Arts and Heritage

Connecting Singaporeans through arts and heritage

The arts and heritage help to connect Singaporeans, improving our sense of wellness and preserving our unique multi-cultural diversity. In 2023, we launched Our SG Arts Plan (2023 – 2027) and Our SG Heritage Plan 2.0, co-developed with over 17,000 sectoral stakeholders comprising arts practitioners, museum professionals, and community groups. These plans outline our vision to continue expanding access to the arts and heritage to all Singaporeans and foster the development of a vibrant arts and heritage sector.

Expanding access to the arts and heritage

Based on the 2023 Population Survey on the Arts, Singaporeans continued to engage actively in and appreciate the arts and culture. Nearly six in 10 attended arts events in person, while close to seven in 10 watched or listened to arts events via digital or online channels.

However, there remain challenges in encouraging and improving attendance at arts events where barriers include family commitments, lack of companions to attend arts and cultural events with, and unfamiliarity with the artists or ongoing activities.

Partnering various stakeholders, we increased opportunities for more Singaporeans across all walks of life to participate in these activities:

• Arts and heritage programmes for and by people across demographics and abilities were provided through the WeCare Arts Fund and HeritageCares. In Financial Year (FY) 2023:

  • Through the WeCares Arts Fund, more than 2,500 beneficiaries within the social service and health sectors were engaged across 109 programmes, ranging from drumming and movement to visual arts workshops.

  • HeritageCares reached out to over 53,000 individuals, including seniors, children and families in need, as well as persons with disabilities, to participate in programmes at national museums, heritage institutions, and heritage sites.

Feature Story: Refresh and Reconnect! at ‘Reunion’

To foster inter-generational conversations, we launched ‘Reunion’ in 2023, the first purpose-built social space for seniors in museums, in the National Museum of Singapore.

‘Reunion’ offers programmes for seniors to reconnect with the past and share experiences with each other. This includes the Refresh and Reconnect! programme designed for seniors with mild cognitive impairment and dementia. Participants go on guided gallery tours led by the museum’s Care Facilitator volunteers, and engage in artist-led hands-on activities to encourage learning among participants.

As at September 2024, more than 6,000 individuals have participated in programmes at 'Reunion', including senior-friendly workshops and tours, and activities catered to seniors with dementia.

• In 2024, we launched the Performing Arts-Based Learning scheme, as part of the lower secondary Music curriculum. This provides every student with the opportunity to experience a live music performance in a professional arts and cultural venue like The Esplanade or Victoria Concert Hall.

• Arts and Culture Nodes have been set up islandwide for more Singaporeans to enjoy a wider range of arts programmes by emerging and established artists and arts groups. In FY2023, more than 450,000 people attended over 250 activities across 20 locations.

Feature Story: Arts@Singapore Botanic Gardens (SBG): National Arts Council (NAC)-ExxonMobil Concert in the Gardens

In FY2023, the ‘Arts@SBG: NAC-ExxonMobil Concert in the Gardens’ series featured four music groups at the Shaw Foundation Symphony Stage. More than 6,000 attendees enjoyed performances from local acts like Thomson Swing Band & Thomson Big Band, as well as Hear You Later, a community of freelance musicians, teachers, and pro-hobbyists passionate about music-making.

Partnering our communities to preserve Singapore’s cultural heritage

Our cultural heritage is an intrinsic part of our identity and brings us closer together as a nation. Based on the 2022 Heritage Awareness Survey:

• 86% of respondents, compared to 75% in 2018, agreed that a better understanding and appreciation of Singapore’s heritage and culture helped increase their sense of belonging to Singapore.

• 92% agreed on the importance of the appreciation of heritage at the wider community level.

Building on this interest, we continued co-creating heritage projects with local communities to cultivate interest in our shared heritage:

• In January 2024, we partnered with six participating businesses to launch the Street Corner Heritage Galleries: Katong-Joo Chiat. This is the fifth network for Street Corner Heritage Galleries, which showcases the history of heritage trades in the area and reaffirms the commitment of local business owners to safeguard and pass down their traditions to future generations.

• In April 2024, the first Heritage Activation Node, to foster community engagement in celebrating local heritage, was launched in Katong-Joo Chiat. These nodes encourage Singaporeans to co-develop community projects that highlight the unique cultural and historical aspects of their neighbourhoods.

Promoting our arts and heritage internationally

We continued to promote our arts and heritage internationally and strengthened partnerships with our neighbours as part of cultural diplomacy.

• Singapore partnered with our regional neighbours to showcase Southeast Asian culture to the rest of the world. In March 2023, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand jointly submitted the multinational nomination to inscribe “Kebaya: Knowledge, Skills, Traditions and Practices” on the UNESCO Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

• Our national cultural institutions, such as the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO) and Singapore Chinese Orchestra, perform overseas regularly. The SSO will make its Australian debut in February 2025 with stops in Brisbane, Melbourne, and the iconic Sydney Opera House. This tour will commemorate the 60^th anniversary of bilateral relations between Singapore and Australia in 2025.

In 2023, our signature cultural events – Singapore Art Week, Singapore International Festival of the Arts, Singapore Writers Festival, Singapore Night Festival, and Singapore Heritage Festival – collectively attracted over 3.9 million visitors, an increase from 2.9 million visitors in 2022.

Feature Story: Singapore’s participation in the 60th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia

In 2024, we marked Singapore’s 11^th participation at the Venice Biennale Arte, which allowed us to showcase the best of our visual arts to the world and connect our artists to the international arts scene.

This year, the Singapore Pavilion featured Seeing Forest, an exhibition by Singaporean artist Robert Zhao Renhui in collaboration with curator Haeju Kim. In addition, eight works from the National Gallery Singapore’s collections were featured in the Biennale’s Main Exhibition for the first time.

Supporting the arts sector

The arts sector is a source of livelihoods for many Singaporeans. It is part of the larger creative sector, which includes design and media. Due to the nature of work and business structures in the Arts, Design and Media (ADM) sector, there is a higher proportion of freelancers and Self-Employed Persons (SEPs) compared to other sectors.

• Over the last 10 years, Autonomous Universities’ (AU) ADM graduates have seen stable employment outcomes and wage increases. Between 2014 and 2023, the average employment rate for AU ADM graduates was around 88% and the starting salary increased by about 3.4% every year.

• However, the Joint Autonomous Universities Graduate Employment Survey 2023 [PDF, 249 KB] reported that the gross monthly median salary of AU ADM graduates was $3,740 in 2023, lower than other sectors.

To enhance industry exposure and internship opportunities for our students, we continued to work with universities and industry partners to provide graduates with a good education, and relevant, in-demand skill sets, such as facilitating partnerships between universities and companies.

The Government also continued to support freelancers and SEPs in the arts, who account for one in three arts workers.

• The median nominal gross monthly income for full-time employed residents in the arts sector increased by 26.5% between 2018 and 2023.

• To support SEPs in developing critical skills and career progression, we designed enhanced development pathways to meet the training needs of arts SEPs while accommodating the nature of their work. This led to the launch of new initiatives such as the Skills Framework for Arts in September 2023.

Realising our shared vision for the arts and heritage

Our unique arts and heritage allow us to unite people from diverse backgrounds and connect through our shared Singaporean identity. As we continue to develop this vision together, we encourage all Singaporeans to engage with our arts and heritage, so we can strengthen the social fabric that connects us all.