Towards a Vibrant and Sustainable Creative Economy for the Arts

ADJOURNMENT MOTION

The Leader of the House (Ms Indranee Rajah): Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That Parliament do now adjourn."

Question proposed.

Towards a Vibrant and Sustainable Creative Economy for the Arts

7.40 pm

Ms Usha Chandradas (Nominated Member): Mr Speaker, Sir, thank you for the opportunity to address the House today on Singapore's creative economy. Before I start, I would like to declare my interest as both an art historian and the owner of a digital art magazine.

I would like to start my speech with a trip back in time, specifically, let us travel back to the year 1995. In that year, a man boldly walked up to the then-President of Singapore, Mr Ong Teng Cheong, at a major art event. That man spoke to the President briefly, the President nodded and the man proceeded to put on a jacket. That jacket had bright gold lettering on the back of it and that man was none other than Mr Tang Da Wu, one of Singapore's most celebrated artists, and the gold lettering on his jacket read, "Don’t Give Money to the Arts."

Once the jacket was on, Tang passed the President a handwritten note which also said, "I am an artist. I am important."

This performance has entered into the annals of Singapore's art history. As with many pieces of performance art, it is dripping with irony and wit. The pointed message on the jacket about funding, contrasts with the genuine plea in the note that the artist is, in fact, important. It is a concern that was relevant in 1995 and continues to be relevant now. This jacket now hangs in the National Gallery across the road and is part of Singapore's national art collection.

This artwork is perhaps one that immediately comes to mind – at least amongst Singapore art historians – when one thinks about the creative economy. The creative economy was one of the key pillars in the latest National Arts Council (NAC) Arts Plan, which was issued in September this year. In it, Minister Edwin Tong referred to a desire to "unlock Singapore's creative economy and to create good jobs." The term "creative economy" then goes on to appear more than 20 times in the body of the Arts Plan.

While there is no single definition of the "creative economy", the Arts Plan refers to the United Nations Committee on Trade and Development, which defines the creative economy as the intersection of human creativity and technology or products that have economic value. The Plan then elaborates that, "This includes a wide variety of sectors, such as architecture, design, fashion, film, music, performing arts and television."

In Singapore, a tremendous amount of Government funding has been poured into the arts community. From 2013 to 2021, a total of approximately $3.16 billion had been provided to the sector as a whole. Under Singapore's law, charitable purposes, in respect of which charities may be constituted, include the advancement of the arts and heritage. So, while there are many for-profit arts businesses in the space, our legislative framework for charities and the practices of the Government lend support to the view that arts offerings are also public goods, which fulfill an important social aim.

And this is an important point. Our creative economy relies both on private enterprise and public support. As Minister Edwin Tong has said in his foreword to the Arts Plan, the arts have an important role in forging a connected society. He said, in particular, "Our social fabric is changing…[and] the arts have the power to unite our communities and anchor us to our core Singaporean identity."

This very important role of the arts identified by the Minister is something I absolutely agree with and cannot emphasise more. Considering the creative economy within this framework, which takes into account both the broader social impact of the arts as well its bread-and-butter concerns, I would like to highlight four areas in which more support can be rendered to assist artists and art entities.

First, more direct support can be put in place to assist creative workers, businesses and universities. This is a topic of pressing importance in the arts community. Just this past weekend, I attended a standing-room only panel discussion at 7879 Gallery & Clayworks. This is a space where many arts workers came together to discuss how to build sustainable art careers.

The Government, undoubtedly, has a very important role to play as a facilitator of assistance and networking space for creative businesses in the arts. Our Arts Resource Hub and grant framework under NAC are excellent initiatives, but much more can be done.

The Government may wish to consider the case study of Creative UK. This is an independent network for the United Kingdom's (UK) Creative Industries, which is partly funded by The National Lottery. It has set up a Creative Growth Finance fund, which provides scale-up financing for promising for-profit creative businesses in the country. It also works to connect potential investors with creative businesses, while educating arts entities to provide them with the necessary knowledge for securing various forms of investment – and these range from equity to debt and grants. It would be very helpful to have a similar centralised networking portal in Singapore for arts entities in order to help such entities gain access to potential investors.

Our local context also offers signposts on how affordable professional services may be rendered to suitable arts businesses and charities.

With my own personal experience serving as a volunteer with the Pro Bono SG office, I can share that Pro Bono SG has achieved some success with its low-bono initiatives under its Family Justice Support Scheme.

