Each year since 1977, the worldwide museum community celebrates International Museum Day on and around May 18. 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 peoples.” This year’s theme ‘The Future of Museums: Recover and Re-imagine’ invite museums to revisit their practice and create new means to engage their communities and help them recover. The past year has been challenging for both museums and their audiences but the museums have been relentless in creating connections.
During the pandemic, the Bahrain National Museum has experimented with different ways to stay connected with its audiences and to forge new connections through virtual education. To celebrate International Museum Day, the National Museum developed an interactive educational game centered on the Dilmun burial traditions in Bahrain. This learning tool invites children aged 7 to 12 to explore their inner archaeologists and learn about the burials and their content. It includes the identification of burial mound types and classification of artefacts from the collections of the Bahrain National Museum. The game is accessible on BACA’s website and can be downloaded on android and apple devices.
Additionally, the National Museum is starting a collaborative community initiative Educational Institutes to curate an educational project for young audiences. The proposed project invites young individuals to create a display that explores the pearling tradition of Bahrain and its material expression in an engaging and informative presentation.
This initiative aims at developing an exhibition that is curated by children for children. It encourages young audiences to connect with the pearling past and communicate their own understanding of this important period in the history of Bahrain. The young participants should conduct their own research about pearling and visit the sites in Muharraq in order to design their projects to show what they have learned. This exercise will allow children to acquire, use and communicate their knowledge creatively. The museum will provide resources and define the guidelines, but the development of the project and its materialization will be open to endless possibilities.
The final project will be displayed at the Pearling Main Visitors Centre. Submissions are going to be accepted through BACA website www.culture.gov.bh until 31 December 2021.