Category: In the News

Singapore’s community of new citizens and immigrants and various organisations have quickly and generously stepped forward to support programmes for vulnerable children and youth during this Covid-19 Circuit Breaker period.

Within the first two weeks of Circuit Breaker, organisations such as the Jiangsu Association and Sea Ltd have made donations to support the recent #Engage initiative by TRCL which seeks to keep vulnerable students engaged through online arts and lifestyle programmes.

Set up in 2016 by new immigrants from China’s Jiangsu province, the Jiangsu Association (Singapore)’s key focuses include that of contributing back to Singapore society, in addition to fostering closer ties between Jiangsu and Singapore through cultural, business and education exchange programmes.

“The Covid-19 virus has caused unprecedented difficulty and disruption to Singaporeans’ lives. Being part of the Singaporean community, the Jiangsu Association (Singapore) executive committee and association members have similarly been affected. Yet as an association of first-generation immigrants, the Jiangsu Association (Singapore) wishes to play an active role in supporting our new home. In a recent exchange I had with Minister of Education, Mr Ong Ye Kung, the need to aid vulnerable children and youth whose education has been adversely affected by the Covid-19 situation was raised. As giving back to society is one of our association’s four founding objects – we are hence delighted to have the opportunity to support The RICE Company Ltd’s #Engage initiative, and aid underprivileged children and youth with their meals, study materials, art subjects, and so on during these difficult times.”

– President of Jiangsu Association (Singapore), Dr Zhou Zhao Cheng

More than 500 children and youths will receive arts training online starting from today through a new initiative #Engage by not-for-profit arts and culture organisation TRCL.

The initiative aims towards engaging Singapore’s vulnerable children and youth engaged through arts, culture, and lifestyle online educational activities during this period of the COVID-19 circuit breaker.

“Since the outbreak of COVID-19 and especially during this period of the Circuit Breaker, we have been reading how through various online platforms the arts have become a central part of our life in lifting our spirits and in keeping ourselves occupied. We have also read how many people have found time to pick up an instrument or learn to dance or draw through online lessons. In this, as an arts organisation that seeks to build a sustainable arts ecosystem to benefit under-served children and youths in our community, we feel it is important to have an initiative that engages our children and youths through creative and meaningful ways at home and to do our part.”

– Ms Aminah Hussien, Head of Arts & Community of TRCL

The 500 children and youths are beneficiaries of The Business Times Budding Artists Fund (BT BAF) which is managed by TRCL. The Fund provides arts training – through two arts enrichment centres, The Little Arts Academy and 10 Square Youth – without cost to talented or artistically inclined children and youth from economically and socially disadvantaged families.

A total of 12 online arts training programmes from visual arts, drama, dance to tech+art will be rolled out. These online programmes will also be made available to the public through both institutions’ YouTube channels.

“These lessons allow our beneficiaries to continue their curriculum training uninterrupted since they cannot be at the training centres physically. Of equal significance is that we will also be making these lessons available to anyone from the public who wish to follow the classes. By bringing these arts training lessons online, we can at once continue supporting our students from vulnerable backgrounds as well as also reach out to those who may be in need of such engagement activities during this stay home period. #Engage also allows the livelihoods of our trainers, many who have been with us for more than 10 years, to carry on without disruption during this period.”

– Ms Aminah Hussien, Head of Arts & Community of TRCL

Christmas at the Fort, a four-day event from December 19 to 22, will feature well-known Singaporean musicians Charlie Lim, Joanna Dong, Olivia Ong and Haneri as well as performances by local bands and music community groups such as the Auburn Daze, Ireson Latin Band and Bishan North Horn Club.

This festival, held in support of the Singapore Bicentennial, isorganisedby Wesley Methodist Church and co-organised by non-profit arts and culture organisation The RICE Company Ltd.

Reverend Stanley Chua, Wesley Methodist Church’s pastor-in-charge, said: “Wesley Methodist Church is blessed to have Fort Canning Park in our neighbourhood. Church members still have fond memories of our Christmas at the Fort some 23 years ago in 1996. Hence when the opportunity came for us to celebrate Christmas once again at Fort Canning Green, the church leadership decided to take it up as this serves our calling to love and care for others in our community. And we will be commemorating Singapore’s Bicentennial as well”.

“Indeed, one of the great hallmarks of the early Methodists, as encouraged by our founder John Wesley, was their involvement in practical works of kindness, hospitality and generosity to bless the community. This Christmas, we hope to continue this Methodist tradition of being a blessing to our community and beyond”.

Mr Charis Lim, Chairman of the church’s Christmas at The Fort Taskforce, said: “We felt that a music festival that celebrates the spirit of giving and the values of charity and generosity would serve an occasion which all can enjoy and take part in during the year-end festive season. We have sought to create an event which will involve the community as well as feature a line-up of performances that ranges from unique and up-and-coming musicians to well-known acts”.

Christmas at the Fort will also feature an eco-market specially curated for the occasion, a variety of food and beverage stalls, playground activities, a multi-media show designed by Brian Gothong Tan showcasing 200 years of Christmas celebrations in Singapore, and a mass Christmas carol sing-along each evening.

Adds Mr Lim: “Together with our co-organiser TRCL, we plan to host up to 3,000 of our beneficiaries during the four-day festival. We see this as a wonderful opportunity for them to enjoy good music and festivities together in an event to promote the spirit of giving and sharing.”

