SINGAPORE: Youths in Singapore can now receive up to S$7,000 (US$5,110) in grants if they organise projects that showcase the country’s rich heritage.
They can apply for the funding from the National Heritage Board (NHB) and National Youth Council (NYC) for activities such as guided tours, talks or screenings.
Called the Young ChangeMakers – Youth Heritage Kickstarter Fund, this new initiative is the result of an online survey involving about 1,000 youths – individuals between 15 and 35 years old – to gather their views on the heritage sector in Singapore.
The survey found that funding and mentoring are key forms of support that youths find necessary for their projects to be achieved.
Of the respondents, 37 per cent said mentoring was the biggest support they felt they needed, while 26 per cent identified funding as the main factor.
SEEKING GUIDANCE
Apart from the financial support, the youths will also get guidance on pursuing their projects.
One individual who will benefit from the new initiative is 24-year-old Ng Wee Liang, who has a passion for taking photos and creating video clips of old heritage sites in Singapore.
He then shares them on social media platforms TikTok and Instagram, in the hopes of sparking interest in the topic among his peers in his age group.
Mr Ng, whose eventual goal is to create a book, said he was quite clueless on how to go about it, as there were many components such as publishing, getting royalties and even getting the book to be placed in the National Library Board (NLB) venues across the island.
“What’s important is that these youth heritage projects reach out to the wider community and contribute to NHB’s wider goals of preserving and promoting our shared heritage.”
INTEREST IN DEVELOPING PROJECTS
The grant was launched after the survey done from July to September this year, found that funding and mentoring were the biggest forms of support youths were lacking in kickstarting a project.
The survey found that while more than half of respondents were keen to take part in a heritage event, only one in three would actively develop their own project.
“What stood out for us was that six in 10 respondents said that they will volunteer their time and resources for heritage projects, and three in 10 said that they are interested to develop their own projects,” noted Mr Tan.