Free entry to all museums

[Mllcg]

 

 

 

SINGAPORE: Singapore citizens and permanent residents will get free entry to all national museums and heritage institutions from May 18.

 

They include Asian Civilisations Museum, National Museum of Singapore, Peranakan Museum, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore Philatelic Museum, Malay Heritage Centre and the Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall.

 

 

The National Heritage Board (NHB) is hoping to draw in the crowds with new hands-on activities and story telling is one way it hopes to engage the visitors.

 

In the past 10 years, it has seen a three-fold increase in visitor numbers from 1.1 million in 2003 to 2.8 million in 2012, and NHB said increasingly, visitors want to do more than just walk around the museums.

 

 

Director of corporate communications at NHB, Cheryl Koh, elaborated: "Actually museums are really interactive places. We have grown to become more engaging as well. We are no longer just dusty places that we put dusty artefacts around."

 

 

This year's Children's Season exhibition will coincide with the start of free entry.

 

 

Making traditional snacks like Ang Ku Kueh is one of the highlights of the Children's Season exhibition. There will be many more hands-on activities at the National Museum of Singapore.

 

 

Other museums will hold exhibitions and activities for children till end-June.

 

 

Since the government announced plans for free entry during the Budget this year, the National Museum has received about 20 per cent more enquiries from the public about its programmes.

 

 

On average, it gets about 30 calls a month.

 

 

Ms Koh said NHB isn't setting visitor targets but it is closely monitoring visitors' response.

 

 

"In engagement, we will see from the numbers, when people come and sign up for our programmes when they visit our museums. We will then see whether they are engaged. If they don't sign up for programmes, our programmes have no sign ups at all, then we will know that we are not moving in the right direction and perhaps we will have to do a tweak," she said.

 

 

With free entry, NHB said it hopes more will use museums as a platform to bond and reflect on Singapore's heritage and history.

 

- CNA/fa

 

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singap...4.html?cid=FBSG

[Chrispie]

so it will be an ongoing privilege for Singaporeans?

 

if so, then the govt is really starting to move in the right direction.

Edited May 18, 2013 by Chrispie

[WTF]

so it will be an ongoing privilege for Singaporeans?

 

if so, then the govt is really starting to move in the right direction.

it's for both S'poreans and PRs.....

[Mlimhs]

Thanks for the info and will bring my son to visit those museums due to his interest.

 

However he said 'i want to visit those museums about WWII, got Hitler one'

[Ingenius]

Nowadays who goes to musuem ?

[Gitanic]

the museum i interested is at Oxley Rd.

 

free bo?

[Kiadaw]

Nowadays who goes to musuem ?

Sometimes, People may want to do something other than Shopping/watch movie.

 

I do like to visit musuem(s), when time permitted, when I am in a new City. But I think most Singaporeans do not really appreciate visiting musuems, from my own experience.

 

Normally, they will look/see a while in the city, before they go about their favorite past time, Shopping!

 

Anyway, I didn't even know there are more than one Museum in Singapore. I wIll try to visit them when I am back home again.

[Ingenius]

of cos, but the fact that they are making it free is likely due ot that they are seeing very few visitors . Often they displays replicas which have no historical value anyway, and frankly, the youth doesnt appreciate them anymore.

[Wt_know]

good move

 

for middle class family ... 2+2 kids entrance fees into museums = great savings

Edited May 18, 2013 by Wt_know

[Chrispie]

Nowadays who goes to musuem ?

 

 

you dont know what you are missing.

 

Go with an open and inquisitive approach and you will be pleasantly entertained and enriched.

[Tjkbeluga]

The problem of being free is that it will attract a lot of people who has nothing to do... Just go in for free aircon. I will be not surprise that some will dump their old parents there and collect them later.... After all, got guards there, it should be safe.... :angry:

[Dadiao]

you dont know what you are missing.

 

Go with an open and inquisitive approach and you will be pleasantly entertained and enriched.

 

Yupz, is quite interesting ... seeing real is a little different from reading and watching from TV, now is free ... hahaha !!! :)

[ChickenMob]

The last time i went there was more than 30yrs , now my kid goes there also yawn wanna leave the place quickly.

the past and present are now so different and the kids are no more interested in the past.

 

[RadX]

Discovery ctr has also opened it's doors FOC

[Ingenius]

The last time i went there was more than 30yrs , now my kid goes there also yawn wanna leave the place quickly.

the past and present are now so different and the kids are no more interested in the past.

same here, the last time i actually went to museum was more than 30 years ago too. recently i had a chance to organise an outing for a group of twenty over youth, and when i did a poll, not a single one of them wanted to go to the musuem. thats why i say, many people especially the young doesnt go museum anymore.

[Picnic06-Biante15]

Nowadays who goes to musuem ?

Those age range 65 ~75 cos they want to look back all this years they had gone through .....

 

In few years down the road, they are 'musuem piece' ....

[Sosaria]

same here, the last time i actually went to museum was more than 30 years ago too. recently i had a chance to organise an outing for a group of twenty over youth, and when i did a poll, not a single one of them wanted to go to the musuem. thats why i say, many people especially the young doesnt go museum anymore.

 

It depends on the exhibits also. Besides the interests of the youths. Some will go because of school-work requirements, e.g. doing research, etc. but maybe not out of real interest.

 

Our history is also not as varied as other countries, if I dare say so. For example, being a WW2 buff, I find the part of the war here was quite limited, i.e. british here were defeated in just a short while, and did not come back until the final surrender of the japs. So the museum exhibits consist of just some rusty swords and guns, documents, banknotes, and lots of personal accounts (to make up for lack of hardware, I suppose). It's a history of defeat, and I think the british at that time were obviously not eager to preserve the reminders.

 

There were no major battles here of the same scale seen in continental europe, with the players more or less equally matched in terms of men and machinery. All this tends to generate more historical artefacts than what we had here. How to match the Imperial War Museum in the UK? I visited the one at Duxford many years ago and was blown over by their pristine collection of famous WW2 aircraft.

 

Likewise, we don't have many dinosaur bones or fossils or any of the other more interesting stuff to exhibit.

 

As for the lack of interest among youths, this is largely due to our education system which does not encourage much independent thinking in the past. It's a great way to control the mindless masses, but you end up with youth who do not see the relevance of history. If they were taught the history of singapore from the 50s, 60s, for example, and taught with a full, unbiased account... then they might start to think and ask awkward questions... Better they stay ignorant

 

On a separate note, I think our RSAF museum is quite interesting and well-worth a visit. Only thing is that they should really expand and update their collection to include more recent military hardware and larger exhibits.

Edited May 18, 2013 by Sosaria

[WTF]

I've only been to one in S'pore.......the black museum in PA during NS..........and then the Palace Museum in Taipei........