Since 1993, the NAC has been active

Since 1993, the NAC has been actively promoting arts education in schools. Aimed at developing arts appreciation amongst young students, the Arts Education Program (AEP) facilitated the involvement of local arts groups in creating and developing special performances or workshops for schools. Music is one of the six main art forms supported by the Program, the others being dance, film/multimedia, literature, theatre, and visual arts. The offerings of the AEP were assessed by arts and education experts, and officials from the Ministry of Education (MOE) and the NAC, and these can be categorized into three types: “Arts Exposure”, “Arts Experience” and “Arts Excursion”. Both government and government-aided schools and junior colleges and centralized institutes are eligible to apply for a special Arts grant, which subsidizes their participation in the AEP. The NAC and MOE work closely together to achieve the aims of music education in Singapore: to develop in students “an understanding of and an open mind for music of local and global cultures, with an awareness and appreciation of the links between music and daily living; develop creativity and critical thinking skills; develop a desire for personal and group expression through music and a life-long love for music” (Music Syllabus – Secondary, p. 4). The official recommended approach in arts education is centered on “arts literacy”, and “should be to expose students to the arts as an aesthetic experience and to broaden their understanding and appreciation of the creative possibilities in our world” (MITA, 2000, p. 52). The 2000 Renaissance City Report recommended that the AEP “should be expanded with additional funding of another
$400,000 per annum” (MITA, 2000, p. 52).