Chen Yingxuan is a Singapore artist. Her directorial works include Tender Submission (Checkpoint Theatre, 2023), A Grand Design (Checkpoint Theatre, 2020), which she dramaturged with Huzir Sulaiman, Mergers and Accusations (Esplanade’s The Studios 2019), A Good Death (Esplanade’s The Studios 2018), and The Car (Esplanade’s Feed Your Imagination 2017), among others.
Yingxuan is also a screenwriter whose short film, Move Out Notice (2015), was nominated for Best Script at the Singapore Short Film Awards and received recognition at the Los Angeles Asia Pacific Film Festival, Seoul International Extreme-Short Image & Film Festival, Ile Courts International Short Film Festival, San Diego Film Festival, Beeston Film Festival, and APA Film. She co-wrote Mediacorp’s telemovie, Hong Baos and Kisses (2014), directed by Wee Li Lin.
Yingxuan is interested in the intersection between arts and society. She is the Head of Programmes and Strategy at Shaw Heritage Arts and Wellbeing Studios, which uses evidence-based heritage and arts programmes for the improvement of mental wellbeing. As an arts facilitator, she works with entities such as Duke-NUS Medical School and Family Medicine ACP to enhance medical education, faculty development, and staff wellbeing through the arts. She has spoken at events such as the Medical Humanities Seminar by Nanyang Technological University (2024) and Performance and Health Symposium by the National University of Singapore and LASALLE College of the Arts (2023).
Yingxuan is invested in working with the disability sector and underserved communities. She currently serves as the creative producer for the Arts and Disability Forum and masterclasses (Art:Dis), and was part of the access team for Smartypants and the Swordfish (2024). She was also Creative Director for youth mental health production, I Hear You (2023), by Beyond Social Services. In her spare time, she volunteers with both organisations.
Passionate about supporting the Singapore arts ecosystem, she worked at the National Arts Council for ten years on various policies, support schemes and pilot projects, and was Assistant Director (Theatre) from 2020-2023.
Photography by Jasper Yu
Last Updated: May 2024