The National Heritage Board of Singapore (NHB) launched an open call for design proposals on 22 July 2021 under its new “Craft X Design” scheme which pairs local traditional craft practitioners with designers or design studios to co-develop and produce new and innovative products using traditional craft techniques and materials.\n\nThe scheme seeks to raise public awareness of local traditional crafts; revitalize and “modernize” the products produced by local traditional craft practitioners; help these practitioners gain access to new markets; and contribute to the long-term sustainability of traditional trades and crafts.\n\nAs part of the scheme, NHB has partnered four local traditional craft practitioners comprising a traditional Chinese lantern-maker; a craftsperson skilled in weaving cases for ketupat (a rice cake wrapped with coconut leaves); a rangoli (a traditional Indian art form involving the creation of a multi-colored floor decoration) artist; and a Peranakan beadwork and embroidery craftsperson.\n\nUnder the open call for design proposals, interested local designers or design studios can attend a workshop conducted by NHB and the four local traditional craft practitioners, and have until 1 October 2021 to prepare and submit their design proposals. Once selected, the successful designers or design studios will have four to five months to work with the local traditional craft practitioners they are paired with to produce a prototype product or a range of products.\n\nThe four local traditional craft practitioners and the successful designers and/or design studios will each receive an honorarium of SGD6,000. Each pair of practitioner and designer can also be reimbursed up to SGD2,000 for materials and/or other costs associated with the production of the prototype product.\n\nThe collaboration will culminate in the production of a prototype product or a range of products from each pair of practitioner and designer/design studio, which would be displayed at a public showcase in April 2022.\n\nThe scheme is part of NHB’s ongoing efforts under Our SG Heritage Plan, Singapore’s first five-year (FY2018-FY2022) masterplan for the heritage and museum sector, to organize public showcases for Singapore’s traditional trades and crafts, and in doing so, to encourage greater public awareness and appreciation of Singapore’s intangible cultural heritage.\n\nTo find out more about Singapore’s “Craft X Design” scheme, please visit: https://go.gov.sg/craftxdesign2021.\n\nPhoto 1 : Mr Jimm Wong, a traditional Chinese lantern-maker © National Heritage Board of Singapore\nPhoto 2 : Ms Vijaya Mohan, a rangoli artist © National Heritage Board of Singapore

The National Heritage Board of Singapore (NHB) recently published the first issue of a two-part series of MUSE SG that focuses solely on Singapore’s intangible cultural heritage (ICH). MUSE SG is NHB’s outreach magazine that features museum and heritage related articles and is distributed to museums, schools, libraries, and public institutions free-of-charge.\n\nFor the two-part series on Singapore’s ICH, NHB has partnered with History Society students from the National University of Singapore (NUS HISSOC) to conduct research and co-create content. The partnership is part of NHB’s youth engagement efforts to interest the younger generation in different aspects of Singapore’s heritage.\n\nThe first ICH issue of MUSE SG introduces readers to the different categories of ICH as defined by UNESCO and explains how the ICH elements in these categories have become an integral part of Singapore’s multicultural identity. The issue is part of NHB’s continuing efforts to promote greater public awareness and appreciation of Singapore’s ICH.\n\nThe National Heritage Board of Singapore (NHB) recently published the first issue of a two-part series of MUSE SG that focuses solely on Singapore’s intangible cultural heritage (ICH). MUSE SG is NHB’s outreach magazine that features museum and heritage related articles and is distributed to museums, schools, libraries, and public institutions free-of-charge.\n\nFor the two-part series on Singapore’s ICH, NHB has partnered with History Society students from the National University of Singapore (NUS HISSOC) to conduct research and co-create content. The partnership is part of NHB’s youth engagement efforts to interest the younger generation in different aspects of Singapore’s heritage.\n\nThe first ICH issue of MUSE SG introduces readers to the different categories of ICH as defined by UNESCO and explains how the ICH elements in these categories have become an integral part of Singapore’s multicultural identity. The issue is part of NHB’s continuing efforts to promote greater public awareness and appreciation of Singapore’s ICH.\n\nVats containing soy beans undergoing fermentation in the production of soya sauce at Tai Hua Food Industries, 2020. Image courtesy of National Heritage Board, Singapore\nIt also features articles on selected ICH elements including traditional Malay dance, traditional Eurasian cuisine, traditional crafts such as effigy making, the production of soya sauce, the practice of rearing songbirds, the ancient healing practice of Ayurveda, and local practices in the commemoration of Easter.\n\nThe second ICH issue of MUSE SG, to be published in January 2021, will focus on the practices and rituals of Jewish Passover by the local Jewish community and the Zoroastrian faith as practiced by the Parsi community in Singapore.\n\nIt will also cover dondang sayang (a poetic art form associated with the Malay and Straits Chinese communities in this region), traditional Chinese music, traditional Nanyang breakfast (comprising toast with kaya spread, half-boiled eggs and a cup of hot tea or coffee) and the craft of Indian goldsmithing.\n\nTo access the first ICH issue of MUSE SG, please click on the following link: https://www.roots.sg/learn/resources/publications/education-and-community-outreach/MUSE-SG-Volume-13-Issue-01\n\nPhoto 1 : Muse Cover © NHB\nPhoto 2 : Vats containing soy beans undergoing fermentation in the production of soya sauce at Tai Hua Food Industries, 2020. Image courtesy of National Heritage Board, Singapore

