HAN@Punggol: the heritage call for collaboration shaping Punggol's next chapter
Punggol is the fastest-changing neighbourhood in Singapore's north-east, with smart BTOs, a digital district, self-driving shuttles and a GenAI-powered supermarket, and yet traces of its older life, the pig farms, fisheries and subsistence agriculture that once ran along the waterway, persist in the memories of its residents. HAN@Punggol, the Heritage Activation Node at Punggol, is a three-year initiative designed to make sure those stories do not disappear while the estate races forward. Its flagship Call for Collaboration (CFC), which closed on 30 June 2026, is the mechanism that puts the storytelling partly into residents' hands.
What HAN@Punggol is, and who runs it
HAN@Punggol is a collaborative effort between the National Heritage Board (NHB) and OH! Open House, the independent arts organisation best known for its site-specific art walks. It is part of NHB's wider Heritage Activation Nodes programme. The project runs from June 2026 to March 2028, a deliberately long arc. Unlike a short-term festival or a one-off exhibition, the three-year span is designed to build relationships with residents over time, so that people become authors of their neighbourhood's ongoing story rather than passive participants in a single event.
The framing is that Punggol is a landscape of constant negotiation, between land and water, history and development, memory and erasure. HAN@Punggol explores that meeting point by bringing to light forgotten narratives that have shaped the neighbourhood's identity, while surfacing new narratives emerging from young families and residents in contemporary Punggol. The programme centres artist-led research, site-specific artworks, participatory programmes, and co-created neighbourhood encounters.
The Call for Collaboration: what it funds
The Call for Collaboration is HAN@Punggol's open call for heritage-related projects. It invites individuals and organisations in Singapore to co-create programmes that explore Punggol through art, storytelling, participation and community engagement. Projects can take the form of workshops, installations, performances, guided trails, gatherings, or other experimental formats. Successful applicants receive up to $8,000 in funding, alongside mentorship and development support from the OH! team.
The CFC ran its second public call from 14 March to 30 June 2026. The Straits Times reported on the broader HAN@Punggol launch, noting that the exhibits include resident Esther Siah's series of seven paper-quilling dioramas recreating her childhood memories of her grandparents' pig farm, with her favourite being a scene of the pigs with their manure, on display at Punggol Regional Library as part of the launch programme. The CFC is the channel through which more such resident-led projects get funded, mentored and staged across the three-year run.
The wider HAN@Punggol programme
The CFC sits inside a larger programme with four flagship strands running across the three years. Artist-Led Activations run in years one to three, covering contemporary art commissions, programmes and interventions that invite residents to experience Punggol through new perspectives. The Portrait Series is a long-term story-collection initiative gathering everyday experiences and personal histories from residents, running throughout. The Associate Artist Programme, in years two and three, is an artist residency supporting place-based research and community engagement, culminating in art experiences co-created with residents. Marking Punggol, in year two, is a socially-engaged art initiative uniting 99 residents to collectively contribute 10,000 volunteer hours to social causes in Punggol.
The Marking Punggol exhibition by Thai contemporary artist Mit Jai Inn, featuring 99 colourful papier-mâché stool sculptures that visitors could take home in exchange for volunteering hours at a Punggol-based charity, was the launch centrepiece at the HAN@Punggol Open House in March 2026. The Open House, which ran for two weeks, also featured a communal seafood feast, a resident-led showcase on the neighbourhood's pig-farming history, and an audio heritage trail along Punggol's coastline.
How to get involved now, after the CFC deadline
The Call for Collaboration closed on 30 June 2026, but HAN@Punggol runs through March 2028, so there are still ways in. The initiative is actively recruiting Story-Collectors, volunteers who meet residents, facilitate conversations, and document the everyday memories that make Punggol home. It is also recruiting House Warming Hosts, residents who open their homes to neighbours for community gatherings that double as story-collection sessions. OH! handles the refreshments, publicity and on-the-day hosting, so the host's job is to welcome guests and co-facilitate.
For partners, HAN@Punggol invites collaboration from resident networks, youth networks, schools and community organisations, grassroots organisations, local businesses and merchants, and corporate sponsors. Private donations make up around 40% of the funding that sustains the long-term engagement, and the initiative is currently seeking support for the Marking Punggol II programme and the Associate Artist Programme. If you are a Punggol resident with a story, a creative with a project idea for the next CFC round, or an organisation that wants to partner, the OH! Open House team is the contact point.
Practical Details
- Initiative: Heritage Activation Node at Punggol (HAN@Punggol)
- Run period: June 2026 to March 2028
- Organisers: National Heritage Board (NHB) and OH! Open House
- Call for Collaboration: Up to $8,000 funding per project, with mentorship; second call closed 30 June 2026 (watch for future rounds)
- Programme strands: Artist-Led Activations, Portrait Series, Call for Collaboration, Associate Artist Programme, Marking Punggol
- Get involved: Story-Collector volunteer, House Warming Host, partner organisation, or donor
- Nearest MRT: Punggol Coast MRT (NEL) for PDD-area activations; Punggol MRT (NEL) for Waterway Point-area programmes
- Website: HAN@Punggol (OH! Open House)