Publication Type

Book Chapter

Version

acceptedVersion

Publication Date

3-2018

Abstract

The Arts and Culture Strategic Review (ACSR) was initiated in 2010 to chart the next phase of cultural development in Singapore. The final report, which was released in 2012, appears to propose a paradigm shift in focus for arts and cultural policy making in Singapore: from the desire to manage the arts and cultural sectors into profitable creative industries to the utilisation of the arts and culture as expedient tools for social cohesion and community building in Singapore. This shift has resulted in government programmes placing (renewed) importance and emphasis on “community arts” as a cultural activity. This chapter critically examines the early years of this shift towards a socio-cultural focus and its ensuing promotion of “community arts.” Through an analysis of the rationales, formulation and implementation of the ACSR, this chapter will demonstrate how the ACSR is not an illogical discontinuity from previous cultural policies. Rather, the ACSR is a reaffirmation of the government’s deep-rooted desire to harness the arts and culture as ideological tools to socialise the migrant society into a cohesive community. This chapter will also show that the ACSR’s invocation of “community” is a strategic response to the current socio-economic and political realities in Singapore. Finally, this chapter will also highlight some key challenges that the government faces in pursuing a community arts agenda in Singapore.

Keywords

Art management, cultural policy, Singapore

Discipline

Arts and Humanities | Arts Management | Asian Studies | Public Policy

Research Areas

Humanities

Publication

The state and the arts in Singapore: Policies and institutions

Editor

Terence Chong

First Page

447

Last Page

472

ISBN

9789813236905

Identifier

10.1142/9789813236899_0021

Publisher

World Scientific

City or Country

Singapore

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1142/9789813236899_0021

Share

COinS