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SINGAPORE: The National Arts Council (NAC) said on Thursday sponsorships amounted to S$34.2 million last year – down from the previous year's S$37.4 million.
Despite the dip, the number of arts activities went up by 10 per cent, while those who paid for tickets to watch performances grew by 3 per cent.
At the National Museum of Singapore on Thursday evening, 120 corporations and eight individuals were recognised for their arts sponsorship at the 2009 Patron of the Arts Award ceremony.
Of these sponsors, 21 were new recipients of the awards. Some corporate sponsors said their commitment to the arts is for the long term, regardless of the economic downturn.
MediaCorp received the Distinguished Patron of the Arts Award.
Daisy Irani, vice president, MediaCorp, said: "It's through these platforms that we always support the arts – Channel 5, Okto, Suria, news, even radio. These are major contributors towards this year's award.
"We've been winning this award over the past nine years, consecutively. So I think our relationship with the arts is a bit like a horse and a carriage, or better still, and dare I say, love and marriage. You can't have one without the other."
One of seven first-time donors in the Friend of the Arts Award category, Jet Airways, sponsored S$100,000 in cash and kind for the Kids Biennale 2008, which saw the involvement of 40,000 students in an early introduction to contemporary art.
Gerry Oh, regional vice president of Jet Airways, said: "Whether it is in economic downturn or whatever, this is a long-term project we felt that we have to be involved in."
- CNA/so
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