Banning and Cutting of Funds as Alleged Forms of Censorship in Singapore
Cutting of Funds On 06 May 2010, Today reported that W!ld Rice was having its National Arts Council funding cut by an estimated 10%.
Local theatre company W!ld Rice has had its annual grant from the National Arts Council cut by S$20,000.
Artistic director Ivan Heng claims that the cut – which still leaves the theatre company with S$170,000 in Government funding – was because W!ld Rice had staged productions which ran contrary to mainstream societal values and which were critical of the Government.
NAC arts development director Elaine Ng said the council’s guidelines state clearly that “we will not fund projects which are incompatible with the core values promoted by the Government and society or disparage the Government”.
While I was watching the W!ld Rice restaging of one of its hits — Animal Farm on 21 April 2010 — I was taken aback with some of the references to the Singaporean government, which, even as a foreigner, I could not miss. A few weeks later, the announcement of the cutting of funds came out. I cannot help but speculate that the two incidents may be connected.
Banning the Play A more recent incident was narrated by an actor participating in the Short + Sweet Theatre Festival. One of the plays from Programme 2, Nuns Gone Wild! by Leon Foo, was taken out from the scheduled line up on 21-25 July 2010. The program describes it as, “No one doesn’t do it like nuns don’t do it.”
Apparently, the subject matter of nuns chatting about their secret desires and past indiscretions, which run contrary to their vows, was deemed inappropriate for Singaporean audiences. As to who “requested” the deletion is not clear…
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