Busking Journey Enhanced for Aspiring and Experienced Buskers

From April 2024, aspiring and experienced buskers can look forward to enjoying an enhanced busking journey in Singapore. In consultation with the Busking Consultative Committee (BCC), buskers and industry members, the National Arts Council (NAC) will be introducing a series of enhancements to support busking. These include:

Extending the validity of the busking Letter of Endorsement (LOE) from 1-year to 2-years for experienced buskers with at least two years of experience on the busking scheme. Buskers will also be able to renew their LOEs online for an additional two years.  

Refining the balloting system to include a wider range of locations that have high booking rates based on past data, to enable greater access for all buskers.

A new time-sharing function will also be launched on the Busking E-Service Portal to support and encourage a more collaborative busking culture.

Ms Aruna Johnson, Director, Arts Ecosystem Group (Access & Community Engagement) at NAC said: “The series of enhancements stem from the collective effort of the busking community. The feedback received during our extensive discussions with the Busking Consultative Committee as well as engagements with buskers and key stakeholders have been invaluable in co-creating an enhanced busking experience for all. We hope to make every busker’s journey smoother and more pleasant, as the increased ease and flexibility in the scheme allows buskers to focus on honing their craft and to continue bringing creative acts to audiences island wide.”

Increasing ease and flexibility for all buskers

Buskers enliven our cityscape, bringing a variety of acts closer to audiences on the street, from music and dance to typewritten poetry, circus acts and puppetry.

NAC has made continuous efforts to improve the busking scheme based on feedback. These include increasing access to more designated busking locations and the launching the Busking E-Service Portal in March 2022.

Currently, with a 1-year LOE validity, all buskers will need to return to audition every year to renew their LOEs and continue on the scheme. The validity of LOEs will be extended to a period of two years for experienced buskers with at least two years of experience on the busking scheme[1]. To further simplify the audition process, they will also be given the option to renew their LOEs for an additional two years via an online form. With these enhancements, experienced buskers will only need to audition once every four years. To ensure the quality of busking acts, aspiring buskers who are new to or with less than two years on the scheme[2] will have to attend annual auditions for the first two years, before enjoying the same extended validity period as experienced buskers. Please refer to annex A [PDF, 254.94 KB] ↗ (opens in new tab) for infographics with more details.

Enjoying greater access to popular busking locations

More than 10 new designated busking locations were introduced in December 2023, bringing the total to around 80 locations island wide. Besides increasing the number of locations for buskers to engage new audiences, the balloting system will be refined from April 2024 onwards to include a wider range of locations that have high utilisation rate based on data from the last 12 months. The list of popular locations will also be reviewed annually to ensure optimisation of spaces. Please see Annex B [PDF, 299.86 KB] ↗ (opens in new tab) for details of the locations for balloting.

Sharing of slots to support time-sharing between buskers

From June 2024 onwards, a new time-sharing feature will also be launched on the Busking E-Service Portal, for buskers to have the opportunity to share their slot with a fellow busker or busking group. This will allow each slot to be maximised for example, where buskers can alternate among each other, as they take breaks between each set. As NAC enhances the busking journey for buskers and audiences alike, the time-sharing feature also enables members of the public to experience and appreciate a wider range of acts at each location.

For more information, please visit here .

[1]Experienced buskers are those who have passed two or more auditions in the past four years.

[2]Aspiring buskers are those who have not passed any audition in past four years.

●     Annex A [PDF, 254.94 KB] ↗ (opens in new tab): Infographics

●     Annex B [PDF, 299.86 KB] ↗ (opens in new tab): List of popular locations for balloting (2024)

●     Annex C [PDF, 120.54 KB] ↗ (opens in new tab): Quote sheet