National Heritage Board and Smithsonian Institution build workshops to train Singapore's museum and heritage sector

The National Heritage Board (NHB) in Singapore is teaming up with the Smithsonian Institution and the Tourism Management Institute of Singapore to raise the standards of Singapore's museum and heritage industry. The Smithsonian and the NHB will co-develop a training curriculum and organize workshops for museum professionals over two years. The goal is to update Singapore's museum practices to international standards, strengthen their heritage programs, and create jobs in tourism.

Someone tell me if I'm wrong, but I haven't heard of this kind of thing happening very often, and I think it's an amazing idea. This kind of collaboration would be particularly useful in countries like Turkey, which does have a lot of regional museums that suffer from being under-staffed, poorly funded, and consequently are much more vulnerable to thefts. Programs like this could really help local economies thrive by promoting and sustaining tourism outside bigger cities, and might provide more incentive for educated citizens to remain in their countries instead of finding better employment opportunities in wealthier countries with well-established museum and heritage sectors.