The festival will also celebrate the spirit of philanthropy seen in Singapore over the past 200

years with the Spirit of Giving trail on the Locomole app, a self-guided experiential walking trail app.

The trail app will guide users to discover stories behind more than 20 historical sites and charitable personalities around the Fort Canning precinct. These people and places had played a significant role in helping the less fortunate and improving the quality of life for people in general.Among the notable philanthropists are Karel Willem Benjamin Van Kleef of namesake Van Kleef Aquarium that once stood at the foot of Fort Canning and Loke Wan Tho, the founder of The Cathay Organisation.

An initiative of co-organiser TRCL in partnership with LDR Technology, a Singapore based mobile technology company, the Spirit of Giving trail is downloadable for free on the LocoMole app from now till January 5, 2020.

Said Mr Colin Goh, the chief executive officer of The RICE Company Ltd (TRCL): “The vicinity surrounding Fort Canning Hill is one that is rich in history. While many of us may be familiar with the various institutions in the area and their contributions to the political and economic development in pre-independent Singapore, we may not be aware that their contributions have been philanthropic in intent and spirit. So this trail aims to create more awareness of the importance of the spirit of giving during this festive season.”

People can begin the trail leading up to Fort Canning starting from four MRT stations close to Fort Canning Park. They are Dhoby Ghaut, Bras Basah, City Hall and Fort Canning stations. Along the trail, there are stories and activities in the app where users can collect and interact with 3D augmented reality christmas icons.

Christmas at the Fort is expected to welcome more than 15,000 visitors over the four days. Visitors are encouraged to take public transportation to reach Fort Canning as parking lots are limited in the vicinity.

SINGAPORE, NOVEMBER 8, 2019 – 20 year-old Hadi currently interns for a not-for-profit arts organisation during his school holidays. In his spare time, he hangs around with a circle of friends who shares his interests in the arts, to produce and stage productions for children and youths. He achieved a grade of 3.0 in school and plans to pursue a career as a stage manager upon his completion of Higher Nitec in Performing Production at ITE Central.

This profile of Hadi encapsulates the results of an independent study conducted by Kantar Singapore which was commissioned by The Business Times Budding Artists Fund (BT BAF) to evaluate the impact of its children and youth arts training programmes. BT BAF was launched in 2004, and provides children and youths from underprivileged backgrounds with equal opportunities to access the arts. The Fund set up The Little Arts Academy (LAA) and 10 Square Youth in 2008 and 2014 respectively with dedicated arts centres to train its beneficiaries.

Says Ms Aminah Hussien, Head, Arts & Community Development of The RICE Company Limited (TRCL), a charity with IPC status that manages BT BAF, LAA and 10 Square Youth, “We strongly believe that an inclusivity of the arts is important for our young generation to grow and flourish. Fifteen years on, this study by Kantar is a strong testament of our belief that an avid engagement with the arts coupled with a positive and supportive learning environment cultivates creative skills and more notably, benefits a child in terms of building his or her socio- emotional developments and aspirations.”

Kantar Key Findings

A qualitative and quantitative study was conducted by Kantar in early March 2019. 27 students, alumni and parents were selected to participate in creative focus group discussions, while 100 students, 99 parents, and 34 alumni participated in the quantitative surveys.

Key findings are broadly in two areas:

• Equal Opportunity To The Arts and Discovery of Passion

The Kantar study gave insight into the importance of young people training and performing at similar facilities and platforms as their peers. Indeed, BT BAF alumni and parents of current beneficiaries affirmed that BT BAF provided the children and youths with access to the arts, which was appreciated in the focus groups that this is something which they otherwise could not afford. More than two-thirds of respondents said that the structure of the programme enabled the beneficiaries to be exposed to various art forms, and one in five (21%) alumni researched in the study said that the best thing was that the arts then became part of their life.

• Socio-Emotional Development and Raised Aspiration

The Kantar research found that the beneficiaries felt that there were improvements in their emotional regulation and expression of their emotions following their participation with the programme in addition to higher levels of confidence, self-discipline and social interaction. Further, one in ten reported that the best thing was the ‘sense of community’, thus their attitude towards school and outlook in life also improved significantly.

Says Sandra Lim, Managing Director, Public Division, “The research shows that the arts gave participants focus, motivation and meaning in life, through finding joy and having the opportunity to learn new things. It also revealed that the programme helped cultivate a range of life skills. This is evident through the Alumni whom we have interviewed, as they expressed desire and actively participate in giving back to the next generation of beneficiaries through sharing their stories and teaching in the programme”

Says Mr Alvin Tay, deputy chairman of TRCL and advisor to BT BAF, “The research affirms that BT BAF programmes have impacted and uplifted the lives of our children and youths. It validates our belief that no child, with the potential or interest in the arts, should be denied this opportunity to pursue the arts due to a lack of financial resources. A big ‘thank you’ to the team at LAA and 10 Square Youth, our trainers as well as our donors who have been staunch supporters all these years.”

The research findings were made public in conjunction with LAA’s 11th anniversary celebrations, which saw the reprisal of an original production Chutki, staged in 2013 that was written by a former student. The story was adapted from Paro Anand’s children novel Wingless, in which the protagonist, angel princess Chutki finds friendship and love in her journey to gain acceptance for being different.

Chutki was staged on 7 & 8 November at 10 Square @ Orchard Central (Auditorium) and graced by Guest-of-Honour Mr Kenneth Kwok, National Arts Council, Assistant Chief Executive (Planning & Development).