Culture Pass for Events to Encourage Cultural Discovery

Mr Terence Ho Wee San asked the Minister for Culture, Community and Youth whether the Ministry will consider issuing a "culture pass" vis-à-vis a mobile application which offers a credit similar to ActiveSG for students and senior citizens to spend on cultural events and encourage cultural discovery.

Ms Grace Fu Hai Yien: The Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY), National Arts Council (NAC) and National Heritage Board (NHB) recognise that culture adds to Singapore's vibrancy and liveability, helps to connect communities with one another, and roots us as Singaporeans. Our arts and culture play a critical role in fostering caring citizens, a cohesive society, and a confident nation.

Since 2013, all Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents have been given free admission to the ten national museums and heritage institutions. 1 More people have visited our institutions, with visitorship numbers reaching an all-time high of 5.1 million in 2016. 2

Throughout the year, NAC, NHB, the People's Association (PA), and our cultural institutions such as the Esplanade organise free arts and culture events. These include popular events like our annual Singapore Art Week, Singapore Heritage Festival, PAssionArts Festival and Singapore Night Festival. Singaporeans were able to enjoy over 6,000 of such non-ticketed performances in 2016 . 3 We also partner organisations such as the National Library Board and PA to bring quality arts and heritage programmes directly to the neighbourhood libraries, community clubs, and other community spaces.

We thank Mr Ho, and will consider his suggestion of a "culture pass" mobile application as part of our ongoing efforts in our SG Arts and SG Heritage Plans to grow audiences and enhance our outreach efforts by leveraging technology.

Note(s) to Question No(s) 10:

1 This applies to our museums’ permanent exhibitions. For special exhibitions: students and senior citizens enjoy free admission to NHB’s eight museums and heritage institutions; students enter the National Gallery Singapore for free while senior citizens enjoy concessions; and both students and senior citizens enjoy such concessions at the Singapore Art Museum.

2 Data from the Singapore Cultural Statistics (SCS) 2017.

3 Data is from SCS 2017.