Bangladesh is a repository of hundreds of intangible cultural heritage elements that have been developed through various historical waves of different political and religious regimes over the last 5000 years.ICH education at the tertiary level has an important role to play in creating a pool of human resources for sustaining the value, meaning, and significance of these ICH elements. Until recent past, the importance of protection, promotion and safeguarding of various cultural heritage resources in Bangladesh has not received necessary attention from administration, academicians and researchers. Lack of policies and resources, and shortage of trained teaching staffs were the main reasons for not being able to introduce required courses at the tertiary level of education. Assessing the present status of heritage education at various tertiary institutions, this paper calls for immediate policy responses to strengthen the ICH education for developing a Sustainable Cultural Heritage Management Plan (SCHMP) through building capacities by mobilizing local resources in collaboration with various national and international organizations. Immediate and long-term heritage education policy-planning and interventions can encounter the challenges of protecting, promoting and safeguarding various ICH elements of the country. \n\nThus, the main objective of this paper is to examine the actual status of heritage studies at the tertiary level of education in Bangladesh through analyzing the contents of curriculums of some selected departments which are closely related to cultural heritage studies. As a supplement to this content analysis, a small number of randomly selected students and teachers have been interviewed to know their general understanding about the importance of ICH education in Bangladesh. \n

Bangladesh Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge(BARCIK) is a non-governmental, nonprofit development organization that was established in 1997 in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, by a group of development practitioners, researchers, and social workers. It has been working in the fields of environment, biodiversity conservation, and development since its inception. \n\nMoreover, it engages in exploring and incorporating indigenous knowledge and local practices into contemporary development programs. Throughout these years, it has promoted and presented the significance of local and indigenous knowledge in development initiatives as well as in the empowerment of local and indigenous communities.

Language is the most crucial element of culture. It is the most distinctive accomplishment of humans, marking them off from other animal species. But, being made literally of mere thin air, language is also the most intangible among man’s cultural acquisitions. It has taken humans about half a million years to develop this unique skill that has so profoundly determined how human societies are formed and how they carry out communication among themselves as well as how they hand down the collective knowledge from one generation to another. This greatest cultural acquisition of man has come under an unprecedented stress in our time. It is estimated that out of the approximately 6,000 living languages, a majority shall disappear in near future. UNESCO has already started bringing out inventories of ‘world languages in danger.’

The parent organization of CEE Himalaya is the Centre for Environment Education (CEE), which was established in August 1984. CEE is a national institution with its headquarters in Ahmedabad and has been given the responsibility by the central government of promoting environmental awareness nationwide. It undertakes demonstration projects in education, communication, and development that endorse attitudes, strategies, and technologies that are environmentally sustainable.

I have a very fond memory of a 50 year-old man who worked in the kitchen of the hotel where we stayed for 20 days while participating in the 2007 Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington DC. Whenever this member of staff had any free time, he came along to enjoy our performances, and was especially keen on our sessions of Don ca tai tu singing. His face, which often had a look of sadness that made him appear far older than his years, brightened into a broad smile as he listened, and there were times when his eyes filled with tears. It turned out that he was Vietnamese, one of the expatriates formerly referred to in the USA as 'boat people', and he came originally from Rach Gia district in the southern province of Kien Giang.\nHe had left our homeland in 1975 and had never been able to return. I was deeply moved by this encounter and felt I was seeing the true power of culture to bring people together and show them how to share, to understand and to feel close to one another.

Prabartana is a social enterprise working in diverse sections for revival which includes: arts, crafts, food security, and community-led responsible tourism. The organization provides training to weavers and has contributed to technical enhancement through documentation of patterns in computers instead of the manual style of Jacquard pattern design. As safeguarding action, they involve artisans in exhibitions and workshops for cultural exchange, audio-visual documentation and publication of books, social media-based promotions and audience development through the Web, newspaper articles and festival-relevant brochures. The organization also promotes community-led responsible tourism through AJIYER, where the community has the rights and knowledge to operate tours and promote and conserve cultural heritage, apart from safeguarding their environment.

Established in 2000, The Loden Foundation is a registered civil society organization in Bhutan with the objectives of promoting education, cultural preservation, and entrepreneurship among the Bhutanese children and young adults; promoting education and learning at the preschool, school, and post-school stages, and thereby fostering an enlightened and educated society in Bhutan; promoting awareness of the education and the needs of local communities in relation to entrepreneurship, health education, practical skills and crafts, and literacy among remote villages and communities within Bhutan; preserving and promoting the cultures and tradi- tions of Bhutan; and undertaking, if need be, other charitable work that contributes toward the welfare of the public.

