International Museum Day: Museums as a source of learning

The International Council of Museums to observe International Museum Day on May 18

What is a museum? It is not just a collection of art, sculptures or heritage. It is a storehouse of the history of the world, lives, and cultures. As world-renowned Italian architect Renzo Piano has observed, “A museum is a place where one should lose one’s head”. If you stroll through a museum and see more and more works of art, science and history, it would definitely change the way we approach these subjects.
It is with this aim that The International Council of Museums (ICOM) has been organizing International Museum Day (IMD) since 1977, on May 18. The objective of IMD is to raise awareness about the fact that, “Museums are an important means of cultural exchange, enrichment of cultures and development of mutual understanding, cooperation and peace among peoples” according to ICOM. Last year, more than 37,000 museums participated in the event and this year they expect more participation.
Museums have the power to transform the world around us, according to the organisers. As incomparable places of discovery, they teach us about our past and open our minds to new ideas, which are two essential steps in building a better future. This year ICOM would explore the potential of museums to bring about positive change in their communities through three lenses:
The power of achieving sustainability: Museums are strategic partners in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. As key actors in their local communities, they contribute to a wide variety of goals, which include fostering short-circuit and social economy and disseminating scientific information on environmental challenges.
The power of innovating on digitalisation and accessibility: Museums have become innovative playing-grounds where new technologies can be developed and applied to everyday life. Digital innovation can make museums more accessible and engaging, helping audiences understand complex and nuanced concepts.
The power of community building through education: Through its collections and programmes, museums thread a social fabric that is essential in community building. By upholding democratic values and providing life-long learning opportunities to all, they contribute to shaping an informed and engaged civil society.

On this occasion, this year ICOM is organizing the General Conference at Prague, on the subject ‘The Power of Museums’. Now at its 26th edition, the triennial General Conference is one of the most significant global events dedicated to museums and its professionals. Since 1948, an ever-growing number of participants from all continents have been gathering to discuss and share ideas related to the topical issues facing museums. For the first time in ICOM’s history, ICOM Prague 2022 will explore a new hybrid conference format, providing participants from all over the world full remote access to the scientific programme of ICOM Prague 2022, said the organisers.

Role of museums in education
Museums have a great role to play in education, especially when there is a paradigm shift taking place in the academic world. While connecting our past to our present it helps envision our future. A single visit to any museum can improve our understanding of history and new dimensions to the knowledge we gain from the books.
From creating exhibitions targeted towards children to teaching children in a quasi-classroom environment, institutions around the world are doing their bit to pass down knowledge, thus playing a major role in the education of future generations.
We all know that education is not limited to the classroom, and real learning can happen often outside the classrooms. That is the reason why field trips are organized for students, to provide them hands-on experience. Those who are studying art, culture and history can learn a lot from museums, because it helps to enrich their learning in various fields, gain experiences in a new environment, and provide a unique setting for educators to teach students a wide range of topics, which can do wonders in their learning exercise.
Museums are considered a more reliable source of historical information than books, teachers or even personal accounts by relatives, according to a study by Indiana University. Students who attend a field trip to an art museum experience an increase in critical thinking skills, historical empathy and tolerance. For students from rural or high-poverty regions, the increase was even more significant, according to that study.
It can be said that museums are fundamentally educational institutions, with learning embedded at the heart of our missions.
The purpose of igniting young minds in museums involves training them into the ways of seeing, interpreting and further understanding the rich traditions of the past and contemporary reflections. The school children can also devise novel ways of making tomorrow better by learning worthwhile sensibilities from the past.

Time to think of Museum Schools
In this context, we should also think of the concept of Museums Schools, according to Murali Cheeroth, Creative Head, Chithravathi Centre for Creativity.
“A museum school can incorporate extension of classroom learning through ‘learning expeditions’ and brings it to the core of their learning process,” he said. “The concept can bring in many innovations and it embeds museum into the core of the learning process.”
Seeing a real art work and a slide are two different experiences. When we take a students to a museum, or bring the museum to the students, they get to know the nuances of the work. But in the conventional classroom culture, it does not happen, and there comes the relevance of museum schools, he said. Such experiences are not limited to any particular subject and it covers language to art, history and science. Velammal group of institutions have taken some proactive steps in this connection, by providing them the opportunity to interact with artists and see original works of art and taking students to places of importance, said Cheeroth, who added that we can have a shared educational experience by bringing students, teachers, and museums together to create shared educational experiences.
According to the ICOM, there are currently 55,000 museums worldwide, of which around 1000 are in India. Compared to the size and population of the nation, the numbers are less. However, the Ministry of Culture has embarked on a project to digitize the collections in its museums. This is expected to provide better access and information on various themes, national and regional histories and the rich craftsmanship that is reflected in Indian art. The National portal for Museums is one of them. It contains a vast and rich resource of the museum collections of India and their stories. Still, we need more and more museums to change our attitude towards learning in the public and private sectors. Hope the events like Museum Day, which Indian museums are also observing, would change our approach towards our culture, tradition and the institutions like museums.