The Report of the Advisory Council on Culture and the Arts

The Report of the Advisory Council on Culture and the Arts (ACCA) released in 1989, is widely seen as the signature document which laid the path for Singapore’s arts development in the late 20th century. It can also be seen as a logical offshoot of the Singapore government’s economic strategy which had undergone a serious review in the wake of the recession of 1985. Consequently, the “services sector” (which included the arts) was identified as a potential future growth engine for Singapore. It is important to place the ACCA Report in a historical perspective against developments in the arts and cultural scene of Singapore in the 1980s, particularly movements and activities occurring ‘on the ground’ that were driven by artists and other cultural workers. The chapter will firstly discuss the key recommendations of the ACCA Report in the context of Singapore’s arts scene then, and in view of the economic imperatives that underlie Singapore’s cultural policies, offer a perspective on how the ‘arts workforce’ has emerged and been nurtured since the 1980s, partly through stimuli from the state’s arts and education policies.     

Citation:
Wong, Audrey. "The Report of the Advisory Council on Culture and the Arts.” The State and the Arts in Singapore, edited by Terence Chong, World Scientific, 2018, pp. 111-126.