The Foundation for the Protection of Natural and Cultural Heritage is a UNESCO-accredited NGO located in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. It was established in 2000 with the objectives of protecting and safeguarding various natural and cultural heritage elements, including intangible heritage values, and carrying out various activities for researching, studying, and promoting natural and cultural heritage properties and ICH values.

Old Polish sabre fencing fits within the limits of broadly understood Polish martial art, which in addition to sabre fencing includes fighting on war horses with a hussar lance, pickax (horseman’s pick), scythe, or Polish lance. The basis for the claim that Poland has its own sabre fencing pattern is the fact that it developed its own type of sabre pattern called the hussar sabre (Kwaśniewicz, 1988, p. 66) and the existence of Old Polish fencing with palcaty (short sticks) (Kwaśniewicz, 2017, p. 473)—an important element in the preparation of noblemen and courtiers for fencing with this weapon known as “cross art” (Jezierski, 1791, p. 213), and in the case of short sticks, “striking the clubs ( )” (Kitowicz, 1985, p. 113). This had its origins in the 16th century and its tradition was cultivated until 1939. It was resurrected as a Polish martial art in 1986 under the name Signum Polonicum, functioning as a contribution of Polish national heritage to the world family of national sports and martial arts.

The wide construction of heritage and its symbolic value in the Asia-Pacific region (“wide” in terms of form and content) is made necessary and complex by the intervention of key global organizations such as UNESCO, the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), the International Council of Museums (ICOM), and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Recent intervention in addressing the cultural complexity of heritage is the introduction of informal education of intangible cultural heritage. This kind of education, in its simplest form, provides a basic training that has the potential to put intangible cultural heritage to the mainstream public sphere. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia initiated this kind of project called Indonesian Arts and Culture Scholarship (IACS) in 2003, focusing on traditional dance and music.\n\nIACS was originally intended for Member States of the South West Pacific Dialogue such as Australia, Indonesia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, and Timor-Leste, but has over the years expanded to include Member States of ASEAN+3 and Pacific Islands Forum as well as European countries and the US. In the period of 2003 to 2016, IACS has been awarded to 718 alumni from 63 countries. By appropriating local performance cultures and branding them “traditional,” the program asserts sustainable cultural systems detached from Indonesia’s history of colonialism thereby affirming the importance of indigeneity of ethnic groups as the primary source of diversity and cultural identities in Indonesia.\n\nThe three-month program is offered largely to non-Indonesians whose main qualification is arguably “interest in Indonesian arts and culture.” When selected and grouped, they will be deployed to a participating Indonesian city where they will learn music and traditional performance by practice and immersion. The visibility of non-Indonesians “doing” Indonesian culture reinforces the idea of social inclusion in heritage learning. Considering how scholars of globalization view the world as a global village, the program poignantly paints cultural diplomacy as a viable method of exchange, communication, and, to some extent, multi-layered artistry. Another important element in the program is its laudable effort of moving away from the center or the capital (Jakarta). As the capital is perceived as the main economic zone, most cultural activities carried out there are charged as more valuable than others, inevitably putting other cultural practices in the periphery. Therefore, moving away from the center gives those “other cultural practices” and the communities surviving them the priceless tendency to be appreciated and recognized in wider terms. Art centers also play a crucial role in the program. As they carry the main obligation of deciding what and how IACS participants should learn, the program is implicitly building their capacity to devise an “informal curriculum” for effective learning. Finally, it should be noted that all the participants of IACS are tourists; even when Indonesian citizens are selected as participants, they will still be sent to a city almost always different to them. For effective safeguarding of cultural heritage, Logan and Wijesuriya (2016) fittingly remind, the focus is not “knowledge transfer” to heritage practitioners but “knowledge acquisition” by a wide range of audiences. As the program clearly reflects this proposition, the idea of tourism as a strategic employment of informal heritage education can be organized into an actual and sustainable project in such a way that certain observable outcomes can be achieved.\n\nThis year, citizens of forty-five countries were selected for IACS. And with the expertise of and training from art centers and one university namely Rumata Artspace (Makassar, South Sulawesi), Sanggar Sofiyani (Padang, West Sumatera), Sanggar Semarandana (Denpasar, Bali), Studio Tydif (Surabaya, East Java), and Universitas Pembangunan Nasional “Veteran” (Yogyakarta, East Java), the selected participants gathered together and performed in a big event called Indonesia Channel 2017 on 18 August 2017 at the Empire Palace Building in Surabaya.\n\nReference\nLogan, William, and Gamini Wijesuriya. ‘The New Heritage Studies and Education, Training, and Capacity‐Building’. In A Companion to Heritage Studies, 557-573. William Logan, Máiréad Nic Craith, and Ullrich Kockel, 1st ed. Sussex: Wiley Blackwell, 2016.\n\n*The author thanks Fiska Dali Putri for her time and generosity as a resource.\n\nB.B.P. Hosmillo, 2017 ICHCAP Associate Expert Program Participant (Founder & Co-Editor, Queer Southeast Asia: a literary journal of transgressive art, the Philippines)\n\nPhoto : IACS participants deployed in Makassar © Pepeng Sofyan