Heritage sector booming as museum visitorship soars

938LIVE Channel NewsAsia 16 Sep 09;

SINGAPORE: Singapore's heritage sector is buzzing. For the first time, visitorship to Singapore's museums has crossed the six million mark.

Parliamentary Secretary for Information, Communication and the Arts, Sam Tan, said 6.58 million people visited the museums at the end of FY2008, up from 5.21 million in FY2007.

Mr Tan said some of the reasons behind the increase were quality programmes with mass appeal.

He said there was also growth in donations and loans to heritage-related causes. Between 2004 and 2008, such giving amounted to almost S$240 million.

Mr Tan said the steady emergence of new players, who have carved out niches for themselves in non-traditional areas such as heritage-related videos, trails and fashion, has also added to the vibrancy in the heritage sector.

He said these are strong indicators of the vast potential in Singapore's heritage industry.

- 938LIVE/ir

Private sector operators get 2 prime state sites to boost arts and heritage scene
Uma Shankari, Business Times 17 Sep 09;

TWO prime state properties earmarked to promote the arts and heritage scene in Singapore were awarded to private sector operators yesterday. The two sites, one in the Bras Basah area and the other near Dempsey, will host integrated museum and art facilities.

Daniel Teo & Associates Pte Ltd and Linda Gallery were awarded the leases to sites at 222 Queen Street, and 27A, 30B and 30C Loewen Road respectively from among nine proposals competing for the sites. The former site is located within the museum cluster at the Bras Basah-Bugis arts and entertainment zone while the latter is near the chic arts and lifestyle precinct of Dempsey.

Prime state properties set aside to boost the arts and heritage scene here were first made available by the National Heritage Board (NHB) and Singapore Land Authority (SLA) last October through a joint request-for-interest exercise to develop, operate and manage integrated museum and art facilities.

With lower start-up costs, it was envisioned that this would ease the entry of new players into the arts and heritage scene.

The property at 222 Queen Street, which is the former Catholic High Secondary School premises, will become Sinema at 222 Queen Street, a popular culture museum driven by films, revolving exhibitions, a theme cafe and bars. Daniel Teo & Associates will invest at least $2.5 million to refurbish the property.

And on Loewen Road, Linda Gallery's proposed museum will display its owner's collection of Asian contemporary art. There will also be a retail and F&B component, and as the property comes with a large land area, Linda Gallery has plans for an extensive garden. The company will spend about $2 million on the site.

'We are pleased that state-owned properties with rich heritage and history are able to find their fit as integrated museums of art and heritage for all to enjoy,' said SLA's director of land lease (private).

NHB's chief executive Michael Koh also said he was heartened that the private sector had stepped up to play its part in promoting Singapore's arts and heritage scene. Despite the still unsettled economic outlook, more than $14 million has been committed - mostly by the private sector - to develop the heritage and cultural sector.

'The heritage pie is set to grow further with more players from a range of industries - from museum and gallery management to publishing and films, fashion and the arts sectors - coming onboard,' NHB said in a statement.

The government agency also revealed yesterday that a record 6.58 million people visited Singapore's museums in FY2008 - a 26.4 per cent increase from FY2007.

Heritage buffs' favourite wins award for best blog
Serene Luo, Straits Times 17 Sep 09;

THIS nostalgia-themed blog is a favourite read for heritage buffs.

Writing under the online moniker of Laokokkok (informal Hokkien phrase for old and crusty), Mr Chris Yew Weng Heng delves into the history of old buildings and streets of Singapore, records practices of yesteryear, and puts up pictures of items most people would have long thrown out, on his blog.

This hobby won the 47-year-old the accolade of having Singapore's best individual blog at the Singapore Blog Awards 2009 last night. He was the oldest blogger to win as well, out of more than 1,500 entries in 10 categories received.

The awards, into their second year, were organised by Singapore Press Holdings' (SPH) bilingual youth portal omy.sg. Mr Yew, who restricts himself to just two blog posts a month because 'I prefer quality to quantity', said he would even go to the extent of trawling flea markets at Sungei Road or pasar malam - which means night markets in Malay - to find items such as old razors or wind-up toys to feature on his blog.

The self-employed father of two also hoards his mother's collection of old maps, which often give him good leads, he said.

'Blogs are definitely a young people's thing,' he said, adding that he wanted to start one to have 'memories to relate to my grandchildren 20 years down the road'.

When he went on stage to receive his trophy, he received the loudest applause from the crowd, including a standing ovation from people of his generation, such as SPH's chief executive Alan Chan and artist and Cultural Medallion winner Tan Swie Hian.

Foreign Minister George Yeo, a fellow blogger and guest of honour at the event at the SupperClub nightclub in North Bridge Road, said to reporters that blogging and his dabbling in social networks like Facebook and Twitter let him stay in touch with the younger set.

In his speech, he said new technology such as blogs has not only changed the way people communicate, it has also created possibilities for people such as the handicapped, who can be 'liberated' and can 'roam the world', as well as 'contribute economically'.