Introduction to Arts and Heritage Management Heritage Trail Assignment

What I Did.

As part of the Introduction to Arts and Heritage Management module, my group took on the task of designing and pitching a heritage trail for Jurong East to the National Heritage Board. We want highlight the history and culture of the area. Thus, we designed the activities and map with the help of Canva.

I was primarily tasked with researching Jurong East’s heritage and cultural significance, ensuring that our heritage trail was designed to promote cultural awareness among both locals and outsiders. This included looking at different sources like academic articles, local history books and online resources. I also organized site tours to glean first-hand information and if it was relevant to be part of our trail.

Moving around Jurong East was quite difficult as the information available online was not updated and I was not familiar with the area. As one of our chosen sites got demolished, I quickly found an appropriate site that fit within our theme. This ability to make changes was important for keeping our project intact.

What I Learned.

This experience initially had a profound impact on me in understanding how fundamental it is to preserve and take care of our heritage. I learned to adapt plans and take decisions based on what was happening in real-time and what was available. Constantly revisited our study with a few team members and lecturers and iterated based on their feedback. This was important.

Besides, learning about the social and cultural significance of heritage sites allowed me to approach project management with more empathy and awareness. An uplifting experience for me was seeing my team’s enthusiasm for the study and receiving positive feedback after the presentations we gave for our work.

Goals for Continued Learning.

In the future, I want to improve my heritage and community engagement skills with more opportunities in arts and heritage projects. I am eager to build up technical skills in project planning and management to help me in further workshops on heritage.

I also want to get more involved with organizations and initiatives that focus on education and outreach for heritage. Through these endeavors, my aim is to add value to initiatives that foster understanding of diversity among the general masses. I have established the importance of preserving our cultural heritage through this reflection and I look forward to acting on the lessons learnt through this project in future.