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International Museum Day will be celebrated throughout Cuba
15May
News

International Museum Day will be celebrated throughout Cuba

On May 18, International Museum Day (DIM), will be celebrated with the usual Open House in all Cuban museum institutions, and a program of special actions.

The International Council of Museums (ICOM) created the SID in 1977 with the aim of raising public awareness of the role of museums as an important means of cultural exchange in the development of society.

Each year ICOM organizes this celebration and determines a theme that coincides with the concerns of the museum community in the world, as well as the motto that will govern the celebrations that this year will be «Museums as cultural axes: The future of tradition », which coincides with the one adopted by the 25th General Conference of ICOM, to be held in Kyoto, Japan, from September 1 to 7, 2019.

The actions to commemorate the DIM 2019, will attend the work of the museums as an interactive actor oriented to the community where they are located; These institutions have become cultural hubs that function as platforms where creativity is combined with knowledge, where visitors can share and interact, and whose essential missions are to collect, conserve, communicate, research and exhibit their collections.

The role of museums in society is changing, previously considered static entities, they are reinventing themselves to be more interactive, community oriented, flexible, adaptable and mobile.

As museums develop more and more as active actors and cultural centers, they also find new ways to honor their collections, stories and legacies, creating traditions that will have new meanings for future generations and a new relevance for a contemporary and global audience. increasingly diverse.

This transformation, which will have a profound impact on the theory and practice of museums, will also force the professionals of these institutions to rethink their own value and their work within them.

At a press conference held at the National Heritage Council, Sonia Pérez and José Antonio González, vice president and director of museology, respectively, of this institution, offered a vast amount of information about the actions that will be carried out throughout the country to pay taxes on this date.

One of the main actions of the program of celebrations for this day in Cuba, will be the First Workshop of Museums and University Collections, which will be held on the 16th, 17th and 18th at the Convention Center of the University of Havana (UH), in the Varona building.

By the way, Claudia Felipe, director of University Heritage of the UH, explained that representatives of the vast majority of high-school centers in the country will participate in this meeting.

Also as a tribute to the DIM 2019 on May 16 will be awarded the status of Best Museum of the Year, corresponding to 2018, to the Pharmaceutical Museum of Matanzas, and the 17 will be inaugurated in the National Museum of Decorative Arts the exhibition exposición María Antonieta: Impronta de una Reina, with which this institution will celebrate, at the same time, its 55th anniversary.

The national act for the International Museum Day will take place on the 18th at 11 a.m. in the main hall of the UH; on this occasion, a recognition will be given to three outstanding museologists who represent the western, central and eastern regions of the country, and who have devoted their lives to the work of the National Museum System.

This recognition is co-sponsored by ICOM, a fact that gives it prestige, and is also the highest distinction awarded by the National Council of Cultural Heritage to its museologists.

In this ceremony also, the network of museums and university collections will be constituted, and a commemorative stamp will be canceled.

Other special activities will take place in the 336 Cuban museums: patrimonial tours, inauguration of temporary exhibitions, exhibitions of the month, workshops and talks.

It was known at the meeting that in the first months of this year 7 museums have reopened in different territories of the country, and four will reopen before May 18, the International Museum Day.