Join the Rejuvenation of Downtown Johor Bahru

Think City is looking for ideas from the community through its Johor Bahru City Centre Grant: Art, Heritage and Culture, a joint-cooperation programme between IRDA, Johor Bahru City Council (MBJB) that offers a sum of RM1mil to boost community development around Johor Bahru in an effort to rejuvenate the city.

This grant programme supports IRDA’s efforts to build a strong community that contributes to reactivating the heritage core of Downtown Johor Bahru, complementing the Sungai Segget revitalisation project and making Johor Bahru an amazing place to live.

The grant focus area is within what they call the Johor Bahru Heritage Core encompassing JBCC, City Square, Sungai Segget, Jalan Bukit Timbalan, Jalan Duke up to Jalan Trus.

So what is Think City looking for in its grantees?

Cultural Content

Deliver high-quality content through the curation, publication, digitalisation and interpretation of information that can enhance visitors’ experience.

Example of cultural content would be:

1. Culture-related activities that include festivals and outreach events, experiential trails, guided tours, museology, art installations and more.
2. Physical or digital publications increase the wider public’s understanding and appreciation of the city.
3. Usage of technological and digital solutions to promote and improve the cultural interpretation of the city.

Space Reactivation

Revive, refurbish and repurpose dilapidated buildings and spaces in Downtown Johor Bahru to preserve its urban heritage and elevate liveability and visitor appeal.

Example of space reactivation includes:

1. Restoring old shophouses to preserve their heritage values and enhance the city’s appeal.
2. Repurposing unutilised spaces with new use to stimulate social and economic development.
3. Bringing new content into spaces that are underutilised to enhance visitors’ experience.

Community Programmes

Empower local communities through capacity building and advocacy programmes to contribute to the social and economic activities of the city.

Examples of community programmes are:

1. Capacity building, knowledge and competencies programmes that contribute to the social and economic goals of the city.
2. Strengthening the local creative economy ecosystem through programmes or activities such as workshops, masterclasses, and seminars.

This grant programme is open to individuals, collectives and organisations nationwide who are interested or are actively contributing to the rejuvenation efforts of Downtown Johor Bahru.

The amount provided for each grant will be considered on a case-to-case basis up to a maximum of RM50,000 and the proposed project should showcase a sustainable impact on Downtown Johor Bahru.

Think City on its website has also advised applicants to seek co-investments as the grant programme does not cover 100% of the proposed project costs.

Since its launch back in May 2022, Think City is a week away to close for submission on 25th July 2022 and would then move towards the assessment period before announcing the grantees in September 2022.

More information is available at Think City’s website https://thinkcity.com.my/downtownjb/ and you could also directly apply from the site.