Tag: museums

Off to London for Business

February 28, 2011 • Blog • 3 comments

I’ll be flying off to UK for a work trip tomorrow morning, to visit some of their leading art museums and galleries, learn how they run their institutions, and explore collaborative possibilities. There’re quite a lot that we can learn from the Brits who are world leaders in the art, science and business of running museums, art galleries and cultural institutions.

On the cards are an eclectic mix of meetings that we’ll be scheduling with both private and publicly funded mueums and art galeries. They include the world famous Tate Modern which showcases international modern and contemporary art…


Courtesy of News-Poland

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Touring the National Art Gallery Open House

October 12, 2010 • Blog • no comments

National Art Gallery Open House

Over the past few weeks, my colleagues and I have been pretty busy with the National Art Gallery Open House. An open invitation to all Singaporeans and visitors to explore our future home – the regal and sprawling City Hall and Former Supreme Court buildings – the event drew tens of thousands of visitors over two days. I was heartened to note the warm and enthusiastic public responses, especially in exploring the two buildings (which is why we’re opening a second weekend for guided and self-guided tours on 16 and 17 October).

As is usual for large-scale events of this nature, temperatures did run high for some of us (both literally and metaphorically) but we’re happy to be able to resolve most of the teething issues over time. There were tonnes of people who swarmed the buildings, and its heartening to see such a wide spectrum of Singaporeans and visitors – grandpas and grandmas, families of all ages, kids, teens, young adults and tourists. It was also great to see how art and heritage could be celebrated in so many different forms.

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We Should All Be Curators

March 28, 2010 • Blog • 4 comments

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The art of curating and storytelling drew 8.5 million visitors to the Louvre in 2009 – many just to catch the Mona Lisa here!

One of the insights which I have gleaned in the hectic past few days from Steve Rubel and his thoughts on digital curation was this:

We should all be curators. Every single one of us in the fields of marketing, public relations, and advertising. And not only in the digital realm, but all others too.

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The Fragility and Fury of Pompeii

September 22, 2009 • Blog • 2 comments

After waiting for the (non-volcanic) dust to settle from my assignments, readings and thesis writing, I took some time off today to visit the exhibition “A Day in Pompeii” that is now showing at the Melbourne Museum till the end of October. I have a personal interest to view this blockbuster exhibition as I have visited the site some 15 years ago in 1994 when I toured Europe as an undergraduate. If you wish, you can actually experience Pompeii online with this wonderful virtual walk through that allows you to see what is available in each gallery. Of course, nothing beats the real thing!

Nestled in what is now close to modern day Naples in Italy, the ancient city of Pompeii lived under the ominous shadow of the volcanic Mount Vesuvius. Citizens and residents of that town-city were used to the occasional rumblings of the dormant volcano, and took it quite matter of factly. It became a part and parcel of life, according to famed Roman lawyer and magistrate Pliny the Younger. Nobody could have suspected that a disaster of cataclysmic proportions was about to occur.

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Are Museums All Things to All Men?

September 2, 2009 • Blog • 1 comment

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Dinosaurs are a surefire hit, but should all museums have them? (taken at Melbourne Museum)

Should museums and galleries always attract the largest and widest crowd possible, attracting/attacking every customer segment? Can they be scholastically superior, operationally efficient, highly entertaining, marketing savvy, and customer oriented at the same time? Are major blockbuster exhibitions the only way to draw a big crowd?

Some of these issues were tackled in this excellent post by Nina Simon (of Museums 2.0 blog) in an interview she conducted with John Falk and Beverly Sheppard, authors of the book “Thriving in the Knowledge Age: New Business Models for Museums and Other Cultural Institutions”. Admittedly, I haven’t read the book yet but I am definitely going to check it out.

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Social Media in the World of Museums

April 25, 2009 • Blog • 5 comments


Clay Shirky speaks at the Smithsonian (courtesy of taoboy)

After several weeks of doing some online research/surfing/bumming around and asking friends (like the ultra intelligent Kevin Lim), I managed to get a handle (well partially) on what’s happening for social media in the museum world. Here’s what I found after some digging around:

First is the discovery of a blog aggregator for museums around the world called (surprise surprise) Museum Blogs! Believe it or not, there are now some 331 museums blogs (at least those which are captured here) around the world. I am glad to see that our dearly beloved Yesterday.sg is there too! Yay.

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Win Nikon Cameras with Explore Singapore!

November 19, 2007 • Blog • no comments

Are you an avid photoblogger? Have an interest in Singapore’s unique and fascinating heritage? Why not satisfy both passions and have a chance to bring home a brand new Nikon camera!

Take part in NHB’s first photoblogging contest and participate in Explore Singapore! Simply follow these easy steps:

1) Attend an Explore Singapore! event. Take lots of pictures.

2) Blog about it on your blog (remember to post the pictures!)

3) Visit the Explore Singapore! Heritage In Pictures webpage. Register your blog post URL there.

4) If approved, your blog post will be posted on the contest listings page.

5) Check back regularly to see if your entry is up. If at first you don’t succeed, try try again.

6) Get your friends to check out your entry by putting this Brag Badge on your blog.

Celebrity photographer Dominic Khoo of www.whatisthesight.com will select the winners, who will receive an exclusive National Heritage Board winners’ certificate to be placed on their blogs.

Registration is open from 10 November 2007 to 31 December 2007 so hurry! Oh and do tell all your friends about it too.

It’s TigerLIVE Time!

July 27, 2007 • Blog • 10 comments
Give that man a beer. Make it at TigerLIVE!

If you are a fan of heritage-worthy brews, you should check out TigerLIVE. Recently opened at the ultra-hip heritage clubbing venue St James Power House, TigerLIVE opens from 11 am to 8 pm daily and charges an admission fee of S$18 for adults and S$12 for those below 18. Now, before you go “So expensive!”, do note that this includes a glass of Tiger beer (what else?) plus an exclusive limited edition Tiger souvenir per person. Minors will receive a soft drink (of course).

Offering a “multi-sensorial journey into Tiger Beer’s rish past all the way to its innovative present”, TigerLIVE marries state-of-the-art technology, vintage beer bottles, local celebrities and a whimsical twist to provide an alcoholic buzz. Here’s some photos from my recent visit there as a member of the Association of Singapore Attractions.

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