More arts & culture programmes in the pipeline

SINGAPORE: The government will be rolling out more arts and culture programmes this year and the next to engage the community on a larger scale.

This is a response to the recommendations submitted by the Arts and Culture Strategic Review Steering Committee early this year, which included the need for more ground—up cultural development, like having the community be more active as audiences and participants.

For a start, the National Heritage Board launched an enhanced Jalan Besar Heritage Trail on Saturday morning.

It was introduced by the Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, Dr Yaacob Ibrahim.

It is part of NHB’s plan to increase community engagement efforts by broadening its heritage spaces in the form of heritage corners, community museums and heritage trails.

The National Arts Council plans to have programmes which engage Singaporeans at different life—stages.

For example, it will have an arts platform for seniors in September to showcase their artistic talents.

The People’s Association aims to involve all 87 constituencies in its PAssionArts Hotspots across Singapore, where community arts and culture activities will take place every month.

The National Library Board is also developing a one—stop portal, called ArtsCultureSG, which will provide consolidated information on arts and culture activities in Singapore, which will be ready by mid—2013.

The government is hoping the suite of programmes will see more people take active ownership of Singapore’s arts and culture development.

This comes as 2011 saw a growth for the Singapore arts and culture scene.

According to the Singapore Cultural Statistics 2012, the number of arts performances have increased by 14 per cent in 2011 compared to 2010.

More people are also attending arts events as ticketed arts attendance rose from 1.38 million in 2010 to 2.14 million last year.

Also at the Jalan Besar Heritage Trail, Dr Yaacob introduced the "Living Arts, Loving Culture" tagline and logo as a new umbrella identity to encompass the programmes being launched.

— CNA/cc