THE Singapore Season showcase of home-grown arts planned for New York next year has been postponed due to the global economic crisis.

Some arts groups here that were in plenary talks for the event, scheduled for late next year, were told about it recently.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (Mica) confirmed this when asked.

She told Life!: 'Mica has decided to postpone plans for the 2009 Singapore Season in New York as the current economic climate is not conducive for staging an impactful programme.'

In a statement, the spokesman said that a successful Singapore Season was possible only with strong private-sector support, which usually comes from Singapore companies or multinational corporations operating here that have business interests in the host city.

'Under the current economic climate, we cannot expect to achieve the necessary level of private-sector sponsorship,' she said.

Read the full story in Wednesday's edition of The Straits Times' Life!