Outcome of National Arts Council's Sector Transformation Fund vis-a-vis Its Intended Goals
Ministry of Culture, Community and YouthSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns Ms Usha Chandradas’ inquiry into the outcomes and effectiveness of the National Arts Council’s Sector Transformation Fund (STF) in achieving its goals. Minister Edwin Tong Chun Fai responded that the STF, introduced in 2022, supports arts companies in developing financial resilience, operational efficiency, and innovative revenue streams. Since its inception, the fund has assisted nearly 40 companies with business consultancy and transformation projects, such as digitising archives for Sri Warisan and creating merchandise for TrendLit. These efforts allow participating organisations to identify market gaps and invest in technological solutions that enhance their business models and reach new audiences. Minister Edwin Tong Chun Fai further highlighted that sectoral transformation is also supported by additional initiatives such as the Arts x Tech Lab and the Acceleration Programme for the Arts.
Transcript
32 Ms Usha Chandradas asked the Minister for Culture, Community and Youth (a) what has been the outcome of the National Arts Council's Sector Transformation Fund; and (b) whether it has achieved its intended goals.
Mr Edwin Tong Chun Fai: The Sector Transformation Fund (STF) was introduced in 2022 with the objective of supporting arts companies in their transformation efforts. This includes developing financial and operational resilience as well as exploring areas for innovation and growth.
Under the scheme, companies can receive funding to pursue the following outcomes, at both organisational and sectoral levels: (a) generate market demand by creating new and/or innovative arts experiences; (b) improve operational efficiency; or (c) develop diverse revenue streams.
The STF funding has enabled participating arts companies to identify market gaps, invest in technological solutions to improve their operations and create new markets for their products. Since 2022, STF has supported close to 40 companies for business consultancy or the implementation of transformation projects, or both.
For example, performing arts company Sri Warisan tapped on STF to digitise and host past productions on a centralised Cloud storage platform. This transformed their business operations by streamlining the sharing of files for teaching staff and external partners, including for programmes like the Light to Night Festival. Book publisher TrendLit used the STF funding to work with 10 artists to produce merchandise containing literary elements. This enabled the company to diversify its offerings and collaborate with retail and design companies that were previously not involved in the literary arts scene.
The National Arts Council also supports arts companies' transformation efforts through other sector-wide programmes. Such programmes include, the Arts x Tech Lab, which supports arts practitioners to create innovative arts experiences; as well as the Acceleration Programme for the Arts, which helps to build artists' business and financial competencies.