When the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) was first formed after a reorganisation of the ministries some five years ago, several members of the arts and sports communities expressed concerns that they could get less attention.

But both communities have continued to garner support and scale new heights, giving Singaporeans ample opportunities to celebrate their achievements, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Grace Fu said in reviewing her ministry’s work last year, which also marked MCCY’s fifth anniversary.

MCCY was formed in 2012 to take over the former roles of the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports’ (MCYS) in strengthening community bonds, promoting volunteerism and philanthropy, engaging youth and developing sports.

It was also given responsibility for the arts, heritage and national resilience - roles which were under the purview of the then Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts.

At that time, the arts and sports communities raised concerns about being sidelined, as the words “arts” and “sports” were dropped from the new ministry’s name. Some were also worried about how the arts and sports could be potentially reduced to tools for building social cohesion.

Ms Fu, who took over the portfolio in October 2015, cited several examples of how both communities have instead gone from strength to strength.

In 2016, for instance, swimmers Joseph Schooling and Yip Pin Xiu set new sporting milestones for Singapore at the Rio Olympics and Paralympics. Schooling, in particular, clinched Singapore’s first-ever Olympic gold medal in the 100m butterfly.

That same year, Singaporean conductor Wong Kah Chun won the prestigious Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition for young conductors.

“It brings tremendous pride when we see one of our own excelling internationally … (it) brings us together as a people to celebrate, give us a cause to celebrate and I think it’s important part to building a narrative of our national heroes,” said Ms Fu.

She added that MCCY will continue to beef up the support for athletes and artistes through direct funding or the matching of funds, via the Cultural Matching Fund (CMF) and the One Team Singapore Fund.

The CMF was launched in Nov 2013 to provide dollar-for-dollar matching grants for private cash donations. Over 80 arts and heritage charities and Institutions of Public Character have benefitted from the fund, which was topped up by S$150 million in last year’s Budget.

The One Team Singapore fund was also launched last year to offer matching grants of up to S$50 million for donations to build up the country’s high performance sports capabilities.

And in a bid to give Singaporeans greater access to the arts and sports, the MCCY had also introduced initiatives like free entry to museums and the ActiveSG movement, Ms Fu said in recapping some of the ministry’s work in the last five years.

During this period, Singapore successfully hosted the 28th SEA Games, and the 8th Asean Para Games. In July 2015, the Singapore Botanic Gardens was conferred the status of a Unesco World Heritage Site.

Meanwhile, more Singaporeans are also appreciating the arts and sports, and continue to feel a strong sense of national pride and identity, noted Ms Fu. For instance, in the population survey on the arts in 2015, 88 per cent agreed that arts and culture gave them a better understanding of people of different backgrounds and cultures, compared to 68 per cent in 2011.

For this year, Ms Fu said MCCY will sustain its existing programmes, and focus on encouraging Singaporeans to take up sports, participate in the arts, as well as to take up volunteerism and help maintain community relations.

“It is important for us to get the involvement of Singaporeans, because this is really a process of building a society and a people,” she added.

More details of the ministry’s plans for this year will be shared during the upcoming Committee of Supply debate in Parliament.

Source:
courtesy of TODAY

by SIAU MING EN

If you have any stories or news that you would like to share with the global online community, please feel free to share it with us by contacting us directly at [email protected]