SINGAPORE - Enthusiasts can soon enrich their trips down memory lane in two historic districts, with the help of an audio tour of Telok Ayer available for free on Spotify, and stories about that area and Kampong Glam on Instagram.
A team of second-year arts management students from Lasalle College of the Arts has put together the series for Instagram for both districts, and the nine-part audio tour of Telok Ayer.
These are the culmination of about eight months of work under Project Rediscover, a Lasalle initiative aimed at spurring students to uncover historical and contemporary stories of heritage districts.
The project - supported by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) - was disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic after it started last year as planned programmes had to be cancelled in line with health advisories.
A team of 10 students then added to their seniors' work on Telok Ayer, by researching and walking the ground of the historic district from September last year.
Another team of five worked on discovering stories in Kampong Glam, which was not part of last year's project.
They interviewed representatives of community organisations, residents past and present and other stakeholders to get a sense of how the areas have changed over time, as well as to collect personal anecdotes.
From Monday (April 12) till June 11, the students will share these stories from both districts on the Instagram account @projectrediscoversg.
Meanwhile, the audio tour of Telok Ayer, with the nine parts totalling about 40 minutes, will be available on Spotify from Friday.
The tours were put together with the help of seven faculty members, students and alumni of Lasalle's acting programme and a first-year arts management student, who were voice actors, as well as The Teng Ensemble, a Chinese music group that helped with musical intermissions.
Professor Adam Knee, dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts, Media and Creative Industries at Lasalle, said: "Project Rediscover is an invaluable opportunity for our students to extend their learning beyond the classroom and gain on-the-ground experience in developing artistic interventions while working with communities and other creatives.
"Through this collaboration with URA, Lasalle hopes to equip our students with important skills and networks before they step into the workforce."
Ms Lovette To, 21, who conducted four interviews as part of the team working on Kampong Glam, said she was struck by how deeply-rooted multiculturalism was in the area in the 1950s.
"(A resident) explained to us that despite not having English as a common language then, residents of different races could still communicate with each other through a mix of languages - Malay, Hokkien, Teochew and various other dialects," she said.
Others like Ms Christine Hee, who led the Telok Ayer Instagram team, said the interviews with stakeholders helped to enrich her team's understanding of the area, and contributed nuggets of information that could not be found through online research.
"All these bits of information, even though it's almost like an everyday life experience for the interviewees - they were so new and interesting for us," said the 22-year-old.
