Helping Artistes Build Commercially Sustainable Careers while Safeguarding Artistic Integrity

58 Ms Gho Sze Kee asked the Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth (a) how does the National Arts Council help artistes build commercially sustainable careers while safeguarding artistic integrity, including supporting them to monetise and showcase their work effectively; (b) what platforms exist locally and abroad to expand their reach; and (c) whether there are new schemes planned to boost portfolios, business opportunities and market presence.

Mr David Neo: Under Our SG Arts Plan (2023-2027), the National Arts Council (NAC) takes a multi-pronged approach to support our artists to build sustainable careers and develop artistic excellence.

At a broad-based level, NAC offers grants to artists and arts groups to create and showcase works both locally and internationally. From 2022 to 2024, for example, over 190 artists and arts groups tapped on NAC's Marketing and Audience Development Grant, with many presenting their works at overseas exhibitions, biennales and book fairs.

NAC also supports independent arts practitioners in developing their professional and business competencies through the Arts Resource Hub, which offers mentorship and peer learning. NAC has also partnered SkillsFuture Singapore to establish a Skills Framework for the Arts, which helps practitioners better plan their further development and their careers.

Besides grants and capability development, NAC also directly supports many platforms at which our artists can showcase their work and build a wider audience.

NAC's three festivals, Singapore Art Week, the Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA) and the Singapore Writers Festival, are key platforms for our artists. More than 360 local artists and crew were involved in SIFA 2025, reaching a total of over 77,000 audience members.

NAC has also worked with partners to create platforms to bring local art to everyday spaces across Singapore, such as ArtsEverywhere@CDC, Poems on the MRT and I Play SG Music, where local music is played in spaces, like shopping malls. These programmes have raised the profile of our artists and their works.

In tandem with these local platforms, NAC supports our practitioners to boost their market presence overseas.

For example, since 2023, NAC has commissioned a Singapore stand at the Frankfurt Book Fair, one of the world's largest annual trade fairs for the book publishing industry. In 2024, our delegation of 10 publishers and the Singapore Book Publishers Association conducted over 140 business meetings over the course of the fair.

Through these efforts, we are building an ecosystem where our artists can pursue excellence as well as sustainable careers. It is not something that the Government can achieve alone. It requires a whole-of-society effort. This is why we launched the SG Culture Pass on 1 September, to encourage Singaporeans to do their part in supporting our arts and culture sector.

I encourage Singaporeans to use their SG Culture Pass credits and attend the wide variety of programme offerings available. This will go a long way towards helping our artists build flourishing and sustainable careers.