TL;DR
As the Lunar New Year approaches, many in Singapore eagerly anticipate one of the Museum Roundtable’s signature programmes—the annual Lunar New Year Hongbao Campaign. This event has become a highlight of the festive season, offering a unique blend of tradition and cultural exploration.
What is the Museum Roundtable?
The Museum Roundtable (MR) is a collective established by the National Heritage Board (NHB) in 1996 to promote a museum-going culture among Singaporeans and to position museums as unique cultural destinations.
As of 2024, the MR has over 60 members, representing a diverse array of Museums and heritage galleries. These range from public to private institutions covering topics such as national history, culture and community, art, defence, lifestyle and collectibles, healthcare, science and innovation.
The MR role extends beyond promotion, actively developing museum management capabilities in areas such as curation, exhibition design, accessibility and sustainability. MR members conduct learning journeys for one another and organise meetings, workshops and symposiums to galvanise mutual learning and sharing of best practices. New members are continually being added to the MR, bringing their myriad experiences and learning points to the table.
The Hongbao Campaign’s History
With so many members, the annual MR Lunar New Year Hongbao Campaign is the perfect platform for locals to familiarise themselves with the various museums and galleries across Singapore and their respective collections. Introduced in 2011 with 39 participating museums, each participating institution contributes to the design of exclusive red packets featuring the year’s Zodiac animal and elements from their collection or building façades.
Hongbao design for the Malay Heritage Centre, year of the tiger, 2022.
Hongbao design for Geylang Serai Heritage Gallery, year of the rabbit, 2023.
Hongbao design for the Peranakan Museum, year of the snake, 2025.
Over the years, participating museums and galleries have progressively made the process of collection more educational and interactive for participants, instead of just requiring visitors to show up for collection. Examples include roaming the galleries to solve puzzles, or simply snapping fun selfies with the artefacts.
2022’s Year of the Tiger campaign introduced the first ever limited-edition collectors’ product—an album containing all participating museums’ red packet designs in a different colour scheme. This was a response to feedback from serious collectors who had taken great care to preserve and present their collections. NHB has since produced various different limited-edition collectibles, in the form of a sleeved album or a box. The 2024 Year of the Dragon campaign saw over 300 collector’s edition boxes sold during the sales weekend.
Collector’s Album for the year of the rabbit, 2023
Collector’s Box for the year of the dragon, 2024
Additionally, online giveaways are held on the Museum Roundtable’s I Love Museums Facebook page during the Hongbao Campaign to allow collectors another avenue to obtain the limited-edition collectibles or full sets of the participating museums’ red packets. The mode of participation can vary, ranging from simple comment-type giveaways, crafts-based submissions, or having to physically visit a participating museum and snapping a photo with their respective red packet while commenting which part of the exhibitions were most enjoyable. The 2024 Year of the Dragon campaign saw more than 1,200 participants for the two giveaway campaigns.
Red Packets are Serious Business
The campaign’s popularity extends across various demographics, consistently attracting first-time visitors and diverse audience profiles to the museums such as families, youth and different ethnic communities.
Demand for the red packets has grown steadily, with the 2024 Year of the Dragon campaign offering more than 28,000 publicly redeemable packets. Loyal campaign participants have developed sophisticated strategies to acquire complete sets over the years, such as working with other collectors for a more geographically targeted approach in order to cover more museums, especially those located in outlying locations such as the Singapore Discovery Centre or the Singapore Navy Museum. The community of collectors also extends to foreigners, even travelling from across the Causeway to participate.
Social Connections
NHB organised the Hongbao Campaign even through the global COVID-19 pandemic in 2021 (Year of the Ox) and 2022 (Year of the Tiger). While there were fewer participating museums, the majority of red packets were still successfully distributed during the campaigns’ run. During this period, collectors adhered to the prevailing safe management measures while physically visiting the museums. Alternatively, online distribution was stepped up, and the online giveaway held on the I Love Museums Facebook page in 2021 called on the public to virtually submit their own crafted Lunar New Year decorations made from the campaign's red packets, resulting in much buzz online on the interesting creations submitted.
Contest winners for the year of the ox, 2021.
The campaign continues to be an effective way of connecting people and fostering a sense of community even amongst strangers, with social media groups emerging to facilitate exchanges among collectors. Grounds-up Facebook groups such as the "Museum Roundtable Ang Pow Exchange", which started in 2020, provide like-minded individuals a platform to connect and exchange red packets to complete their collections.
Kids at Heart
A post-campaign survey for the 2024 edition of 616 demonstrated the campaign’s effectiveness in increasing awareness of and interest in visiting Singapore’s museums. The majority of participants were aged 35 to 49 years old (49%), with those below 35 and above 49 making up around 16 percent and 22 percent, respectively.
Results of the post-campaign survey, 2024, showing that the Hongbao Campaign contributed to growing visitorship and awareness of museums in Singapore.
The Future
As the MR Lunar New Year Hongbao Campaign enters its next edition, running from 21 January to 12 February 2025 with a record 48 participating members, it continues to evolve while maintaining its core aim of promoting a museum-going culture in Singapore. NHB is heartened by the continual support of the MR as well as the public, and looks forward to another successful year.
For more information on the campaign and the participating museums, please visit go.gov.sg/MRHongbao2025.
