THIS week marks 10 years of efforts by The Business Times Budding Artists Fund to support artistically gifted children from less privileged homes.

Launched on May 11, 2005, the fund has helped 7,000 disadvantaged children pursue various art forms, including visual arts, theatre, music and dance. Though not all continued to pursue the arts as they got older, it is clear that the arts have had an extraordinary impact on their emotional, social and intellectual development (See story here).

Looking back, it's hard to believe the fund almost didn't get off the ground. In 2004, Colin Goh, then general manager of The Arts House, approached his board of directors with the idea of creating a new fund to sponsor arts training for underprivileged kids. The board rejected it on the grounds that The Arts House was then only a year old. It felt that Mr Goh should concentrate his efforts on the arts centre's activities.