International Museum Day - 18 May 2012

Every year since 1977, International Museum Day is held worldwide sometime around 18 May. This year, the museum community will celebrate the 35th anniversary of this event: more than 30,000 museums in around 100 countries will hold special activities on this occasion.

The Theme: Museums in a Changing World. New Challenges, new inspirations.

The theme of the 2012 International Museum Day, “Museums in a Changing World. New challenges, New inspirations”, invites museums and their visitors to wonder about the role of museums in our society, in an era of numerous changes: IMD2012 is as much about museums growing and shaping their future, as it is about displaying and interpreting new issues like climate change, new media or social responsability.

Activities around the world
International Museum Day is also a fantastic opportunity for museum professionals to meet their public, organising dedicated activities around the theme. For instance:
- In Brazil, the museum of Modern Art in Sao Paulo has created an original programme combining art, technology and ecology in collaboration with the Escola de l’Auditório Ibirapuera, the Planetário Artistóteles Orsini, and the Escola de Jardinagem.
- In China, the Shaanxi History Museum de Xi’an is inaugurating the exhibition Digital Museums which will present the digital construction, display, conservation and exchanges of collections of museums in Shaanxi.
- In Lithuania, the Kaunas City Museum invites the visitors to develop their creativity and ecological streak with the workshop “Don’t throw – create a miracle!” which combines creation and recycling.

Partners
For the second year in a row, the International Council of Museums is patronising the European Night of Museums, an event that follows International Museum Day on 19 May, in the spirit of an all-day and all-night museum weekend.

ICOM is also supporting the CNES Space Observatory initiative, which plans to offer a contemporary and original view on museum practices.

Visit the International Museum Day 2012 official website:
http://network.icom.museum/imd2012
Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/internationalmuseumday

Source: http://icom.museum/press-releases/press-release/article/launch-of-international-museum-day-2012-2.html
 

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