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Singapore Launches Street Corner Showcases for Traditional TradesSingapore launched its Street Corner Heritage Galleries scheme for traditional trades on 7 March 2020. The new scheme will involve the National Heritage Board of Singapore (NHB) collaborating with qualifying local traditional trades and businesses with significant history in selected precincts to co-curate “street corner heritage galleries” that will showcase the history of their respective shops, trades, and products as well as other intangible cultural heritage (ICH) elements through displays of historical documents, photographs, and artefacts.\n\nUnder the scheme, NHB will also provide training to owners of these traditional trades and businesses in the areas such as the development and delivery of heritage programs. NHB will also provide funding support to these street corner heritage galleries to encourage them to develop heritage programs and to participate in NHB’s signature events such as Singapore Heritage Festival, CultureFests, etc. as showcases of Singapore’s living heritage.\n\nAccording to Mr. Alvin Tan, Deputy Chief Executive (Policy & Community) of NHB: “Through the scheme, we hope to identify existing heritage resources and perform ‘urban acupuncture’ by introducing small-scale interventions to showcase these resources and in the process, revitalize the precinct through street-level heritage.”\n\nThe scheme is aligned with NHB’s five-year masterplan, Our SG Heritage Plan, which seeks to showcase heritage in everyday places to encourage greater public awareness and appreciation of heritage in our midst. NHB will be piloting the scheme with the traditional trades and businesses within the Balestier precinct, and they include a traditional pastry shop, a traditional bakery, a traditional coffee powder shop and more.\n\nFollowing its launch, NHB will be identifying other traditional trades and businesses and partnering with the relevant community stakeholders to roll out the scheme on a precinct-by-precinct basis starting with Balestier and Kampong Gelam in 2020 followed by Little India and Chinatown in 2021, and finally Geylang Serai in 2022. Overall, NHB hopes to co-create a total of twenty-five street corner heritage galleries with traditional trades and businesses across the different precincts.\n\nThrough the Street Corner Heritage Galleries scheme, NHB hopes to facilitate stronger stakeholder participation and ownership of different aspects of Singapore’s heritage; equip traditional trades and businesses with the necessary basic competencies in the areas of heritage documentation, promotion, and conservation; activate public spaces through a stakeholder-centric and participatory approach; and create a network of community-championed “mini heritage galleries” in different parts of Singapore.\n\nPhoto 1 : The owners and staff of Loong Fatt, the oldest surviving traditional coffee shop in Balestier known for its signature traditional flaky pastry filled with green bean paste, standing around the shop’s street corner heritage gallery © National Heritage Board, Singapore\nPhoto 2 : The owners of Loy Kee, a shop selling traditional Hainanese chicken rice in the Balestier area since 1953, standing next to their street corner heritage gallery © National Heritage Board, SingaporeYear2020NationSingapore
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MUSE SG Magazine Showcases Singapore’s Intangible Cultural HeritageThe 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, SingaporeYear2020NationSingapore