Promoting Singapore's cultural assets as part of cultural diplomacy, and providing our talents the exposure to grow and scale new heights

Question

Ms Janice Koh: To ask the Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth what consideration has been given to promoting Singapore's cultural and creative assets as part of cultural diplomacy to extend Singapore's soft power and influence overseas.

Response

Acting Minister Lawrence Wong: MCCY works with MFA and our overseas missions to promote our cultural assets. Such cultural diplomacy will help Singapore broaden our bilateral relations and position Singapore as a vibrant cultural capital. Currently, we have good cultural ties with many countries, and also bilateral agreements to facilitate cultural exchanges. A case in point is the Singapore-France Cultural Agreement. Under this agreement, we will be organising a Singapour Festivarts in Paris next year, which will feature many of Singapore's art and cultural talents.

At the same time, profiling our artistic and creative talents overseas provides them the exposure to grow and scale new heights. Hence the NAC provides grants to enable artists and arts groups to present at international platforms such as arts festivals, fairs and artists residences. Over the past five years, some 850 artists and arts groups have benefited from such support. In addition, the NAC supports Singapore's presence in established platforms such as the London Book Fair and the Venice Biennale.

Our cultural diplomacy efforts also extend to other creative fields like media and design. For example, the Media Development Authority (MDA) provides support for media practitioners and filmmakers to participate in international festivals and trade fairs. The DesignSingapore Council's Overseas Promotion Partnership Programme provides co-funding for participation in prestigious design fairs, enabling our designers to access business opportunities overseas and to establish a global presence. To date, we have supported the participation of more than 300 design companies in over 60 international platforms.

MCCY will continue to work with relevant partners as well as our missions abroad to strengthen our cultural diplomacy efforts.