On May 5th, the press conference of the National Cultural Relics Bureau’s 2019 “May 18th International Museum Day” in China was held in Beijing. Guan Qiang, deputy director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, introduced the activities of the main venue of this year’s International Museum Day. Cyndi Luo, director of the Department of Museums and Social Heritage of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, and Chen Yuanping, director of the Hunan Provincial Administration of Cultural Heritage, answered questions from reporters. Lu Qiong, director and spokesperson of the Policy and Regulation Department of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, presided over the press conference.
Guan Qiang introduced that this year’s “International Museum Day” event was co-sponsored by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage and the Hunan Provincial People’s Government, and was jointly organized by the China Museum Association, the Hunan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, the Hunan Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau and the Changsha Municipal People’s Government. The main event will be held in Hunan Provincial Museum on May 18th.
The theme of this year’s International Museum Day is “Museums as Cultural Centers: the Future of Tradition”.
Guan Qiang said that the activities of the main venue will focus on the people’s needs for a better life, adhere to the people-centered work orientation, focus on the functions and roles of museums, highlight the positioning of museums as “cultural centers”, actively integrate into the overall situation of economic and social development, give full play to the “central” role of museums in cultural inheritance, promote the creative transformation and innovative development of Chinese excellent traditional culture, promote exchanges and mutual learning among different civilizations in the world, and make important contributions to promoting social harmonious development and progress.
This year’s activities at the main venue will focus on the latest achievements in the development of China museums in an all-round way, focusing on enhancing the public’s sense of museum experience. In addition to the regular announcement of the promotion results of “Top Ten National Museum Exhibitions” and “National Most Innovative Museum” in previous years, Guan Qiang also introduced the special activities: First, he further strengthened cooperation with the media such as the Internet, television and radio, and made use of the museum’s rich resources. Jointly launch four large-scale publicity and participation projects such as “Museum Online Exhibition”, “Museum on the Move”, “Hundred Cities, Hundreds of Stations, Hundreds of Museums, Hundreds of Things and Hundred People”, and “China National Treasure Conference” TV program; Second, with the “1+N” exhibition mode, we will focus on creating a special exhibition of “Roots and Soul-Story of Chinese Civilization”, and at the same time launch a number of special exhibitions to comprehensively and systematically display the charm of China’s excellent traditional culture; The third is to hold a summit forum of “Museums and Cultural Centers” and invite well-known experts and scholars at home and abroad to discuss the development path of museums as “cultural centers” in depth; The fourth is the “Museum Night” experience activity. In addition, the museum in Changsha, where the main venue is located, will also hold lectures, salons, open at night and other activities.
Chen Yuanping introduced that museums and memorial halls around Hunan have actively prepared nearly 100 publicity and education activities with rich contents and various forms around the theme of the activity day, including special exhibitions, academic lectures and teaching..Educational interaction, cultural relics identification, museum night and so on. The Hunan Provincial Museum will jointly hold a special exhibition of “Roots and Soul-Tales of Chinese Civilization” and a number of themed exhibitions; Hold activities such as “Do not forget your initiative mind, Keep Mission in Mind” Xiaoxiang red story into enterprises, rural areas, institutions, campuses, communities, military camps, and the Internet to meet the diverse and personalized cultural needs of the audience.
It is understood that in addition to the activities in the main venue, all localities will also organize activities with rich contents and various forms around the theme of “International Museum Day” in accordance with the unified arrangements of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, and build a platform for museums to communicate and interact with the public. For example, Jilin, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Fujian, Shanghai, Anhui, Sichuan and other provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government) will hold the main venue of Museum Day in their respective regions on May 18th, and integrate museum resources to carry out various forms of exhibitions and educational activities. Shaanxi History Museum, Capital Museum, Henan Museum, Shandong Museum, Hainan Provincial Museum, Sichuan Museum, Tianjin Museum, Dunhuang Research Institute, Shenyang “September 18th” History Museum and Dujiang Campaign Memorial Hall will also launch a series of splendid exhibitions during the Museum Day. In addition, various online and offline special activities will be held in various places, such as cultural knowledge network quiz, creative design competition of museum cultural products, academic seminars, public welfare lectures, “five entrances” of mobile museums (entering schools, communities, villages, enterprises and military camps), volunteer commendation, social education and research, and non-legacy performances.
“International Museum Day” is an activity initiated by the International Association of Museums (ICOM) to promote the healthy development of the global museum industry and attract the public’s understanding, participation and attention to the museum industry. The time is set on May 18th every year, and a theme is determined every year. China officially joined the International Expo Association in 1983, and then organized related activities to commemorate the International Museum Day every year. Since 2009, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage has started to hold museum days in the form of main venue activities, and has held 10 sessions in Chongqing, Guangzhou, Shenyang, Nanning, Jinan, Nanjing, Shijiazhuang, Hohhot, Beijing and Shanghai.