New NHB scheme to provide more support for heritage businesses with at least 30 years of history
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The SG Heritage Business Scheme will be piloted in areas such as major conservation precincts, including Kampong Glam.
PHOTO: ST FILE
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SINGAPORE – Heritage businesses that have been operating for at least 30 years can soon be supported by a new scheme to drive awareness and boost patronage of shops that have cultural significance.
The SG Heritage Business Scheme by the National Heritage Board (NHB) will be piloted in areas such as major conservation precincts, including Chinatown, Kampong Glam and Little India.
Local businesses in these areas that have been operating for 30 years or more can receive support to sustain themselves in the form of branding, marketing and consultancy services by NHB and other agencies.
Announcing the scheme on March 10, Senior Minister of State for Culture, Community and Youth Low Yen Ling said these are businesses that provide “locally rooted trades, goods and services, and contribute significantly to the identity of a community or place”.
An initial group of about 150 heritage businesses, most of them in the central area, will benefit from this scheme, she added.
She was speaking at her ministry’s budget debate, in response to Mr Henry Kwek (Kebun Baru), who had asked what could be done to safeguard and support heritage businesses.
The initiative will be the first such government scheme to recognise and inspire appreciation for local businesses for their heritage qualities.
It is part of NHB’s Our SG Heritage Plan 2.0 efforts to safeguard Singapore’s cultural identity and heritage.
More details and a call for nominations to the scheme will be announced in the next few weeks.
Other key announcements and updates from the debate on the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth’s (MCCY) budget include:
1. Expanding arts education
The Arts Education Programme (AEP), which provides pre-schoolers with arts-related experiences, will be implemented in all Early Childhood Development Agency-supported pre-schools by 2027. This will cover nearly 1,000 pre-schools and 44,000 children, said Ms Low.
The National Arts Council (NAC) will onboard 80 new anchor operator and 120 partner operator centres into the AEP in 2025.
In 2024, the programme reached more than 34,000 children from more than 500 pre-schools.
The Performing Arts-Based Learning scheme will also be rolled out to all lower secondary cohorts in schools by 2027, to encourage students to deepen their appreciation of live music, local culture and heritage.
In the past three years, NAC has invested more than $5 million in talent development programmes, including scholarships and international residencies, Ms Low said.
An additional $2 million a year will be allocated to arts scholarships, allowing more NAC arts scholarships for undergraduate and postgraduate studies to be awarded, she added.
This funding will also go towards a new NAC Creative Arts Scholarship for pre-tertiary and diploma studies offered by the School of the Arts, Singapore, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts and Lasalle College of the Arts.
In total, this will support about 40 more students to pursue higher arts education each year.
2. Nationwide giving campaign, call for projects
To mark Singapore’s 60th birthday, a nationwide campaign hopes to rally Singaporean adults to donate $60 each, or any amount from $1, to the Community Chest as a gift to the nation.
All donations raised through SGShare will go towards supporting social service programmes, such as those for children with special needs, disadvantaged young people, adults with disabilities and those with mental health conditions.
Donations to SGShare will qualify for dollar-for-dollar matching by the Government. Those who are interested in contributing can visit giving.sg/sg60share
Our Singapore Fund, an initiative that supports ground-up projects to meet community needs and do social good, has also put out a call for applicants who want to run projects in the spirit of SG60.
This fund serves as the seed to kick-start meaningful ideas for Singaporeans, by Singaporeans, said Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong.
The fund has supported more than 700 citizen-initiated projects with about $8 million in funding since its launch in 2016.
The public can apply for the grant at oursggrants.gov.sg
3. Better integration of foreign professionals
A new partnership will explore ways to better integrate foreign professionals into the workplace and community in Singapore.
The Alliance for Action on Integration of Foreign Professionals was convened by MCCY, Singapore National Employers Federation and Singapore Business Federation. The group is scheduled to meet from February to September.
Minister of State for Culture, Community and Youth Alvin Tan, who co-chairs this alliance with PwC Singapore chairman Marcus Lam, said: “Local employers are committed to fair, equal-opportunity hiring; they want to better integrate employees and foster positive interactions in workplaces.
“Foreign professionals want to adapt to Singapore’s cultural norms and build relationships with local colleagues.”
Over the past decade, professional, managerial, executive and technician employment in Singapore grew by 382,000, while the number of Employment Pass and S Pass holders grew by 38,000
The alliance has engaged corporate leaders, middle management and staff from different companies in the past few months to understand their views on integrating foreign professionals. It will develop recommendations on improving integration and share them in the second half of 2025.
4. 10-year road map for cooperatives
A consultation will be launched with cooperatives in Singapore to create a 10-year transformation road map aimed at expanding their social missions and improving the competency of the sector, said Mr Tan.
Cooperatives are membership-based enterprises that are owned and run by members to work towards a common social mission. For example, running club Runninghour became a co-op in 2014 to boost its social mission of integrating people with special needs into society through sports.
MCCY, in partnership with the Singapore National Co-operative Federation, will launch the consultation and engage co-ops and others like youth and industry experts.
Mr Tan said the Government will waive the first-tier Central Co-operative Fund contributions for co-ops in 2025. Co-ops contribute part of their yearly surplus to the fund, which supports their development and growth in areas like education, training and research.
The waiver will help more than 60 co-ops.
5. Addressing frailty among more seniors
A programme to delay the frailty process among seniors will be expanded to more active ageing centres, said Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Culture, Community and Youth Eric Chua.
He was speaking in response to MPs – Mr Xie Yao Quan (Jurong GRC), Mr Darryl David (Ang Mo Kio GRC) and Mr Sitoh Yih Pin (Potong Pasir) – who raised questions about promoting more sports participation among seniors.
The eight-week Combat Age-related Loss of Muscle programme focuses on exercise, nutrition and sleep to maintain or increase the lean muscle tissue needed to function properly daily.
The programme was rolled out in September 2024 in the Queenstown health district, and has reached more than 1,200 seniors at 54 active ageing centres. Seniors who have completed the programme reported better health and confidence in maintaining muscle strength.
The aim is to expand the initiative to about 100 active ageing centres by the end of 2025, Mr Chua said.
More active ageing centres will be able to use adaptive sports – modified versions of games to suit those with mobility concerns – to keep seniors active.
SportSG and the Agency for Integrated Care aim to provide 100 active ageing centres with equipment for five such sports – seated floorball, ladder toss, disc golf, boccia and sport stacking.
