SINGAPORE — An eclectic mix of local guided tours and workshops in December will offer a behind-the-scenes look at Geylang's red light district and migrant worker dormitories, SingPost's mail distribution centre and the kelongs off Changi Point, in the inaugural My Community Festival.

Other programmes include tours around Toa Payoh’s funeral parlours, where an undertaker will show participants how bodies are prepared for funerals, and visits to traditional craftsmen including Tay Guan Heng, who is believed to be Singapore’s last joss stick maker.

The Toa Payoh night tour will take participants to the neighbourhood's funeral parlours. Photo: My Community

The festival is being organised by My Community, a non-profit organisation that promotes community heritage by managing community museums and holding neighbourhood tours and festivals.

It is part of the Singapore Tourism Board’s SingapoRediscovers campaign, but campaign vouchers, which will be distributed to all Singaporeans aged 18 and above in December, cannot be used for these tours.

My Community Festival will be held from Dec 4 to 20 and features 46 workshops and tours, one of which — a close look at Pacific Light Power Station — will be online.

Most events last for one and a half to two hours, with night tours running between two and three hours. All proceeds will go to community partners who will be facilitating the programmes.

Tickets, which range from S$8 to S$56, will be available from 8pm on Nov 20 via www.mycommunityfestival.sg.

“Every community has a story to tell,” said festival director Mr Kwek Li Yong, 30, who is also executive director and co-founder of My Community. “We really want to narrate the enduring stories of common people.”

The organising team, which comprises volunteers and staff, has been working on the festival since July 2019.

It was originally slated for April this year but was delayed due to Covid-19.

The pandemic also led to changes in the programme line-up and limits on numbers attending, such as breaking up tour groups into further subgroups of five.

Mr Kwek said that the team conducted research and reached out to community partners to collaboratively design the tours and workshops.

“We don’t really have an opportunity to delve deeper and learn more about the culture and traditions of our fellow Singaporeans,” he said. “This is a very good opportunity to do so because we can’t travel out of Singapore.”

My Community has previously organised heritage tours around different areas such as Holland Village and Redhill and held My Queenstown Festival in 2013 and 2015, which featured neighbourhood-centric exhibitions and performances.