Here, legal representation at discounted rates is available for needy family law litigants who are not eligible for assistance from the Legal Aid Bureau. The benefits of this scheme are clear – subsidised legal assistance is given based on need. This creates greater access to justice but, at the same time, there is an element of sustainability, in that service providers are not left out-of-pocket either. I would like to ask the Government to consider building a similar pool or repository of "low-bono" service providers for creatives who are in the early stages of setting up their freelance activities, charities or small businesses.

A scheme like this could help arts and cultural workers and arts businesses to be "match-made" with key service providers, such as lawyers, accountants, technology experts, human resources (HR) professionals, marketers and more. Anyone who is willing and able to support the arts through the rendering of discounted services should be assisted with being given access to the entities that actually need this help.

Finally, we should not forget about financial aid for our tertiary institutions which educate artists and cultural producers. These need to be supported as well, so that our arts institutions are well-equipped with high-quality staff and programmes.

One example I would like to highlight today is the challenge that is presently being faced by the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA). NAFA is one of the founding members of the newly launched University of the Arts Singapore (UAS). Despite being an Institution of Public Character, NAFA does not benefit from the typical matched funding support provided by the Ministry of Education (MOE) to Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs), and these include Institutes of Technical Education (ITE), polytechnics and autonomous universities.

Young autonomous universities, like the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) and Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), are able to receive Government matching on public donations in ratios that can go well beyond simple dollar-for-dollar amounts. NAFA, being a private institution under UAS, does not enjoy the same privileges.

Instead, NAFA seeks dollar-for-dollar matching assistance for donations through the Cultural Matching Fund (CMF) and this is something that is overseen by the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY).

Since 2022, CMF rules have become much more restrictive. Amongst other conditions, CMF matching grants above the first S$300,000 per application window are now assessed on a project-by-project basis. What this means is that, in the last few years, NAFA has not been able to benefit fully from direct donation matching under CMF.

I also understand that this situation creates a disincentive for private donors to donate to the institution. And we can see why. It is because their donations are likely to have a bigger overall impact, if applied to, say, autonomous universities instead, where private donations will be matched in higher ratios by the Government.

The issue here is a simple one: without good and well-funded arts schools, we will not be able to produce good artists and cultural producers who are the very backbone of our creative economy.

In this regard, I would like to urge the Government to ensure that our new UAS as well as its member institutions are able to enjoy the same fundraising benefits as our other young universities in the country.

Next, Mr Speaker, I would like to address how we can do more to align the development of our arts sector with Singapore's larger economic goals and, in particular, with respect to our tax policies.

The first area I would like to highlight is in connection with the Goods and Services Tax (GST). Earlier this month, the hon Member Mr Sitoh Yih Pin talked about the GST "cow" being milked as a political tool, and I can assure this House that I have no intention of doing that today. All I would like to do is highlight that, in Singapore, we do not include the supply of artworks under the Fourth Schedule of the GST Act, which exempts certain transactions for the purposes of GST.

Hong Kong, by comparison, which is major art market in the region, does not have a regime of goods and services or value-added taxes. The result then is that it is often more cost-effective for art dealers to transact higher-value sales through Hong Kong than in Singapore.

In Singapore, local sales attract an additional GST charge. I have been told, anecdotally, that this has been a long-standing issue for art gallerists in the visual arts space, as it makes large art deals hard to conclude in Singapore.

A case can be made for the removal of GST in these instances; and it would not be the first time that this House and this Government would have granted such a thing. The provision of financial services, sales of residential properties and, more recently, supplies of digital payment tokens, are just some examples of transactions that are presently exempt from GST.

There are technical reasons why financial services are exempt from GST; many other jurisdictions offer this exemption as well. But I would like to highlight that in his 2012 Budget Statement, the then-Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, introduced a GST exemption for investment-grade gold and other precious metals.

He recognised that this exemption would, "facilitate the development of gold trading, which can draw on Singapore's strengths as an international financial centre and trading hub, to meet strong demand for investment-grade gold in Asia." I think what we can see is that where there are wider economic aims to be achieved, tax exemptions may be harnessed as a useful tool to grow important industries.

The explanation for a GST hike next year is well-understood. But, as the examples I have raised show, where there are wider aims to be achieved, such as the health of our creative economy and the livelihood of our creative professionals, tax exemptions may well be harnessed as a useful tool to grow what Singapore believes to be important industries.

The Art Basel and UBS Survey of Global Collecting in 2023 states that art market sales, globally, reached an estimated US$67.8 billion in 2022. This was their second highest ever level. In its latest art market report, Art Basel and UBS noted that while performance was mixed across Asia for sales of post-war and contemporary art, Singapore was a notable exception.

