International Museum Day: Pune venues struggling to recover despite re-imagining the future

PUNE On International Museum Day, May 18, the International Council of Museums is running with the theme, “The Future of Museums: Recover and Reimagine”

PUNE On International Museum Day, May 18, the International Council of Museums is running with the theme, “The Future of Museums: Recover and Reimagine”.

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“Every year the International Council of Museums announces a theme to celebrate International Museum Day on 18 May and this year they want us to create, imagine and share new practices of (co-)creation of value, new business models for cultural institutions and innovative solutions for the social, economic and environmental challenges of the present,” said Sudhanva Ranade, director, Raja Dinkar Kelkar Museum.

“We have developed a 3D virtual tour, but the problem we are facing is how to monetise it, to earn enough to maintain the museum. It is an expensive proposition and with the museum being closed for almost a year-and-a-half, it seems a tough task,” he added.

The objective of International Museum Day (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 people.

“Due to intermittent lockdowns, the number of visitors has come down to drastically. However, we are maintaining our periodical activities of conservation, preservation of artefacts and various exhibits, where cleaning and fumigation is done regularly. We have good collection of geological samples for students of Geology. Adventure sports, hiking, mountaineering, and scuba diving equipment will be exhibited with due information, with models of physiology imbibed with a light and commentary combination; such as when we eat food how it moves in the human body. We have various ideas and plans to be executed in the near future, but museums need to open to get visitors,” said Rajiv Vilekar, director, Mahatma Phule Museum.

The Babasaheb Ambedkar museum has always been a crowd puller. “We are exploring the idea of making an app specifically for the museums of Pune city, where the public can gain information about major museums in the city. Even if our museum is physically closed due to current situation, we still have recurring costs of maintenance and staff salaries and electricity charges to bear,” said Sanjeevani Majumdar, director of the museum.