YSDAF 2025 gears up for its arts festival party season across the Klang Valley
The tour kicks off tomorrow (June 14) at KL East Mall, continues to PARC Subang Jaya on July 5, and wraps up at Elmina Lakeside Mall in Shah Alam on Aug 9.
Each stop is free to attend and promises a full day of live performances, interactive workshops, and family-friendly fun for all ages.
'Following its recent Kampung Tour to five states and seven locations, the festival is coming back to the Klang Valley with more than 130 free arts events,' outlines YSDAF in a media statement.
It's also the first YSDAF to venture beyond its KLPac home turf.
Let the party begin
At the KL East Mall tomorrow, the YSDAF party starts at 11am with over 30 performances and workshops throughout the day. The activities - performances to workshops - will go on until 5.30pm.
Orang Orang Drum Theatre's new take on 'The Hare And The Tortoise' debuts at YSDAF 2025 Urban Tour, featuring in all three stops. Photo: Handout
The Young KL Singers is set to present its award-winning showcase Spice, Magic And Mystique – a colourful medley of folk tunes from across South-East Asia. Visitors will also get a sneak peek of the choir's upcoming tribute concert to Coldplay and Alanis Morissette.
For a bit of movement, MyDance Alliance presents Dancing In Place, a site-specific dance series featuring five original performances at each venue. Meanwhile, Orang Orang Drum Theatre offers Berlumba Seperti Arnab, a playful reinterpretation of the Aesop's fable.
Arsyad Azrai's Dollah – a standout from the Kampung Tour – makes its return, alongside Ceritaku, a poignant series of monologues based on real-life stories gathered on the road.
Adding even more rhythm and soul to the day are buskers curated by Stage ReSET, delivering an eclectic mix from blues and classical guitar to Celtic tunes and electronic grooves. Each tour stop also features its own unique line-up of performances and activities.
Family fun
At KL East Mall, expect everything from ballet, clowns, and a 60-member choir to a wushu dance troupe all the way from Johor.
Workshops on offer include bamboo pole dancing (Magunatip), traditional Malay joget, children's singing, and a high-energy "Dance It Out!" session.
Families can also check out Teng-Teng: Kembali Ke Akar, an interactive hopscotch installation made with natural materials, or catch the lively WaaiwaiiDrum performance, where household items like buckets and pans transform into percussion instruments.
Both KL East Mall and PARC are PWD-friendly venues, with shuttle vans available from nearby LRT stations and festival ambassadors on-site to assist.
YSDAF 2025 is presented by Yayasan Sime Darby and The Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (klpac), with support from Sime Darby Berhad, SD Guthrie Berhad, Sime Darby Property Berhad, and the MADANI Government through Belanjawan 2025.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Borneo Post
5 days ago
- Borneo Post
Sarawak eyes 5 mln tourists this year as WAK Festival kicks off
Abdul Karim speaks during the launch of the WAK Festival 2025 calendar today. – Photo by Roystein Emmor KUCHING (Aug 13): Sarawak is targeting five million tourist arrivals this year, with 2.4 million already recorded as of July, said State Minister for Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts, Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah. Speaking at the launch of the What About Kuching (WAK) Festival 2025 calendar at the Kuching Old Court House today, Abdul Karim said the state remains on track to meet its goal, though high airfare prices continue to pose a challenge. 'We've seen economy class fares hit RM800, and even more than RM1,000 at times. Prices are always driven by demand and supply. 'I'm looking forward to our new state airline, which could help stabilise rates. 'Apart from that, I do hope also that the airlines that are servicing now, whether it's MAS (Malaysia Airlines), whether it's AirAsia, whether it's Batik Air, they have to be considered and make sure that everything is in order,' he said. Abdul Karim stressed that flagship events like WAK play a crucial role in attracting visitors while showcasing Sarawak's rich arts, culture, and creative industries. This year's WAK, themed 'Roots', interpreted as 'We Are Kindred', will feature 49 partners, 67 events, and 369 programmes across 44 venues in and around Kuching, covering music, theatre, visual arts, crafts, gastronomy, and community activities. He noted that the festival's momentum had already begun building through its June satellite editions in Sibu and Miri, which drew strong crowds and highlighted WAK's role in uniting communities. Looking ahead, Abdul Karim said the International Dragon Boat Regatta will take place this October, featuring teams from 20 countries, making it one of the busiest tourism months for Sarawak. He urged more stakeholders and sponsors to support such events to reinforce Sarawak's position as a unique cultural destination. Also present were State Deputy Minister for Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts, Datuk Sebastian Ting Chiew Yew and the ministry's permanent secretary Datu Sherrina Hussaini. Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah Kuching tourism WAK Festival
The Star
09-08-2025
- The Star
How murky world of ticket touting is making life a misery for Hong Kong concert fans