In 2022, it showed double-digit growth. This growth was said to be driven by the Sotheby's sale of modern and contemporary art, its first auction in the country after a 15-year hiatus. ART SG, the leading international art fair for Singapore and Southeast Asia, will return in 2024 for a second edition after a very successful run this year.

The point I would like to make is this: Singapore is home to excellent galleries, they exhibit to an international audience and are making sales to reputable institutions all over the world. And so, the question to be asked is this: how can we scale this to our advantage and make Singapore a world-class art trading hub? A relook of our GST policy is, perhaps, one way to start.

Presently, the Government offers a 250% tax deduction for donations made to Institutions of Public Character, and these include many art charities. The deduction also extends to donations of certain types of artefacts and pieces of public art. This is extremely commendable and it is heartening that the incentive has been extended to 2026.

However, I would ask the Government to consider whether more dynamic incentives could be introduced, potentially those which can have more of a direct impact on working artists and on art consumption. In France, for example, a deduction is offered to taxpayers who purchase pieces of art made by living artists, provided that the artworks remain on display to the public or in places accessible to employees.

In Ireland, artists themselves can enjoy an exemption from income tax on revenue derived from artistic works which are deemed to be original, creative works and which are generally recognised as having cultural or artistic merit.

Tax policies, such as those I have just mentioned, are just a very small selection of the economic tools that we have to stimulate demand in our art market, and I hope that what I have mentioned today gives the House an idea of some of the ways that structural economic incentives can be considered to support our creative industries. I would like to urge the Government to consider these in more detail.

The next aspect of the creative economy that I would like to address, Mr Speaker, is the resilience and fortitude of the people who live and work in that economy.

One aspect of that resilience is the acquisition of a multidisciplinary skillset, one which enables artists to, in the words of the Arts Plan, "cross-pollinate" from within the creative economy to other adjacent industries. Sir James Dyson, for example, is an alumnus of the Royal College of Art in London and an excellent example of how an artistic background can inform pioneering achievements in other fields, such as engineering and design.

This multidisciplinary approach is something that is already being embraced by UAS. The hope here is that by creating more avenues for our arts practitioners to acquire multidisciplinary skillsets, we diversify the economic opportunities and jobs available to these arts practitioners.

This approach is absolutely spot on, but we should be careful to frame this narrative in a responsible way as we move forward. Many arts workers, and I count myself as one of them, we juggle portfolio careers to ensure that creative production is financially sustainable. This means taking on job after job after job, very often with little respite.

The result is often emotional stress, mental burnout and, eventually, attrition. People with talent, passion and potential will leave the industry because they are exhausted and simply cannot afford to be in it any longer.

In a paper released in February 2019, Danish economics Prof Karol Jan Borowiecki analysed census data in the United States, which went back to 1850. The study compared the socioeconomic backgrounds of artists and other creative professionals and found that, for every $10,000 in additional family income, a person would be around 2% more likely to become a creative professional.

So, in other words, the richer you are, the easier it is to sustain an artistic career. This is a situation we must try to avoid at all costs. Our arts producers must come from every sector of society, so that all types of subject matter and walks of life are well-represented.

It, therefore, follows that artists – all artists – must be able to earn a decent living from their practices. And so, how do we get there? Well, that brings me, Mr Speaker, to my last point, which is about education for art consumers.

For the creative economy to thrive, the audience must value the products created by artists. A common refrain that is heard amongst artists is why Singapore consumers will think nothing of spending thousands of dollars on designer handbags but will hesitate when it comes to spending similar amounts on works of local art.

Here, education for consumers is key. I urge the Government to remember that, in addition to schools and institutions, working artists and independent art spaces also have a key role to play in educating the public about why art is necessary and about what good art is.

The latest Arts Plan refers to the conducting of Data Insights Clinics for arts Self-Employed Persons (SEPs) and arts organisations, and this is so that participants would be able to better understand the preferences of different audience segments. While it is important for arts workers to produce works that are actually in-demand and will sell, we must not forget the value of the avant garde and the experimental in the arts.

These kinds of works push boundaries and play an important role in challenging and educating audiences on art and cultural appreciation. The Substation, for example, was and continues to be a safe space for experimental art to develop, although some might say its role is somewhat smaller now.

Independent art spaces, like Comma Space, Supper House, Starch, DECK and I_S_L_A_N_D_S Peninsula – these are just some examples of many, many small arts groups around that do important work. Entities like these do the hard work of developing young talents and more offbeat art offerings.

