We hope to utilise this fund raising campaign, so as to provide a platform for financially disadvantaged children to showcase their talents and realise their full artistic potential. We hope to reach out to more children and youths and at the same time, promote higher quality arts education for children and youths.

The Business Times Budding Artists Fund (BT BAF) is managed by The RICE Company Limited (TRCL), a non-profit organisation that harvests the potential of the arts and culture for the development of human lives and connecting communities locally and around the world.

Initiated in 2004 and adopted by The Business Times in 2005, BT BAF originated from a conviction that no child with strong interest and potential in the arts should be denied the opportunity to develop his or her talents due to a lack of financial resources. Since 2005, BT BAF has reached out to more than 16,000 children between the ages of 6 and 19 years through a variety of arts education programmes.

Beneficiaries are trained primarily at The Little Arts Academy (LAA) and 10 Square @ Orchard Central. The multidisciplinary curriculum covers Music, Dance, Theatre and Visual Arts and a key feature of the programming is the opportunity for beneficiaries to stage public performances.