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Parliamentary Matters

NAC's support goes beyond grants for projects

Sectors

Arts & Heritage

13 July 2015

Response to parliamentary question on NAC grants

Question

Ms Kuik Shiao-Yin: To ask the Minister for Culture, Community and Youth (a) how the National Arts Council (NAC) mitigates the costs placed on NAC grant recipients who have already spent grant monies carrying out their approved projects and who subsequently have their grant support retracted; (b) whether such grant recipients should be discharged from any requirements to return granted funds that have already been approved; and (c) what measures does the NAC take to ensure that the grant consideration and approval process is kept non-partisan and objective.

Response

  1. Minister Lawrence Wong: As a public agency disbursing public funds, NAC is guided by Government policies that safeguard national interests. Its funding guidelines are made public on the NAC’s website and are made clear in the grant funding agreement signed between NAC and grant recipients.

  2. NAC reserves the right to withdraw the grant if the project does not fulfil the funding agreement or contravenes the funding guidelines. Withdrawing grants rarely happens as most parties abide by the agreements they have made. However, if there is a breach of the funding agreement, as a public institution, NAC has the responsibility to recover any public monies that have been disbursed.

  3. Beyond grants for specific projects, NAC’s support includes arts housing, professional development, market and audience development as well as philanthropy for the arts. Hence, while NAC may have withdrawn a grant for a specific project, the artist or arts group may still receive NAC’s support in other areas. This can cushion the impact of the grant withdrawal on the artist or arts group.

  4. To ensure impartiality, NAC’s grant assessments are made in consultation with views from external assessors such as industry advisors, experts and practitioners, and based on published grant evaluation criteria such as artistic merit, extent of public engagement as well as the capacity and commitment of the applicant to execute the project successfully.

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