Renaissance City Plan III Heritage Development Plan - MICA

Heritage
Development Plan
B: STAGING COUNTRY
FESTIVALS – FOSTERING
UNDERSTANDING THROUGH
AN INTEGRATED FESTIVAL
EXPERIENCE
To provide a holistic experience to the
understanding of other cultures and
civilisations, NHB initiated a wide countrythemed
festival under the aegis of RCP
in 2007. The festival approach was
inaugurated with the Vietnam Festival,
which was held in conjunction with the
35th anniversary of diplomatic relations
between Singapore and Vietnam. It was
officially opened by the Vietnamese Deputy
Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham
Gia Khiem at a ceremony hosted by
Mr George Yeo at ACM on 20 May 2008.
The Vietnam Festival enhanced the
cultural appreciation of Vietnam and
generated much goodwill between the
two countries. The Vietnam Festival
also offered an excellent platform for
integrated programming across the
NHB heritage institutions as well as with
other Museum Roundtable members,
like Healthzone and Raffles Museum of
Biodiversity Research. Singaporeans were
able to experience Vietnam from multiple
avenues, such as exhibitions of art and
artefacts, performances, films and food.
ENGAGING MINDS,
INSPIRING HEARTS
NHB also worked with STB to promote the
Vietnam Festival, reinforcing the wholeof-government
effort to make Singapore
a vibrant global city. The inaugural
Vietnam Festival was a great success and
supported the larger engagement of
the ASEAN agenda to foster better
understanding among ASEAN countries.
To date, it has attracted more than
250,000 visitors to the NHB museums
and generated extensive media coverage
locally, in the Vietnamese Press and in
international media.
NHB will continue to organise more
country-themed festivals to engage and
expand Singaporeans’ appreciation of
cultures in the region. A China festival
is also being featured from July to
September 2008. NHB museums will
have exhibitions of Mao artefacts in ACM,
a contemporary Chinese art exhibition in
SAM in collaboration with the National
Art Museum of China (NAMOC), a
contemporary Chinese film festival in NM
and a show on Chinese stamps in SPM. A
festival on the Philippines is being planned
for 2009, in celebration of 40 years of
diplomatic ties between Singapore and
the Philippines. Together, these will enable
Singaporeans to experience the region at
home, fostering better understanding and
appreciation of our neighbours.
Journey through the Land of the Lotus Exhibition
at Singapore Philatelic Museum (SPM) as part of
Vietnam Festival © National Heritage Board
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