By Iminza Keboge
Published May 21, 2020
Some 90 percent of the world’s 95 000 museums are closed and more than 13 percent of them are unlikely to re-open even in the after COVID-19 period.
Studies by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and International Council of Museums (ICOM) released on the occasion of International Museum Day also show that only 5% of these houses of culture, particularly in Africa and what the studies refer to as Small Island Developing States (SIDS), can offer online content to their audiences.
The studies, UNESCO and ICOM say, were were aimed at assessing the impact of COVID-19 on museums and museum institutions besides looking at how the sector had adapted to the pandemic and exploring ways in which to support the institutions in its aftermath.
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“Museums play a fundamental role in the resilience of societies. We must help them cope with this crisis and keep them in touch with their audiences,” says Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO. “This pandemic also reminds us that half of humanity does not have access to digital technologies. We must work to promote access to culture for everyone, especially the most vulnerable and isolated.”
Within the framework of its ResiliArt movement, UNESCO says it launched a series of debates devoted to museums in mid-May 2020.
The first three debates, in partnership with Ibermuseums, will focus on the situation in the Ibero-American region and will explore strategies to support museums and professionals. The ResiliArt movement aims to support artists during and after the COVID-19 crisis and to analyse the issues at stake, through high-level exchanges between international professionals from the cultural sphere.
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The study conducted by ICOM highlights the fact that museums that have been deprived of their visitors will face a decrease in their income. Professions related to museums, their operations and their outreach could also be seriously affected.
“We are fully aware of and confident in the tenacity of museum professionals to meet the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic,” says Suay Aksoy, President of ICOM. “However, the museum field cannot survive on its own without the support of the public and private sectors. It is imperative to raise emergency relief funds and to put in place policies to protect professionals and self-employed workers on precarious contracts.”
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That the number of museums worldwide has increased by almost 60% since 2012 to some 95,000 institutions according to the UNESCO study demonstrates the important place that the sector has taken in national cultural policies over the past decade. However, the study reveals wide disparities, with Africa and SIDS together accounting for only 1.5% of the total number of museums worldwide.
These findings, UNESCO says, echo the latest report on the implementation by its Member States of the 2015 UNESCO Recommendation Concerning the Protection and Promotion of Museums and Collections, their Diversity and their Role in Society, published in December 2019. In it, UNESCO says it underlines the fundamental role that museums play in education and the dissemination of culture, in terms of social cohesion but also in supporting the local and regional creative economy.
UNESCO and ICOM, that say will soon publish the full results of their two studies, say they will continue their collaboration in supporting museums worldwide.
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