuum,” he insists and ends with a quip, on a note to his younger self, 40 years ago: “Perhaps it’s about not taking Singapore, the nation, too seriously? ”
In a city fixated with what’s next, T:>Works reminds us of what endures — and why it matters.
Featured Image Credit: Jeannie Ho
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