Lifestyle
The annual Singapore Cultural Statistics Report revealed around 9.2 million people attended non-ticketed arts and culture events last year – the highest on record since 2012.
The Light To Night Festival, formerly the Civic District Outdoor Festival, will be held across the different cultural institutions in the area. (Photo: National Gallery Singapore)
SINGAPORE: The SG50 celebrations of 2015 may have led to a surge in support for arts and culture activities that year – but 2016 has turned out to be even better, with attendance figures to museums, heritage institutions, and arts and culture activities reaching record highs.
According to the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth, which released the latest Singapore Cultural Statistics report on Thursday (Dec 7), 5.1 million visitors flocked to the various museums and heritage institutions. This was up from almost four million in 2015.
Meanwhile, over 9.2 million people attended non-ticketed performing arts events last year, the highest on record since 2012. This was due to the increase in the number of events to an all-time high of close to 6,000 from 5,000 in 2015.
The report’s key highlights were mentioned by Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Grace Fu in her opening address at the Culture Academy Singapore’s annual conference held at the National Museum of Singapore.
The one-day event featured local and international culture industry experts, and centred on the theme of “Reviving and Revitalising Cities and Spaces through Arts and Culture”.
Citing the cultural statistics report, she said: “These positive trends suggest we are on the right track in developing a more vibrant arts and culture scene.”
Minister Fu added: “We can do more in revitalising our city and spaces through place-making. We must continue to engage our stakeholders and to do so more deeply, to build on our existing efforts. We need sustained engagement and purposeful programming to effectively make a place.”
According to the report, there was a slight drop in attendance for ticketed arts events, from 1.9 million in 2015 to 1.8 million.
There was also a drop in philanthropic contributions to arts and culture from S$152.6m in 2015, which was a result of the SG50 buzz, to S$74.3m last year. Government funding also dropped from the SG50 highs of S$936.7m to S$712.7m