Keith Rumjahn was immensely frustrated after failing to get tickets to recent shows in Hong Kong by American comedian Jimmy O. Yang and British band Coldplay. Tickets were available in the secondary market – but cost at least twice their face value. Trying to book a public basketball court is another great source of irritation for Rumjahn, as he and his friends are only able to secure slots from touts who mark up the charge tenfold, from HK$100 to HK$200 to HK$1,000 to HK$2,000. Rumjahn, the founder of a fitness and sports apps and games company, attempted to counter the scalpers with a self-made automated booking agent but it proved futile. He said scalpers' sophisticated bots – software applications designed to perform automated, repetitive tasks – entered the system within 10 seconds of bookings opening and snapped up all the courts, while his own programme took a few minutes. 'We have a group that plays three times a week and we still buy from the scalpers. I guess that's the only way anyone is getting to play, right?' Rumjahn said. But Rumjahn, who is in his forties, said he refused to support concert ticket touts even though it had become the norm for anyone wanting high-demand experiences to buy from them. 'The whole ticketing system is not very transparent. Getting tickets was impossible,' he said. 'Every single Kai Tak show has been sold out, so obviously there are scalpers. 'I think the culture of making fast money, that flip mentality, in Hong Kong is so deep and people just got accustomed to buying from scalpers.' From buying tickets for pop concerts to booking sports venues, scalping has become a part of everyday life for many in Hong Kong, with residents resigned to paying extra for sought-after experiences. Insiders said the concert business had become opaque, with show organisers contractually obliged to reserve a large proportion of tickets for sponsors and commercial partners. Tickets reserved for public sale were swept up by scalpers using bots, leaving fans in despair without ever making it to the ticketing page, they said. But shortly after performances were listed as sold out, fans would see stacks of tickets being advertised on social media at exorbitant prices, leaving them to wonder where all the tickets had gone. The bigger question though is: how do you deal with a challenge where market forces, technology and limited regulation intersect? Ticket scalpers being arrested outside concert venues have made headlines in recent months, as authorities ramped up efforts to fill Hong Kong's concert calendar following the opening in March of the 50,000-seater Kai Tak Stadium, the city's largest venue. Big-name acts such as Coldplay and Mandopop stars Jay Chou and JJ Lin have performed at the stadium, while K-pop girl group Blackpink and GEM's coming shows are sold out. Under the Places of Public Entertainment Ordinance, it is an offence for any person to sell, offer for sale, or solicit the purchase of tickets at a price exceeding the amount fixed by the organiser at public entertainment venues. Offenders are liable to a fine of HK$2,000. Mike Ko Lep-kei, CEO and co-founder of event platform Timable, said that scalping had escalated with the opening of the stadium, affecting not only local fans but also those who had travelled from outside Hong Kong to watch big acts. Ko, who is in his forties and has worked in the entertainment industry for more than a decade, said ticket resellers were mainly divided into two types. The first was a small group of people who had established relationships with concert organisers to get tickets meant for internal distribution. People who programmed bots to sweep up tickets on platforms during public sales made up the second group. Ko said these 'officially endorsed resellers' would help concert organisers ensure their shows sold well and price the tickets according to demand in the resale market. Ko said that while tickets being sold at exorbitant prices often made headlines, resellers also suffered losses if demand for a concert was poor as they had to swallow the costs. 'They earn so much usually, so they also have to help concert organisers clear the inventory, because officially, organisers cannot offer discounted tickets,' he said. 'The resellers function as a proxy during downtimes and offer huge discounts to ensure enough members of the audience show up. 'But many organisers will not reveal these details due to non-disclosure agreements signed.' An industry insider agreed, saying that most of the time, organisers had to reserve up to 60 per cent of concert tickets for their sponsors' internal distribution or sales through other channels as part of their contract. For major concerts, most of the sponsors are insurance companies, credit card firms or banks, which tempt fans to buy financial products in exchange for a pair of tickets. 'Even before ticket sales open to the public, some parties with close ties to the organisers will already have placed orders on how many tickets they want reserved for them,' the source said. Battling the bots For public sales, ticketing platforms would be flooded by 'tens of thousands of bots' trying to enter their website at the same time, with popular shows held at Kai Tak Stadium bearing the brunt of large-scale attacks, the insiders said. Platforms blacklist the IP addresses of such bots and block them, only to have resellers switch them to get around the blocks, requiring time and resources to fight them off. On top of commercial partnerships making the distribution of concert tickets an opaque business, Ko said scalping was severe as concerts held in Hong Kong not only served the local audience but also a 1.4 billion-strong market in mainland China. 