Not Mere Spectators:
The Makings of Multicultural Singapore
Date: 31 October 2025 – 29 March 2026
Venue: City Hall Chamber, Level 3, National Gallery of Singapore
Gallery Hours: 10am-7pm (last entry 6pm)
Admission is free for all visitors. No ticket is required.
- Wayfinding Guide
- FAQs
Stay tuned for a special promotion in January 2026! Gather your friends for a visit to the exhibition, register to visit in groups of 5 and get a $60 GrabFood voucher. For the first 100 groups that visit the exhibition only!
About the Exhibition
Step into 1950s–1970s Singapore, when multiculturalism was thought about, talked about, and consciously forged through policies, ground-up efforts and the daily choices of ordinary citizens. Move through the tensions between ideals and realities, then find your place on the stage of multicultural Singapore — still in the making today.
Read more here.
Exhibition Programmes
Beyond the exhibition's physical space, we have a lineup of accessible programmes to spark conversations and build bridges among visitors from all walks of life. Find out more and book your spot here.
Download Exhibition Resources
- Exhibition Brochure
- English - 4 MB
- Chinese
- Malay
- Tamil
- Education resource (for ages 15 and above) - 5 MB
- Family guide (for ages 9 to 12) - 15 MB
- +65 Journal
+65 is the flagship publication of the Founders’ Memorial, aiming to build thought leadership on Singapore’s independence and post-independence history and society. Explore different facets of how our nation’s formative years (1950s–1970s) are interpreted, represented, and remembered.
This 4th issue of +65 explores the topic of multiculturalism. Get broader contextual information about the origins and evolution of multiculturalism in Independent and post-Independent Singapore (1950s–1970s).
Limited copies are available at the exhibition. Download your online copy here. (17 MB) - Select articles featured in the Not Mere Spectators exhibition:
- Aneka Ragam Ra’ayat: Bringing to Life a Multicultural Nation
- S. Rajaratnam: Keeper of the Multicultural Flame
- Multiculturalism by Design: The Legacy of the 1966 Wee Chong Jin Constitutional Commission
- Finding the Pulse of Singapore’s Identity: From EngMalChin to Multi-Civilisational An Interview with Professor Wang Gungwu
- Growing Pains: An Intergenerational Conversation on Language and Change
- Navigating Diversity and Inclusion: Experiences of Singapore’s Pioneer Malay Leaders, 1950s-1970s
- Perspectives on Religious Harmony in Singapore: Origins and Evolution