Activities to mark international museum day start today |14 May 2018

A series of activities has been planned and will start today to commemorate International Museum Day which falls on May 18.

The theme chosen for this year’s International Museum Day is ‘Hyper connected museums: New approaches, new public’.

The International Council of Museums (ICOM) established International Museum Day in 1977 to increase public awareness of the role of museums in the development of society, and it has been steadily gaining momentum ever since. International Museum Day is organised worldwide and this day is an occasion to raise awareness on how important museums are in the development of society.

Each year ICOM selects a theme that is at the heart of the concerns of society for International Museum Day.

Hyper connectivity is a term invented in 2001 to design the multiple means of communication we have today, such as face-to-face contact, email, instant messaging, telephone or the Internet.

“This global network of connections becomes each day more complex, diverse and integrated. In the hyper connected world of today, museums join the trend. This is the reason why the ICOM has chosen the theme,” a communiqué from the department of culture writes.

Today all the three museums will host an open day for the public, schoolchildren and students.

Other activities include the launch of ‘Skype in the museum’on Thursday morning. Skype in the museum is a free educational programme that aims to remove geographic and economic boundaries to education through the innovative use of technology in a class room environment. It is part of the Microsoft Educator community reaching to teachers /educators around the globe.

Exhibitions have also been planned and on International Museum Day itself an open debate entitled ‘Koman Sava Nou Bann Savwar Viv’ will take place at the Natural History Museum (Ex Carnegie Building). People from all walks of life - from law-makers, educators, parliamentarians, spiritual leaders, youth, elderly citizens - have been invited to discuss issues related to the theme which has to do with looking at, assessing and discussing good living values in our society today.

“We can all think of situations that give us a positive image of ourselves, such as success at school or at work, satisfying relationships with friends and family, living up to our moral standards in our interactions with others or having desirable possessions. We can also think of other things we are less proud of and that do not make us feel so good about ourselves. But why are they important? What are the factors that influence our self-esteem? Our younger generation seems to have lost the social values and cultural values that our grandparents found necessary to possess and it has been observed that the young generation is at a lost in that regards, therefore there has been lots of talk about how the youth behave in this day and age. Our youth seems not to have what we called savwar viv. They don’t see savwar viv as a way of living. Modern technology has taken precedence over our young generation. The need to talk about it and see a way forward is of great importance. Therefore the open debate is geared towards that,” adds the communiqué.