KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 17 ― Think City Sdn Bhd, a community-focused urban regeneration organisation, has committed RM2.1 million in 29 grants offered to protect and develop Kuala Lumpur’s living heritage, culture and architecture, as well as to encourage a sustainable liveable environment.

Think City's KL Programme director Lee Jia Ping said the grants' initiative was also aimed at attracting locals back to the heart of the city and to transform downtown Kuala Lumpur.

"The grants offered are to help building owners to undertake restoration work on their properties as well as to embark on projects to build the momentum of civil society and private sector initiatives.

"The grants offered through the Think City Grant Programme (TCGP) and funded by Yayasan Khazanah are a way to enable downtown KL to serve the present migrant community and at the same time provide space for the locals,” she told Bernama.

Think City, established in 2009 is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Khazanah Nasional Berhad and funded by Yayasan Hasanah, and its first task was to rejuvenate the historic city of George Town, Penang.

The success of rejuvenating George Town led to the programme’s expansion to three other places, namely Butterworth, KL and Johor Baru.

Think City which is now in its third year into the rejuvenation programme along a one-kilometre radius from Masjid Jamek, Kuala Lumpur, also engages with commuters to enrich lives through the arts by organising quality arts performances for free, as part of the Arts on the Move programme, a collaboration with Prasarana at the Masjid Jamek Light Rail Transit (LRT) station.

Lee said the programme would be held throughout the year involving various types of arts and cultural performances such as mural painting, visual arts, Dikir Barat, Bharathanatyam, Odissi, puppet shows and Chinese opera by bringing top local talents.

"One of the main aims is to democratise the arts by breaking down the barriers of cost and accessibility to the galleries and theatres. The reason for this being the need to showcase local talents, and highlight to the wider public the immense talents of Malaysians in the performing and visual arts industry.

"Arts On The Move is going strong, with two shows per week now. We hope this programme will provide a platform for local artistes to showcase their talents,” she added.

According to her, Think City in Kuala Lumpur has several focus areas too, one of which is revitalising under-utilised spaces and giving them a new lease of life, for example, the Kampung Attap open space was repurposed to become an arts hub via the Think City Grant Programme.

It is now fully activated with a range of arts-related organisations such as Tandang Store, Malaysian Design Archive and Our Art Projects there.

Meanwhile, RUANG by Think City, a multi-use community space in Jalan Hang Kasturi, continues to have a diverse line-up of events this year, ranging from a film education workshop, art exhibitions and the KL Architectural Festival 2017 to attract more people into the city, and to create greater vibrancy and awareness of the area.

Another effort undertaken by Think City is to reinvent the old Market Square near Masjid Jamek into a community arts hub by organising cultural festivals and programmes to encourage more locals to come to the area, which at present is monopolised by migrants.

Lee noted that Think City worked closely with the local governments and communities in various efforts including assisting Kuala Lumpur City Hall on its Local Agenda 21 programme, thus forming a partnership between the local authority, the community and the private sector to plan and act on issues that affect various parties towards achieving sustainable development in the city. ― Bernama