The National Arts Council is now looking for the next batch of applicants for their Arts Creation Fund. Interested artists can start clicking away on their website beginning Nov 18. And it’s not a bad deal either. From an arts lover/consumer’s point of view, I’d say we’ve been getting some pretty good stuff out of it. There’s Joyce Koh’s On The String (one of my fave shows at this year’s Singapore Arts Festival), Ho Tzu Nyen’s Zarathustra film, Choy Ka Fai’s Lan Fang Chronicles (which was briefly exhibited at SAM not so long ago – a bit rough around the edges but still a work in progress), and Theatre Practice’s musical Liao Zhai Rocks. Daniel K's recent Hokkaido piece was also partly funded by the ACF if I remember correctly. There are 18 new projects in this current batch (three in the performing arts, four in the visual arts and 11 literary works). Skimmed through some of them and they include The Last Flight of the Jade Bird, an opera by Mark Chan (something to do with mixing traditional Chinese and traditional Maori and contemporary forms); Michael Lee’s Factory, The Prodigal Child (an installation apparently about “missing industrial heritage in Singapore’s history”); The Finger Players’ Chong Tze Chien’s Turn By Turn We Turn (which is inspired by the life of Li Bo Fen, a puppet master from China). Expect something from S. Chandrasekaran and Jason Wee too. And Alfian Sa’at, who’ll be be writing Malay Sketches, a compilation of 35-40 flash fictions, which will partly give “a panoramic picture of the Malay community in Singapore.” Looking forward to that one.  (But first, when are you finally distributing your book of plays in Singapore, dude?) Oh, and a shout out to young writer Lee Ju-Lyn, who’s writing a book called Millie and Her Dreams. We stumbled upon her first independently-released collection of slightly off kilter short fiction a couple of years back and we’re betting she’s gonna go places. Congratulations to all the recipients! PS, I'll post the link to the entire list once the NAC puts it up on their website.