About
What is Rites of Us?
Grief is universal. How we carry it is not.
Every community in Singapore has its own language for loss — its rituals, its silences, the things said at the bedside and the things left unsaid. Most of us never see past our own tradition. We don't know what our neighbours reach for when someone dies, or how to be present across a faith line we've never crossed.
Rites of Us is a two-day public festival that brings Singapore's communities into the same room. Not to flatten those differences — but to look at them together. Through theatre, music, storytelling, shared meals, and facilitated conversation, the festival builds the kind of grief literacy that makes us better at caring for one another.
The Programme
Across 31 October and 1 November 2026, the festival runs nine components at Common Ground Civic Centre in Bedok: ticketed theatre, choral performance, and a hosted shared meal; free talks, an interfaith panel, and a drop-in film screening; facilitated small-group conversations open to all; and a storytelling session drawn from Singapore's faith communities.
The Team
Audrey Perera — Producer
Audrey Perera is a Singapore-based arts producer and founder of Passion & Purpose Asia. As Producer of Rites of Us, she brings extensive experience in creating inclusive arts and community experiences, alongside a deep interest in grief literacy and in opening up more compassionate, culturally sensitive conversations about death, dying, loss and remembrance.
She has produced major local and international arts initiatives, including the Singapore edition of WOMAD and the long-running True Colors Festival in Singapore and Japan, and has worked with artists, communities and partners across more than 20 countries. Her work is grounded in the belief that the arts can create meaningful shared spaces — helping people encounter different lived experiences, find connection and engage with difficult but universal questions.
Through Rites of Us, Audrey hopes to use theatre, music and participatory experiences to make conversations around grief and loss more accessible, while honouring the diverse cultural, faith-based and personal ways in which people mourn, remember and make meaning.
Dr. Mohamed Shahril Bin Mohamed Salleh — Co-producer & Artistic Director, Vox Camerata
Mohamed Shahril Bin Mohamed Salleh (Dr.) is a social scientist who researches cultural formation in Singapore, with a focus on how agency is imagined and enacted within the confines of the state. He is passionate about advocating for cultural workers in their artistic practice and their personal and professional development. As an inter-cultural and inter-faith advocate, much of his work concerns itself with finding ways to use the performing arts to create spaces for communities to better understand religious and cultural differences in Singapore. Shahril is the founder and Artistic Director of Vox Camerata, and an honorary lecturer at the University of Queensland, Australia.
About Passion & Purpose Asia
Passion & Purpose Asia produces arts and community experiences that are inclusive, socially resonant, and grounded in lived reality. The organisation serves as lead producer of Rites of Us.
About Vox Camerata Limited
Vox Camerata Ltd is a Singapore-based arts non-profit that designs and delivers community-centred programmes through the performing arts and community engagement. Our work brings people together across cultural, social, and faith boundaries, creating spaces for dialogue, learning, and collaboration.
Founded in 2005 and incorporated as a Company Limited by Guarantee in 2022, Vox Camerata operates across four core pillars: Advocacy, Research, Learning, and Practice. Previous works include the Sojourners Festival (2022, 2024) and the Musica Intimae: Intersections Festival (2025), both supported by the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth through the Harmony Fund.
At Rites of Us, Vox Camerata leads the Grief Stewardship Workshop, facilitates cross-cultural dialogue throughout the festival programme, and presents Musica Intimae: The Anatomy of Goodbye.
Visit Us
31 October & 1 November 2026
Common Ground Civic Centre
21 Bedok North Street 1, Singapore 469659
For press and partnership enquiries: ap.passionandpurposeasia@gmail.com