'No matter how many shows they put on, there is demand from among 1.4 billion people. It is commercially beneficial because concert tickets will always be bought, but organisers don't care that Hongkongers are unable to get in,' he said. In 2019, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department announced that organisers of concerts with more than four shows at the Hong Kong Coliseum and Queen Elizabeth Stadium, venues it operated, must limit internal and priority sales to no more than 70 per cent, leaving only 30 per cent for public sales. In response to queries from the Post, the department said its upgraded Urbtix ticketing system could accommodate up to 20,000 users, up from 2,000 in 2022, and could scale up to 100,000 if needed on the first day of sales for popular events. The system was also equipped with security provisions and multilayered settings and programmes to prevent ticket purchases by bots, a department spokesman said. 'Besides, [the department] encourages organisers to increase the ratio of tickets for public sale. A number of presenters of events at the Hong Kong Coliseum offered tickets for public sale at a ratio higher than 50 per cent,' he said. In comparison, Ticketmaster, one of the world's largest ticket marketplaces, was ready to handle 3.5 million Taylor Swift fans who had registered for the presale of her 'Eras Tour' in 2022 at the same time. Despite being able to 'manage huge volumes on the platform historically', the website still crashed after 'a staggering number of bot attacks' and other fans drove 'unprecedented traffic' to it, resulting in 3.5 billion total system requests, which was four times its previous peak, it said. Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Rosanna Law Shuk-pui said her bureau had met several major concert organisers to understand their perspectives but shows were commercial activities and 'need to be financially viable' while large-scale productions required a certain level of sponsorship. 'It is not something government action can easily change. As long as it's not illegal, the government's hand should not be too far-reaching as Hong Kong is a free market,' she said. While venues managed by the government have to follow the guidelines, private locations, such as the newly opened Kai Tak Sports Park and Asia-World Expo, home to Hong Kong's largest indoor concert venue before Kai Tak Stadium opened, can decide their own hire terms. In response to queries by the Post, AsiaWorld-Expo said it had consistently asked event organisers to allocate 50 per cent or more of tickets for public sale at public ticketed events. 'The execution of ticketing arrangements, including allocations and sales channels, is managed by organisers and their appointed ticketing agents,' it said. Booming market Kai Tak Sports Park said that, like other commercially operated venues, ticketing arrangements were primarily managed by event organisers and that it encouraged them to increase the ratio of public sale tickets where possible. 'We noticed that organisers have allocated a comparatively sizeable portion of tickets for public sales and are pleased that public access tickets have generally been available, either as individual tickets or in package deals,' it said. 'Additionally, fans often have the opportunity to preregister for presales, and these have also been heavily used also.' Ko of Timable said that holding up tickets for sponsors was not unique to Hong Kong, but elsewhere the distribution of internal tickets was more transparent and smaller in scale. The global secondary ticketing market is a booming yet contentious industry, estimated to be worth US$28.2 billion in 2024 and projected to reach US$73.44 billion by 2033, according to a report by research firm Global Growth Insights. Platforms like StubHub, Viagogo and Ticketmaster facilitate resales, profiting from fees of 10 to 25 per cent charged to both buyers and sellers, ensuring stable revenue regardless of price fluctuations, according to the report. The Asia-Pacific region is the fastest-growing market, with ticket resale transactions up by 50 per cent in the past year, driven by expanding concert and festival scenes. South Korea's K-pop market alone accounts for 30 per cent of all secondary resales in the region, while Chinese and Indian fans increasingly travel for international events. Taiwan has significantly tightened its anti-scalping laws. As of May, the maximum penalty for reselling entertainment tickets through online and offline methods for profit increased from NT$18,000 to NT$30,000 (US$1,000). Under the 2023 amended Cultural and Creative Industries Act, reselling cultural event tickets above face value incurs fines of 10 to 50 times the original price. Large-scale scalping using bots can lead to three years in prison and a fine of up to NT$3 million. Japan's 2019 anti-scalping law prohibits online commercial resales above face value and acquiring tickets for illegal resale, with violators facing up to one year in prison or a 1 million yen (US$6,780) fine and potential entry denial for buyers. Ticket brokering is banned in the streets and other public places under local ordinances. Individual states in Australia have anti-scalping legislation where touts can only sell tickets for 10 per cent more than their original sale price across all venues. In Victoria, advertisements must also include the original price, intended resale price and seating information. Duncan Chiu, lawmaker for the innovation and technology sector, said Hong Kong could take reference from Australian laws, which target high-demand events, to strengthen enforcement and crack down on scalpers. 'But penalising consumers would not be useful, because those who bought resale tickets would not out themselves to authorities, since they really want to attend the event,' he said. Chiu added that while real-name verification was a frequently proposed solution, implementing it at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium could pose logistical challenges. 