The 18th edition returns in a new hybrid format, featuring over 100 on-site and online programmes dedicated to the theme of healthcare history and food heritage
Take a walk down memory lane at the 18th edition of the Singapore HeritageFest, which returns from May 3 to 30. This year’s theme delves into our country’s signature healthcare and food heritage milestones, namely the 200th anniversary of Singapore General Hospital (the nation’s first hospital) and the inclusion of our hawker culture in Unesco’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
“Singapore’s healthcare history and food heritage have a wealth of stories that are waiting to be discovered,” explains Singapore HeritageFest festival director David Chew. And these will be celebrated through an exciting line-up of on-site and online programmes that include virtual talks, photo essays, video documentaries, tours and hands-on workshops. Moreover, these will tell the stories behind medical buildings of our past, history and benefits of Eastern healing practices like traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurveda, as well as foods that represent different cultures.
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If you have a penchant for food, you may sign up for interactive workshops at local heritage businesses, such as tasting sessions at a local artisan soya sauce brewery, Nanyang Sauce. Better yet, join heritage food tours that will explore places such as Bras Basah and Bugis to discover the precincts’ hidden gems. Another highlight is the food-themed photowalk in the same precincts, where you’ll be able to partake in a professional photography session of food-related buildings, sites and significant eateries.
On the healthcare front, the Singapore Heritagefest will present the inaugural edition of Cinema Reclaimed, created by researchers Toh Hun Ping (founder of SG Film Hunter) and Ben Slater (author of Kinda Hot: The Making of Saint Jack in Singapore). This showcase will feature a bevvy of locally produced films that tackle medicine and modernity. Toh and Slater will finish the session with a virtual lecture on how local films have addressed medical themes from the past to the present.
These are only the tip of the iceberg on what you can expect at the upcoming Singapore Heritagefest. Chew hopes that with the festival, “Singaporeans can get to relive these stories that connect us, and also inspire them to take a more active role in safeguarding our shared heritage”.
Check out the event line-up here.