Sunshine Festival 2025 – A Celebration of the Golden Years

Gateway Theatre presents its inaugural Sunshine Festival (阳光艺术节) (31 October – 9 November), celebrating active ageing through the arts.

As its Director, Samantha Scott-Blackhall, says, “Sunshine Festival is about sunshine in your later years—the joy you can find in them. We want seniors to keep living fully, seeing this phase not as a sunset but a new hour to shine.”

More than a festival, it’s a movement: seniors boldly stepping into new dreams and connecting over music, theatre, and shared stories.

What Sunshine Festival Brings:

Entertainment & Midlife Artistry: When You Believe

Bold Senior Voices: LIVE IT UP! by The Glowers Drama Group

Tender Lessons for Families: Where the Sunflowers Grow

Conversations that Matter: Thought-provoking talks and senior-friendly wellness sessions that open dialogue and foster emotional connection across generations

Social Impact: At its core, Sunshine Festival is a cultural movement, challenging perceptions of ageing while inspiring audiences to reimagine what it means to grow older

From musical concert to plays, workshops and wellness sessions, Sunshine Festival cuts across culture, lifestyle, and wellness conversations — offering stories that are inspiring, moving, and entertaining.

Tickets for individual events are available here.

Festival Highlights:

• LIVE IT UP! 《活出精彩》
  • Created and performed by the senior ensemble of The Glowers Drama Group 光点戏剧, 团, founded by Catherine Sng, expect music, humour and joyful audience sing-alongs that break stereotypes. It shows how seniors can take this phase in their lives as a new beginning, a time to pursue their interest and shine onstage.
• Midlife, Sing & Shine! WHEN YOU BELIEVE (中年好声音《奇幻之声》)
  • A two-night-only musical concert, where fan-favourite talents from TVB’s Midlife, Sing & Shine! celebrate life’s second act. More than that, it also showcases The Magic of Lawrence and Priscilla, an award-winning father-and-daughter duo who proves that magic can happen, when you believe that it’s never too late to follow your dreams.
• 倒带 (Rewind)
  • A poignant but also positive and light-hearted Mandarin play written by Neo Hai Bin and directed by Li Xie. Inspired by a real-life cancer survivor, it reflects on wounds, relationships, and finding peace, an intimate exploration of resilience and reclaiming the will to live.
• Where the Sunflowers Grow
  • A tender, non-verbal puppetry performance about an elderly woman and her beloved Sunflower. It explores aging and how our lives intertwine with nature. Designed for intergenerational families, it invites children aged 5–12 and their loved ones to gently explore loss, grief, and the beauty of life.
• Workshops & Talks
  • Tote-ally Art: Fun tote bag painting workshops with creative twists (coffee painting & potato stamps)
  • Coffee Talk: Facing Grief with Joy: A compassionate session led by veteran theatre-maker Catherine Sng
  • Morning Moves: Free senior-friendly stretching classes to energise body and mind

Image: Gateway Theatre