by Lydia Tan
The Singapore Heritage Festival (SHF) is back this year with a special Singapore Bicentennial edition, with themes and programmes that will explore and commemorate this important historical milestone. This year’s festival will take place over four weekends with events and programmes centred around precincts such as Kampong Gelam and Bedok.
Here are some of the free admission activities you can expect to take part in during the festival.
1. LIVINGSPACE
23 March, 2pm – 3pm & 3pm – 4pm
HDB LIVINGSPACE
Registration required (email registration)
Think you know your houses inside out? Think again! HDB’s refreshed gallery at HDB Hub, LIVINGSPACE, showcases Singapore’s public housing story through a wide range of multimedia and interactive exhibits. Explore how has public housing in Singapore changed, learn about the planning and design process for Singaporean homes and share your vision of the future of HDB living.
For more information on the gallery, visit www.hdb.gov.sg/LIVINGSPACE
2. Makan Dreaming
22 & 24 March: 2pm, 4pm, 6pm, 7.30pm
23 March: 2pm, 4.30pm, 6pm, 7.30pm
Bedok Town Square
Makan Dreaming is a musical centred around the hawker culture in Singapore and its evolution from the street hawkers of the 1960s to the hawker centres of today. Sing and dance along with a variety of diverse characters in celebrating one of our national hobbies: eating!
3. Wanderland Weekend Festival at ACM: Tea
29 March, 7pm – 9pm
30 March, 1pm – 9pm
31 March, 1pm – 5pm
Asian Civilisations Museum
Discover the origins and development of tea, and explore how tea is still relevant to all of us today. Indulge in some tea mixing and drinking to suit your mood for the day. Find out about the art of tasseography (reading fortunes using tea leaves), and have a free cup of bubble tea!
ACM is also hosting a tea exhibition until 7 April. Follow along the tea trade route as you explore how tea has been locally used in ritualised and the uniquely Singaporean ways tea is consumed here.
4. Packaging Matters: Singapore’s Food Packaging Story from the Early 20th Century
06 Apr – 12 May, 10am – 7pm
National Museum of Singapore
This exhibition explores the history and development of food packaging in Singapore, through real artefacts from the museum. See how packaging technologies relate to new retail spaces such as supermarkets, as well as the unique design identities of local food brands.
Listen to the stories of various pioneers who have shaped Singapore’s complex food packaging history, and explore the future of environmentally-friendly packaging and other eco-friendly practices.
This exhibition will also have an opening weekend taking place from 6-7 April at the National Museum. Come down for some great food and activities for the whole family, such as hands-on craft sessions, short film screenings and musical performances!
5. FOODPASS
06 Apr – 07 Apr, 9am – 5pm
Kranji Countryside
Learn about food sources and our farming heritage as you explore farms in and around the Kranji Countryside, along with high-tech farm factories in the heart of Orchard Road. Hear the farm producers’ stories, and find out how you can support local farms.
This year’s festival will also include its first island-wide exhibition, which will feature close to 100 panels along the bus routes of service numbers 2, 30, 147 and 222. These panels will give an insight into the unique nature of each space’s past and present and share some lesser-known stories of the places we might have overlooked on our daily commutes. More updates will be shared on the festival’s site so look out for them!
The Singapore Heritage Festival will be going on from 15 March – 7 April 2019. Check the official site for more details on the programmes going on during the festival.
