SINGAPORE - About $3 million has been devoted from the SG50 Celebration Fund to support more than 100 ground-up projects to celebrate the nation's golden jubilee, said Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Lawrence Wong on Sunday.
Another 250 proposals are either being reviewed or being refined. These are among more than 500 project ideas that have been submitted so far. And submissions remain open until August.
"The Celebration Fund is really to support Singaporeans who want to do something special and meaningful as a birthday present to Singapore, and to share with the people around them," said Mr Wong, who heads the SG50 Programme Office.
"I will encourage Singaporeans, with whatever ideas they have, to come forward and think of how they would like to do something special for Singapore this year. If we do that, then we can make SG50 truly something that is inclusive and memorable for every Singaporean."
He was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a percussion concert at the Singapore Botanic Gardens, which is the first ground-up event of the year to be supported by the SG50 Celebration Fund.
Each project can get up to $50,000, depending on its scale and scope, from the fund of at least $5 million.
Most of the projects so far are community-based events across myriad areas, from arts to sports, food to music.
Some are also aimed at helping the less privileged, and at recognising the contributions by pioneers to nation-building.