'Reselling should not be banned outright as there should be flexibility for those with last-minute plans. Having too strict purchasing procedures like requiring ID numbers or checking passports would also complicate matters for tourists,' he said. Chiu pointed to the Rugby Sevens app as a positive example, as it allowed users to transfer tickets a maximum of three times while tracing the path of the transactions, with accounts registered using verified phone numbers. Top-down approach Concerts by Hong Kong boy band Mirror in 2022 required real-name registration for publicly sold tickets after fans complained that the reselling situation had got out of hand, with scalpers demanding up to HK$400,000 a seat. Ko said a top-down approach was needed as a solution since it is not profitable for organisers to voluntarily regulate themselves. For starters, authorities could require organisers to reserve 10 per cent of publicly sold tickets for real-name verification. He cited Cantopop singer Terence Lam Ka-him's coming 'White Summer' series of eight concerts this month as a positive example of organisers trying to protect fans. Lam announced that 38,000 tickets meant for the public at the 12,500-seat Coliseum would be sold through a ballot. Applicants registered with their full name, verified phone numbers and payment details on Urbtix beforehand, and if selected, could only buy a maximum of two tickets. Concert director Alex Fung Yee-pak revealed that around 180,000 people had registered for the lucky draw. Fung said he hoped the ballot would weed out scalpers' accounts by requiring a verified phone number and credit card details. 'The response has been positive and fans were able to buy tickets through this method,' he told the Post. Fung said they tried to diversify the distribution of tickets to ensure as few as possible would be snapped up by scalpers during public sales. 'Forty per cent of tickets are available for public sales, while the remaining tickets will be distributed to partnering companies or sponsors to sell these tickets to their members through their own means,' he said. 'If we put all our eggs in one basket, scalpers could potentially wipe out the tickets and audiences would have no choice, so we hope to distribute the tickets through different channels.' Fung said scalping in Hong Kong was at a 'white heat', as ticket prices were relatively low and most singers held multiple shows, leaving much room for touts to make a profit. 'For example, a ticket costs HK$1,000 ... but scalpers can resell it for HK$2,000 and fully bag the profit,' he said. 'Profits will go into researching new technology and finding new ways to circumvent any detection on the platforms so they can sweep up more tickets.' Ko said the issue with scalpers was that no one truly knew how much they were earning from ticket sales, given the opacity of the industry. While some fan clubs elsewhere had started campaigns to boycott scalpers, Ko said Hongkongers would always show demand for resold tickets despite the price. Rather than banning commercial reselling, regulating and taxing the practice could be a solution just as authorities did during the property boom, Ko said. 'For example, if I earn HK$100 from reselling, HK$20 could go to the government, and the profit could be split with other stakeholders,' he said. If authorities did not act to regulate the situation, Hong Kong's reselling phenomenon would ultimately be corrupted to the core, Ko warned. 'It will be impossible to watch any shows at the original price any more, and audiences will be left in despair,' he said. - SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
New Straits Times
07-08-2025
- New Straits Times
#SHOWBIZ: Yayasan Sime Darby Arts Festival wraps up this Saturday at Elmina Lakeside
KUALA LUMPUR: The Yayasan Sime Darby Arts Festival (YSDAF) 2025 is set to conclude its six-month-long celebration of the arts with a grand finale this Saturday (Aug 9) at Elmina Lakeside Mall in Shah Alam. This will be the only evening edition of the festival, running from 4pm to 11pm. Held to mark the festival's 10th anniversary, YSDAF 2025 has already brought vibrant performances to communities across five states and seven cities earlier this year. The event returned to the Klang Valley in June for a three-stop urban tour, visiting KL East Mall and PARC Subang Jaya before its final stop at Elmina Lakeside Mall. Festival-goers can enjoy a fantastic lineup of over 80 free activities and performances, featuring more than 300 artistes. The day will include concerts, workshops, and installations, all open to the public free of charge. Highlights include the Young KL Singers (YKLS) performing 'Spice, Magic and Mystique', a musical journey through Southeast Asian folk songs. They will also offer a sneak peek of their upcoming Coldplay tribute concert, complete with a sing-along session. MyDance Alliance will premiere new site-specific works in their outdoor series, 'Dancing in Place', while Orang Orang Drum Theatre will put a rhythmic spin on a classic fable with 'Berlumba Seperti Arnab'. Two crowd favourites from the Kampung Tour, 'Dollah', a coming-of-age theatre piece, and 'Ceritaku', a poignant monologue series based on real-life stories, will also return. Both are directed by Christopher Ling. On the main stage, singer-songwriter Zee Avi will perform alongside her band, The Good Things, with a night of soulful folk, jazz, and pop. They will be joined by powerhouse live acts Kyoto Protocol and FUGO. A new production, 'DETOUR the Musical', will debut, featuring both deaf and hearing performers on stage together. This pioneering work seamlessly blends spoken word, Malaysian Sign Language, and music.
