I read about Ms Lynn Wong Yuqing giving up her pursuit of a PhD to preserve Chinese heritage and help revitalise clan associations (Heritage warrior on a mission to protect Chinese traditions, Feb 7).

Ms Wong's courage to pursue her passion instead of a viable business career is commendable.

The Life feature story "Embracing the unknown" (Feb 25) gives a gloomy account of the impact of Covid-19 on emerging arts practitioners.

Many of them face an uncertain future and are anxious about their career prospects.

Many of the people The Straits Times interviewed want more funding and public awareness of the arts as a career.

In the National Arts Council's surveys of arts and creative freelancers in July, September and December last year, more than half of the 1,500 respondents said they were still looking for jobs.

Due to the pandemic, many festivals and cultural events in public places have been cancelled or scaled down.

There is still no clear sign of when the restrictions will be eased.

We need to think of ways to sustain the enthusiasm of the people in the arts fraternity.

We also need to show our level of arts appreciation and our willingness to pay for arts performances.

Some getai singers can make quite a good living as organisers and sponsors are willing to pay for their performances.

The interests of the people who contribute to the preservation and promotion of our culture have to be taken care of.

We have to seek new ways to promote and sponsor our local cultural activities.

Albert Ng Ya Ken