Non-profit launches $10m accelerator programme for early-career S’pore artists with $2,000 stipend

SINGAPORE – Six early-career visual artists from Singapore will receive a monthly stipend of up to $2,000 for a year and professional support for five years under the new Singapore-based non-profit Artery’s Artist Accelerator Programme, which launched on July 9.

The $10 million fund from Artery’s board, spread across 10 years, will fund the first-of-its-kind initiative in Singapore offering formalised support for early-career artists.

Artery chief executive Belinda Ang told The Straits Times that the programme will plug a “missing middle” in the arts funding ecosystem that has seen promising early-career artists drop out before receiving longer-term institutional support.

“We’re borrowing concepts from the tech accelerator world, but adapting them to fit the realities of the arts ecosystem,” says Ang, who has two decades of experience as an entrepreneur.

The independent outfit is billing itself as a “Y combinator for artists”, referring to the prestigious San Francisco-based start-up accelerator which launched wildly successful global companies such as Airbnb and Reddit.

Artery’s three-member board comprises Dymon Asia Capital founding partner Danny Yong, former National Gallery Singapore chairman Hsieh Fu Hua and DP Architects executive chairman Angelene Chan.

Ang is supported by head of curation Joyce Toh, formerly Singapore Art Museum’s senior curator.

The inaugural batch of six recipients are recent Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts graduate Alya Rahmat, 24; Siew Guang Hong, 26, whose first solo exhibition is ongoing at Richard Koh Fine Art; ceramic artist Shayne Phua, 29, represented by Yeo Workshop; Singapore-based Malaysian artist Koh Kai Ting, 30; Joanne Lim, 41, who trained as a lawyer before going into the arts; and self-taught artist Rofizano Zaino, 56, who is pivoting into a full-time arts career.

There will be two cohorts of around six artists onboarded each year.

While Ang knows the stipend will be the most attention-grabbing part of the programme, she places as much emphasis on how the programme will help “co-parent” early-career artists alongside galleries.

Across five years, Artery is also supporting artists through curatorial mentorship, marketing and legal guidance and sponsorship for overseas residencies, as well as $10,000 in credit for artmaking needs after the end of the stipend.

With in-kind arts sponsorship on the rise in recent years, Artery has also been able to secure non-financial sponsorships.

Art logistics firm Lotus Fine Arts, which has bases in Singapore and Hong Kong, has come on board as Artery’s official art handler and storage.

The non-profit also runs a subscription-based corporate patronage scheme and is encouraging commercial and industrial spaces to convert their venues into cultural platforms for art use.

Artery’s monthly stipend comes at a time of hype over Ireland’s Basic Income for the Arts, which gives artists a monthly payment of €1,300 (S$1,920).

In response to a parliamentary question, Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth David Neo pointed out the shortcomings of the scheme, emphasising government support in other areas such as developing skills frameworks and audience development.

The opportunity to join the programme came along when Phua, in need of a stable income, was applying for full-time work in communication design. The artist, whose clay sculptures explore Asian folklore, had to balance her teaching jobs with her art practice.

“If I do have money from art consistently, I wouldn’t go for teaching. It was definitely stopping me from producing art,” she says.

Under the programme, she is able to scale down her five-day teaching week to two and dedicate the next year to creating art for an upcoming solo. She is looking forward to working with Artery to find a bigger studio space, lamenting that most young artists face challenges finding suitably sized studio spaces to work on solos.

Under Artery’s new accelerator, Rofizano will have his first shot at being a full-time artist after three decades of working as a full-time graphic designer and keeping art on the back-burner. The father of two teenagers continues to work out of his home studio, but says the programme has given him the financial and curatorial support needed to take the leap of faith as a self-taught artist.

“Now, I can do art and not feel guilty about it,” he says.

While he had previously seen his painting as a craft, he is now transitioning to thinking like an artist and working with ideas alongside seasoned curators. He is working on a series of figurative paintings that deal with the philosophy of silat.

Yong, who chairs Artery’s board, says: “While public funding builds the foundation, private capital can fill the gaps by providing unrestricted support and grants to complement what is currently provided. As Singapore continues to produce exceptional artistic talent, Artery is focused on playing a part to help these artists attain sustainable careers, and to further grow the art ecosystem in Singapore.”

The National Arts Council administers grants for visual arts for creation, presentation and capability development.

Independently funded by its board and not tied to public grants, Artery’s flexibility allows it to set its own targets and timelines, says Ang.

Besides helping grow corporate giving in Singapore, she says: “By nurturing adequate and enough talents, in time to come, we hope to see Singapore art on the global stage in a more visible manner.”