The Arts Housing Scheme was implemented in 1985 to provide affordable spaces to arts groups and artists. Its main purpose is to give arts groups and artists a home within which they can develop their activities and thereby contribute to an active Singapore arts scene.
Arts Housing Tenants
Arts groups applying for the scheme are selected based on a good track record, managerial strength, artistic standard, level of activity, growth potential, their need for housing, merit of planned activities and commitment to organisational and artistic development.
Under the Scheme, rental charges by the Singapore Land Authority are heavily subsidised by NAC. Utilities and maintenance costs are borne by the tenants.
Arts Housing Properties
There are mainly two types of arts housing properties:
- Single-tenanted building which houses a single arts group
- Multi-tenanted property which houses several arts groups and artists of the same or different art forms
A third type of arts housing involves co-locating an arts group with non-arts tenants in a single complex.
Many properties identified for use under this Scheme are pre-war or old buildings such as disused warehouses and old shophouses. The use of such buildings to house arts groups provides an important impetus for artistic creativity. The arts have also helped revitalise and give added value to new developments in forgotten areas. Through strategic site planning, three arts belts of several arts housing properties have been established at Waterloo Street, Chinatown and Little India. NAC works closely with the Urban Redevelopment Authority to identify suitable buildings for arts use.
To date, over 90 arts organisations and artists (64 arts organisations and 30 artists) are housed in 38 properties comprising of 32 single-tenanted buildings, 4 multi-tenanted arts centres and 2 co-located facilities in Marine Parade (Marine Parade Community Building) and Ghim Moh (Ulu Pandan Community Building).
For information on the various arts belts and housing:
To improve the infrastructural support that NAC provides to the arts community, a review of the Arts Housing Scheme was conducted at the start of 2010 which included extensive consultations with stakeholders from the people, public and private sectors. After a 12-month review period, the Framework for Arts Spaces was developed and introduced at the Goodman Arts Centre, the pilot project under this new scheme. The Framework of Arts Spaces is slated to replace the Arts Housing Scheme as new or existing properties are (re)developed, to better support the developmental needs of a growing and increasingly diverse arts sector.