NATIONAL ARTS COUNCIL

Dr Ong Seh Hong asked the Acting Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts if he will give a breakdown of the grants given out by the National Arts Council by (i) type of Arts Groups, (ii) number of applications for grants for the years 2000 and 2001 and (iii) number rejected.

Mr David T E Lim: The breakdown of grants given out by NAC by art forms1 and by ethnic group is as follows: Art Forms FY2000 FY2001 Theatre $3.03m 40% $3.15m 38% Dance $1.41m 19% $1.63m 19% Music $1.52m 20% $1.49m 18% Visual Arts $0.94m 13% $1.09m 13% Literature $0.35m 5% $0.33m 4% Multi-Disciplinary / $0.24m 3% $0.66m 8% Others Total $7.49m 100% $8.34m 100% Language/ Ethnic Category2 FY2000 FY2001 Chinese $1.93m 30.2% $1.79m 26.0% Malay $0.17m 2.7% $0.27m 3.9% Indian $0.23m 3.6% $0.19m 2.8% English Language/ $4.05m 63.5% $4.63m 67.3% Contemporary3 Total $6.38m 100% $6.88m 100%

1 These grants from NAC do not include funding provided to the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and the Singapore Chinese Orchestra by the Government and/or the Tote Board. The NAC does not provide grants to these two orchestras.

2 Figures in this table refer to activities and not for training as it is not meaningful to distinguish the types of training according to ethnic categories.

3 This category includes groups that practice in English and contemporary visual artists.

Grants applications are assessed on the following criteria:

(i) artistic merit of proposal;

(ii) impact of audience reach;

(iii) commitment in sustaining and advancing the arts form;

(iv) artistic track record of the applicant; and,

(v) demonstration of good planning, sound budgeting and effective use of

resources.

NAC's grants are given only to non-profit Singaporean art groups. They are not given to commercial companies presenting productions such as Miss Saigon, Cirque du Soleil and The Phantom of the Opera. Funding for English language/ contemporary groups is the highest amongst the language/ethnic categories because English Language theatre companies are amongst the most developed and established arts companies and have benefited from the NAC's 2-year grant scheme, which aims to develop and groom local flagship arts companies.

The total number of applications and unsuccessful ones, based on the criteria, are as follows: FY2000 FY2001 Number of grant 879 971 applications received Number rejected 201 (23%) 218 (22%)