It is my hope that in our pursuit of a vibrant and sustainable creative economy, we do not forget to support – financially, if necessary – creatively rich spaces like these which sit outside of the mainstream. A vibrant creative economy is one that is not just lucrative for its workers but also one which retains its diversity, its heart and its soul.

To conclude, I would like to return to Mr Tang Da Wu's somewhat biting exhortation for Singaporeans to not give money to the arts. I hope I have been able to make a case today for us to not only give money to the arts, but to work towards developing a viable and sustainable ecosystem for artists and creative producers to flourish and thrive.

Mr Speaker: Minister of State Low Yen Ling.

7.59 pm

The Minister of State for Culture, Community and Youth (Ms Low Yen Ling): Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to thank Ms Usha Chandradas for her invaluable suggestions on building a vibrant and sustainable arts and culture sector, and creative economy.

And indeed, the arts and culture are critical in fostering a more caring people, a cohesive society and a confident nation. The arts connect our communities to foster our identity as a people and as a nation. And it is this conviction in the role and the value of the arts has remained steadfast in the various masterplans that the Government has rolled out since the 1980s.

I shared with Members in this House in October 2020 that these plans have built a foundation for our nation's development and continued growth. We strive to do more as our operating environment and our arts landscape evolve. The recently launched Our SG Arts Plan 2023 to 2027, that Ms Usha Chandradas mentioned earlier, has this in mind as we seek to bring our flourishing arts sector to the next level.

We have made significant shifts in how we support the arts, expanding from traditional forms to a more diverse and inclusive approach that embraces different artistic expressions. So, on that note, I would like to highlight four areas. Ms Usha Chandradas highlighted four suggestions. I would like to highlight four areas that chart the progress of these efforts that I talked about earlier.

Firstly, on capability development – she touched about that earlier – we are building a dynamic and talented arts workforce to support a strong and vibrant arts sector. As nearly one-third of the arts workforce is self-employed, we have ramped up our support to enhance career pathways and progression of self-employed persons (SEPs). With structured assistance, SEPs can better navigate their career path and acquire resilience, work experience and skills.

Just as supporting capability development in artistic excellence is always a priority, supporting the holistic growth of our arts practitioners is also critical. Four years ago, in 2019, we launched the Arts Resource Hub (ARH) after very extensive consultations with our arts and culture practitioners. The ARH aims to help independent arts practitioners unlock new opportunities that Ms Usha Chandradas cited and access resources like wellness and welfare. We have also provided our arts SEPs with resources, such as talks on copyright, financial literacy, information on personal branding and well-being, as well as access to co-working spaces for sustainability practices.

More than 2,800 arts SEPs have already subscribed to ARH to benefit from its spaces and programmes. We will continue to review ARH to ensure that it serves the evolving needs of the arts SEPs. In fact, this follows from my engagement session in February this year with a group of SEPs from the arts sector to discuss how we can better support them and how we can work together to co-curate solutions together. Sir, I want to assure Ms Usha Chandradas that ongoing feedback from the wider arts community, including those raised by Ms Chandradas, will certainly help us to finetune the ARH to further enhance the capabilities of our arts practitioners.

Most recently, in September 2023, the NAC and SkillsFuture Singapore developed the Skills Framework for the Arts. This identifies the occupations, job roles, training programmes, as well as existing and emerging skills that are required in arts education as well as technical theatre and production sectors.

Looking ahead, I want to assure Ms Chandradas that the Government will certainly continue to support arts SEPs, strengthening their continuous education and training while providing different pathways for skills development and acquisition. Because by fostering a culture of lifelong learning and providing avenues for skills enhancement, we seek to empower our arts professionals to navigate their career landscape successfully.

Second, we are continuing to expand our arts infrastructure beyond presentation purposes, diversifying the spaces for artists and creatives to incubate, to experiment and to collaborate.

Twenty years after we opened Esplanade Theatres on the Bay, we continue adding to Singapore's portfolio of first-rate performance and presentation spaces. In fact, just last year, we inaugurated the Singtel Waterfront Theatre, a state-of-the-art venue with the grandeur and the technical capabilities to showcase our artists' talents on an international scale. We also added the Singapore Art Museum (SAM) at Tanjong Pagar Distripark (TPD) to the growing pool of arts spaces. This former industrial warehouse has really become a unique location for art showcases. Because of the voluminous gallery spaces accorded at TPD for the Singapore Biennale 2022, SAM was able to commission Singaporean artist Ong Kian Peng to develop an immersive audio-visual piece titled "The Viscous Sea", where viewers could experience the impact of climate change as they walk around the large-scale installation. I think this is really quite precious in Singapore.

