The ManicaPost
Sharon Chigeza Entertainment Correspondent
MUTARE Museum will tomorrow (Friday) join the rest of the world in commemorating International Museums Day.
The museum has reorganised and integrated new technology in its repository in order to safeguard indigenous cultural values and enhance interactivity of museum collections with the visitor.
The development resonates well with this year’s theme: “Museums as Cultural Hubs: The future of tradition”.
National Museums’ and Monuments of Zimbabwe (NMMZ), eastern region marketing officer, Lloyd Makonya, said the role of museums across the globe was fast changing hence there was a constant need for them to reinvent themselves to remain relevant.
“As museums increasingly grow into their roles as cultural hubs, they are also finding new ways to honour their collections, their histories and their legacies, creating traditions that will have new meaning for future generations and relevance for an increasingly diverse contemporary audience at a global level,” said Makonya.
He said Mutare museum had upped its game as it aimed to improve the interpretive methods of exhibitions, improve interactivity between the exhibition and the museum visitor as well as to promote preservation, awareness and understanding of local cultures that are being threatened by changing economic, social and political developments.
“The role of museums in society is fast changing and museums need to keep reinventing themselves in their quest to become more interactive, audience focused, community oriented, flexible, adaptable and mobile,” he said.
International Museum Day is a celebration held every year since 1977, coordinated by the International Council of Museums (ICOM) to raise awareness on the roles of museums as active actors in their communities.
As part of the commemorations of the day, all museums will square off in the primary schools’ national heritage quiz finals where 10 schools from the country’s 10 provinces will be battling it out for the bragging rights as national champions.
Manicaland will be represented by Mt Mellary Primary School of Nyanga.
