Thu 19 Jul 2007

Singapore Heritage Fest 2007 kicks off

Category : heritage

I wrote about chancing upon NHB staff and their vendors setting up for the launch of the Singapore HeritageFest 2007 on Tuesday night at Yesterday.sg. Ysterday, the festival was launched and here are stories and links. Raffles Museum Toddycats will be participating too and sharing stories of Raffles Museum, Kent Ridge and Pasir Panjang during heritage walks on 21st and 28th July 2007.

Excerpts from "Have a say in making history," by Daphne Chuah. Today, 19 Jul 2007.

Heritage Awareness Index

"Singaporeans are now more aware of their heritage compared to four years ago, according to a new survey. The Heritage Awareness Index, which measures heritage awareness, appreciation and participation among 903 Singaporeans, has risen 20 per cent from 5.24 in 2002 to 6.25 last year. This is the second Heritage Awareness Survey the National Heritage Board (NHB) commissioned since 2002.

Other key findings of the survey conducted between June last year and February this year found that 98.4 per cent of respondents agree heritage plays a positive role in their lives - a 38.1 per cent jump over 2002's results. In addition, 90.4 per cent of the participants - between the ages of 15 and 69 - agreed that preserving our local heritage would be more important as Singapore evolves into a global city.

Still, when asked if respondents agreed that an increased involvement in heritage activities would lead to fewer migrations, the survey saw a dip from 51.3 to 49.8 per cent."

SHF 2007

"Themed What's Your Story?, the annual SHF kicked off yesterday with the focus on creating a unique Singaporean story. "We want Singaporeans to start thinking about their memories and share their stories with everyone through the SHF 2007 activities," said NHB's CEO Michael Koh. "These stories make up our unique and colourful Singaporean story, and they can connect and root us as a people."

The NHB has also introduced the "MyStory" portal [mystory.heritagefest.org.sg], which allows Singaporeans to share their memories of special personal or national events, people, places, and even their lifestyles."

Walter Lim of NHB covered the launch on his Cooler Insights blog, emailed to say,

"One of our regular cultural dos, the award winning Singapore HeritageFest happens all the way till 29 July. There are lots of things to see, do, touch and experience which brings us back to a blast from the past. Many of them are free (or well at least affordable)!

Back again this year are the highly popular Expedition "H" bus tours, Fun on Foot (amazing race with a heritage slant), an arts and cultural fair along the Singapore River (Culture by the Bay), and a party at Zouk with favourite evergreen bands like Matthew and the Mandarins. Vintage car lovers can ogle at the ageless beauties at the vintage car showcase at National Museum of Singapore.

Clueless about culture? Sign up for the Culture 101 talks and workshops. There will also be free concerts, workshops and performances at the Suntec City spot so go and check it out. While you are there, visit the "Unique Memories, Unique Stories" exhibition which is sure to set off those sweet nostalgic memories of days gone by.

Much of the action will be centred around Suntec City's Tropics Atrium, but there are also many trails and tours weaving around different corners of our island.

Oh yes, before I forget, there are cash prizes to be won too. Share and submit your stories at the MyStory portal and stand to win cash prizes!"

See photos on flickr and bookmarks on del.icio.us

Posted at 12:30AM UTC by N. Sivasothi | permalink | email |