Today, under the Urban Redevelopment Authority's (URA) Community/Sports Facilities Scheme, we have seven co-located arts groups in commercial spaces. NAC also has a mix of small- and medium-sized venues for both creation and presentation purposes. We also look forward to the development of Kampong Java and, Ms Chandradas mentioned earlier, 45 Armenian Street, two work-in-progress spaces identified for artistic incubation, multidisciplinary experimentation and interdisciplinary collaboration. These new spaces are really part of our ongoing efforts to provide artists and audiences with various facilities and exciting opportunities to engage with the arts. They complement and enhance our arts scene, providing vibrant avenues and adding attractive aesthetics to our city.

Third, Ms Chandradas talked about funding. I must also talk about that. To boost the development of our creative economy, we have injected strategic funds and rolled out targeted initiatives to support the growth of our arts and culture sector. Ms Chandradas will remember the Arts and Culture Strategic Review in 2013, the CMF in 2014. In fact, its $150 million top-up just last year, as well as the Arts and Culture Resilience Package in 2020, have all been instrumental in fortifying our arts and culture sector.

I want to assure Ms Chandradas and the House that MCCY and NAC will not let up our efforts in supporting the development of our arts practitioners and organisations. From 2019 to 2023, NAC supported the sector with nearly $100 million in various grant support. Looking ahead, we will find opportunities to support areas that reap synergies across the cultural as well as the creative sectors, strengthening the value proposition for the arts within the broader creative economy.

Beyond the Government grants, private sector giving and participation are, indeed, vital for a vibrant arts and culture landscape. We will continue to foster a breadth of private sector arts partnerships to nurture a culture of giving to the arts. In 2021, we introduced the stART fund to catalyse support for developing organisational capabilities and programmes in smaller arts organisations. Since then, more than $1 million from the private sector has been disbursed to 31 arts organisations. Because of these generous contributions, we can support efforts such as Superhero Me's "One-on-One Mentorship to Market" programme. This is a programme that really tugs at the heartstring of a lot of people, because this fosters inclusion through the arts by partnering children with special needs with other children.

The stART fund alleviated the concerns of Superhero Me organisers regarding startup costs, allowing them to quickly focus on enabling children with special needs to participate in artmaking and showcasing their works at the 2022 Singapore Writers Festival.

Last but not least, Ms Chandradas has highlighted that our creative economy needs audiences to thrive. So, it is really about audience development.

Since the pandemic, new dynamics have emerged to reshape the relationship between artists and their audiences, for example, the change in consumption patterns from in-person attendance to hybrid platforms. To address this evolving landscape, it is crucial to understand the changes in audience preferences to regain audiences and to grow paying audiences. In this regard, we agree with Ms Chandradas' observation that there is a need to educate and, in fact, cultivate our audience.

To that end, we recently launched the beta version of Catch.sg. I hope Ms Chandradas has checked it out. This is a one-stop digital platform aggregating arts and culture content in Singapore. It aims to drive audience attendance and enhance the accessibility of Singapore's arts and culture. This initiative is led by NAC, with the support of the National Heritage Board, the Arts House Limited, National Gallery Singapore and Esplanade.

More than 700 events from the arts community since September have enjoyed a boost in marketing since its launch and we are working to increase its local as well as international reach in the coming months through strategic partnerships. For example, Members of the House can look forward to catching up on our arts news when you take the SMRT trains or when you catch a Singapore Airlines flight. It is on them. And we want to thank all our partners for playing a role in broadening the reach of the arts in and beyond Singapore.

Mr Speaker: Minister of State, you have got about 30 seconds left.

Ms Low Yen Ling: So, Mr Speaker, Sir, we are standing on a solid foundation to develop our creative economy to greater heights. Since I have 30 seconds left, I have to pick and choose.

Our arts and culture landscape has really come a long way. We will continue to strive and make strides to develop our arts workforce, create diversified spaces for the arts, provide funding support and grow discerning audiences. Together with my colleagues at MCCY and NAC, we are committed to ensuring that the arts thrive and blossom in Singapore. I want to work with Ms Chandradas and the sector on this.

Through the power of the arts, we can bring our people together. We can inspire creativity and innovation and enrich lives. Together, let us grow a vibrant arts and culture ecosystem to enhance our creative economy, deepen our shared identity and make Singapore a distinctive city and home we love.

Question put, and agreed to.

Resolved, "That Parliament do now adjourn."

Adjourned accordingly at 8.10 pm.