Recent Closures of Local Arts Spaces and Additional Support to Promote Vibrancy in Arts Scene

31 Mr Foo Cexiang asked the Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth (a) whether the Ministry is concerned about the closure of local arts and cultural spaces such as The Projector in recent years; and (b) whether the Ministry will consider providing additional support to ground-up initiatives to better promote vibrancy of the arts scene.

Mr David Neo: To ensure a vibrant arts scene with diverse cultural spaces, the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth provides support to arts and culture groups through a wide range of initiatives, such as direct grants, arts housing, platforms and spaces, to showcase their work and facilitating partnerships with the wider community and private sector.

Financial support to arts and culture companies include: schemes, such as the National Arts Council's (NAC's) Major Company (MC) Scheme, that offer multi-year funding for professional and artistic development of arts organisations. These grants help preserve cultural spaces, by providing financial stability for arts organisations to pay rent and venue hire costs; NAC's project grants, such as the Presentation and Participation Grant and Market and Audience Development (MAD) Grant that support artists and arts organisations in showcasing their works and reaching audiences locally and internationally; as well as the National Heritage Board's Organisation Transformation Grant that helps heritage businesses adopt transformative projects that contribute to long-term viability.

Our key cultural programmes, such as the Singapore Art Week (SAW), Singapore Festival of the Arts (SIFA) and Singapore Writers' Festival (SWF) provide presentation opportunities for our artists and arts organisations. At SAW earlier this year, a large majority of the events featured were self-organised initiatives, ground-up events that added to the lustre and success of the week-long event.

Besides funding and presentation opportunities, NAC also offers support in terms of spaces. NAC's Framework for Arts Spaces provides affordable arts housing to artists and art groups in addition to facilities-for-hire, which are made available at subsidised rates, such as the Arts Resource Hub. The Government also engages with the wider community to support our local artists and art groups in finding new spaces to create and present their works. NAC, in collaboration with the People's Association and the five Community Development Councils, has launched ArtsEverywhere@CDC initiatives which allows the arts to be accessed and appreciated by all Singaporeans. NAC also partners with the Urban Redevelopment Authority to support the co-location of arts organisations at commercial developments under its Community/Sports Facilities Scheme, through facilitating partnerships between private companies and arts organisations. Examples include the Singapore Ballet at Bugis+, The Artground at One Holland Village and 10 Square by TRCL at Orchard Central.

We recognise that local companies, including our arts and culture groups, face a range of challenges, including changing market conditions and consumer patterns. The Government will continue to provide wide-ranging support to help arts and cultural organisations cope with changes. Beyond this, we also rely on the collective support of Singaporeans and private companies to ensure that local arts and culture companies continue to thrive.