“So what actually does your company do?” was the MFAQ (most frequently asked question) I faced when I first started my eight-month Hospitality and Tourism Management Practicum at LORD Cultural Planning Pte. Ltd. My friends simply could not deduce very much from the one-line clue on the freshly printed namecards – “International Specialists in Planning & Managing Excellence in Museums, Heritage & the Arts.” What the company does is so specialized in this part of the world that its core business is virtually unknown to the people on the street.

My company is the Asia-Pacific office of Canadian company LORD Cultural Resources Planning and Management Inc. It was founded by Barry and Gail Lord, with the sole purpose of providing specialized services to the museum and heritage sector. We provide services such as Strategic Planning, Exhibition and Interpretative Planning, Functional Brief and Project Management. Some of our projects in Singapore include Singapore Art Museum, Asian Civilizations Museum, Singapore Philatelic Museum, Artifact Repository, National Archives, the BattleBox Exhibition at Fort Canning, Fort Siloso at Sentosa and Singapore Airlines’ Training Centre Exhibition. In the region, we are involved in the National Museum of the Filipino People, Hong Kong Regional Council Heritage Museum and Samsung Children’s Museum in Seoul.

My decision to be an intern with LORD was fuelled by the desire to gain insight into the consulting work of a highly specialized service firm in the cultural and heritage sector. It has been a privilege to be at LORD as it is on the leading edge of the field and has played a significant role in this decade of intensive cultural and heritage development in Singapore. During my orientation weeks, I visited LORD’s past, current and potential projects. For someone who has not been to a museum since her primary school days, setting up meetings with Curators, Exhibition Officers, Education and Public Communications Heads was quite a feat.

Meeting Chinese Heritage Centre’s Administration Manager, Lee Tang Ling in my second week of Practicum was a good start. The Centre has been working on a three-year project – Encyclopaedia On The Chinese Diaspora and intends to refurbish an exhibition hall to showcase the theme. I was following up on the possibility of LORD’s cooperation with them. Another visit at the Singapore Discovery Centre (our most challenging project up-to-date that showcases Singapore’s milestones and achievements since World-War-Two) was spiced up by its Director of Operations’s interesting showround. On another occasion, Sentosa’s Fort Siloso Operations Executive, Mike Yeo, gave me a very engaging tour of the Images of Singapore Exhibition. And are you aware that there is a Singapore Sports Council Museum or a RSAF Museum?

My work focused on drafting of bids and proposals, following-up with clients in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Borneo (my hometown), preliminary data analysis, historical research and report production. Working under the direct guidance and supervision of George Jacob (Consultant and Manager of Asia-Pacific) greatly enhanced my professional development. I was also encouraged to attend exhibition openings, trade shows and business functions such as the Canada-Singapore Business Association’s luncheon meeting and the Canada Day Celebrations at the Canadian High Commissioner’s residence.

This Practicum has given me much exposure to the value of heritage on a regional level. More significantly, it has created my awareness of the stimulating cultural and heritage development around me, and an appreciation for them. It has also made me realize that Singaporeans need to know not only how Singapore’s success story has been accomplished, but also the broader context of the country’s history, culture and heritage