Arts and Culture Resilience Package disbursement

Response to parliamentary question on the disbursement of the Arts and Culture Resilience Package to the arts sector since its announcement in March 2020

Question

Ms Carrie Tan: To ask the Minister for Culture, Community and Youth (a) how much of the $55 million announced in March 2020 has been disbursed to the arts sector; (b) through which policies have they been disbursed; and (c) what is the plan and timeline to disburse the rest of the monies.

Response

Mr Edwin Tong, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth & Second Minister for Law:

1. The $55 million Arts and Culture Resilience Package (ACRP) seeks to safeguard livelihoods, retain important capabilities and talent in the arts and culture ecosystem, and help position the sector for the post-COVID recovery. This has been done through several grant schemes and other initiatives, which to date have generated over 10,000 work and training opportunities (of which almost 4,000 were for freelancers), and supported close to 1,200 digitalisation projects and programmes by local artists and organisations. The grants and initiatives include the:
   
   a) ACRP Operating Grant to support arts and culture organisations, and those in closely-related sectors, which hold key capabilities in our ecosystem. This Grant is expected to benefit over 300 organisations, and we hope recipient organisations will provide work opportunities for their freelancers.
   
   b) Capability Development Scheme for the Arts (CDSA) for arts and culture organisations and practitioners to upskill and prepare for a post-COVID-19 recovery.
   
   c) Digitalisation Fund (DF) to support arts and culture groups and practitioners, cultural institutions, and cultural festival organisers to go digital with their arts and culture content, through the following three components:
   
   i. Digital Presentation Grant for the Arts (DPG) to support ground-up efforts by artists and arts groups to present their work in digital form.
   
   ii. Commissioned work and partnerships to support larger-scale digitalisation of key festivals and events.
   
   iii. Digitalisation of our museum exhibitions and collections so that Singaporeans and international visitors alike can experience and learn about our heritage without leaving their homes.
   
   d) Rental waivers for eligible tenants on government-owned properties of up to four months to help arts and culture organisations and practitioners defray costs.
   
   e) Venue hire subsidy of currently 80%, at eligible venues for activities permitted to resume in Phase 2 to help arts and culture organisations and practitioners manage overheads.