A museum to call my own

A museum to call my own

Private museums are on the ascendant in an increasingly affluent Asia and Singapore is no exception.

According to industry estimates, about 20 privately funded home- grown museums in areas such as art, lifestyle and heritage have sprung up here in recent years, while Paris' largest private museum will open its first venue outside Europe here.

The Singapore Pinacotheque de Paris is set to fully open at Fort Canning Centre by the first quarter of 2015, although its ongoing pop-up exhibition of paintings by five centuries of art masters gives a taste of what to expect.

The Pinacotheque shows artworks on loan from private collections around the world.

In its concentration of such museums, Singapore is not alone in this region.

Japan has established private museums such as the Mori Art Museum and Suntory Museum of Art, while China has lately seen a string of museums bankrolled by wealthy private collectors. Among them is Chinese Indonesian collector Budi Tek, who owns a private museum in Jakarta and is now building a second one in Shanghai.

Private museums are owned by an individual or organisation, rather than a government body, and serve a primarily educational function. Within this umbrella definition, there are many different operating models out there.

The Museum Roundtable, an informal grouping of museums led by the National Heritage Board, now counts 16 private museums among its 57 members.

These private institutions range from those showcasing the collection of an individual owner, such as the Mint Museum Of Toys and Peranakan home museum The Intan, to heritage centres owned by Chinese clan associations, hospitals and other private bodies.

The number does not include museums that opened in the last few months such as the Kong Chow Cultural Centre, set up by Kong Chow Wui Koon which turned its entire 89-year-old clan association building into a living museum.

Art spaces which exhibit private collections and engage to some extent in the sale of these artworks, are not considered for Roundtable membership. Examples of such spaces include The Private Museum in Queen Street and ArtSafe, an art storage facility-cum-private museum in Changi.

The heritage board is the main operator of museums here, running nine museums and heritage institutions. Its group director of policy, Mr Alvin Tan, sees great potential in bringing in more museums not under the board's umbrella into the Roundtable, which allows for joint promotions among members.

In 2011, these small museums funded by other government agencies - think the Navy Museum of Singapore or the Home Team Gallery - and private organisations or individuals drew a total of 5.31million visitors, compared to 2.92 million for all the museums under the heritage board, such as the National Museum of Singapore and the Asian Civilisations Museum.

The board does not have visitorship figures for private museums alone.

The Intan's owner Alvin Yapp puts the growth of private museums down to the "maturing of society, where there are individuals who can afford and have the passion and drive to collect and research a particular category of material art".

"At the same time, you have a community who would be interested to learn more about that art," he adds.

One limitation he and other passionate museum owners face is that they are amateurs in the area of museum design and curation. Keeping a museum going is also costly and small organisations lack manpower.

The heritage board's Mr Tan says it plans to offer more talks and lectures on curation and exhibition design to Roundtable members and other players to help them raise capabilities.

Another new initiative is to work on joint travelling exhibitions among Roundtable members. Membership is by invitation or application, and museums are selected according to their collection and outreach.

There are also grants which all private museums, whether or not they are in the Roundtable, can tap on to refresh their exhibitions.

While the board hopes to create conditions where unique and distinctive private museums can flourish, it draws the line at coming in too strongly.

Mr Tan says: "We function more as a partner. While we can't do everything for them, we hope to provide the necessary support and training, so that they can contribute to the growth of the sector."

clare@sph.com.sg


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