Ministry encourages arts, cultural NGOs to apply for Heritage Facilitation Fund
The Ministry of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Sarawak is calling upon industry players, including those from nongovernmental organisations, to apply for allocations under its ‘Arts, Culture and Heritage Facilitation Fund’.
In making this call, deputy minister Datuk Snowdan Lawan says the ministry allocates RM10 million every year to this fund, as a way to boost and support activities related to arts and culture such as handicraft workshops, filmmaking or fashion exhibitions.
“The creative industry is something new in Sarawak. If we look at Indonesia, this sector is called as the ‘creative economy’, which contributes about US$22 billion to the Indonesian economy,” said Snowdan in his speech for the seventh convocation of the Malaysian Skills Certification 2024 at Sarawak Skills Development Centre here yesterday.
In this regard, the deputy minister said the Sarawak government had rebranded his ministry into the existing name to emphasise on the importance of developing the creative industry and performing arts towards contributing to the growth of the state’s economy.
“We are also concentrating on the development of performing arts because we are building a performing arts centre, costing about RM300 million, which will be similar to Istana Budaya (in Kuala Lumpur) and the Royal Albert Hall in London.
“The focus will be on hosting international events,” he said.
On the development of technical and vocational education and training (TVET), Snowdan pointed out that the state government planned to construct a hotel inside the Tegas Digital Village to accommodate young entrepreneurs from suburban or rural areas, aside from providing a co-working space venue for them.