SINGAPORE — From April, buskers will have an easier experience renewing their busking card, as its one-year validity period will be extended to two years. 

The move, which will benefit those with at least two years’ experience, is among several enhancements announced by the National Arts Council (NAC) on Thursday (Feb 22) to support busking. 

The enhancements were made after consultation with a busking consultative committee, buskers and industry members. The committee was formed last July to ensure that the needs of buskers can be addressed. 

The card, formally known as the busking letter of endorsement (LOE), is now valid for a year, and when it expires, every busker would have to audition yearly for a successful renewal. 

With the upcoming enhancement, experienced buskers who have performed for at least two years on the NAC Busking Scheme will have the validity period extended to two years. 

In addition, they may choose to renew their LOEs for another two years via an online form. This means that they will need to audition only once every four years. 

Aspiring buskers who are new or have less than two years on the scheme will have to attend annual auditions for the first two years before benefitting from the extended validity period. 

In Singapore, buskers can perform in public only if they are issued the LOE, which allows them to book designated locations for their performance. 

NAC requires buskers and those wanting to busk to attend a pre-audition briefing in person or online, and perform during one of the four audition cycles in a year. The auditions must be performed live. 

Last year, some buskers bemoaned the live audition requirement for their yearly renewals, calling it a “hassle” when they spoke to TODAY. 

One had to fork out S$2,000 to fly back from London to Singapore to renew his card. Others complained about the lack of online auditions and the validity period of the card. 

NAC said in response to the grievances at the time that the audition was necessary to endorse buskers with its card, so they do not need multiple approvals across various government agencies to perform. 

The process was also to ensure that “quality acts” were performed on Singapore streets. 

OTHER ENHANCEMENTS TO SUPPORT BUSKERS

Other enhancements introduced in the latest announcement were the refinement of a balloting system to include more locations with high booking rates, and a new time-sharing function on the busking e-service site for buskers to share their slots with others.  

1. Balloting system

NAC said that buskers may have better access to around 80 popular busking locations, after more than 10 new designated places were introduced last December. 

From April, the balloting system will include a wide range of locations with high utilisation rates based on data from the last 12 months. 

The list of popular locations will also be reviewed yearly to ensure the optimisation of spaces, it added.

2. Time-sharing with other buskers

This will be launched on the e-service site in June.

NAC said: “This will allow each slot to be maximised, for example, where buskers can alternate with each other as they take breaks between each set.”

This may also give their audiences a chance to appreciate a wider range of acts at each location, it added.