Arts Housing Scheme

Ms Janice Koh asked the Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth (a) what is the current total floor area available to artists and arts groups under the Arts Housing Scheme (AHS); (b) what is the existing gross floor area (GFA) cap for rental subvention under AHS; (c) whether the availability of space has grown in tandem with the growth in the number of visual and performing groups over the last five years; and (d) whether there is a need to review the GFA cap for AHS.

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Under the National Arts Council (NAC)'s Arts Housing Scheme (AHS), the total floor area available to artists and arts groups is about 24,000 sqm. This is also the existing cap on Gross Floor Area (GFA) for which the Government provides rental subvention to NAC under the Arts Housing Scheme.

Besides what is available under the AHS, there is an additional 15,000 sqm of space for subsidised arts housing in the Goodman Arts Centre, which does not fall within the GFA cap. So, the total available space for artists and arts groups is 39,000 sqm.

The Goodman Arts Centre is a pilot project under a new framework for subsidised arts housing introduced by NAC after extensive consultations with our artists and arts groups. With this new Framework for Arts Spaces, we hope to make our spaces more flexible and useable. One of the key initiatives is the introduction of more shared facilities, short-term project studios, as well as co-tenancy arrangements. These changes optimise the limited space we have, and allow the facilities to benefit more artists and arts groups, including many new and emerging practitioners.

Since the introduction of the new Framework, the number of artists and arts groups who benefit from subsidised studios have increased from around 90 in 2007 to more than 170 in 2013 with the opening of the new Aliwal Arts Centre. This represents an almost 90% increase in the number of artists and arts groups housed. This is broadly in tandem with the growth in the number of registered visual and performing arts companies from about 410 to 740 during the same period. In addition, there is a wider group of artists and arts groups who make use of and benefit from the project studios and "pay-per-use" rehearsal and performance spaces.

While it is not possible for the Government to house all our artists and arts groups in Government-subsidised spaces, we regularly review how we can better meet their needs through initiatives such as the Goodman Arts Centre and the new Framework for Arts Spaces. At the same time, NAC continues to develop alternative options by working with partners such as commercial developers and community centres to co-locate artists and arts groups in their facilities.

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