Participants at the UNESCO High-level Forum on Museums in Shenzhen yesterday. Liu Minxia

Liu Minxia

mllmx@msn.com

Engaging community visitors while wooing international tourists is a challenge for museums across the world, but a group of museum veterans from home and abroad shared their tactics and results while trying to fulfill this mission during the UNESCO High Level Forum on Museums in Shenzhen yesterday.

Neal Spencer, assistant keeper of the Department of Ancient Egypt and the Sudan at the British Museum and chairman of the panel discussion, said it’s a challenge for all museums to make museums and exhibitions resonate at the same time with both national and international audiences.

Luisa De Pena Diaz, director and CEO of Memorial Museum of Dominican Resistance, told the audiences her museum, opened to the public in 2011, has partnered with schools to offer education programs as the museum was built as a reminder to future generations that the past must not be forgotten, lest the present be taken for granted.

A manifestation of the darkest corners of national memory, the Memorial Museum of Dominican Resistance honors the men and women who fought the dictatorial regime of Rafael Leonidas Trujillo.

Featuring replications of infamous torture centers, dioramas of particular historical episodes and a record where families can register Trujillo Era victims of violence and crime, the museum gave young visitors a chance to see with their own eyes what they have learned in textbooks, Diaz said.

Lim Tit-meng, chief executive of Science Center Singapore, showed through photos a wide range of programs the museum has crafted to interact with the audience. The programs, including creative science competitions, science festivals, an annual maker fair and theater performances, have engaged a large audience in the past years, he said.

“Our museum serves a large and diverse community consisting of students, the general public as well as tourists,” Lim said.

Lu Yue, deputy director of the Sichuan Museum in southwestern China, is especially proud for being able to offer programs like “Mobile Museum” and “Little Tour Guide.”

Through “Mobile Museum,” Lu and his colleagues have brought their collections to 78 remote and mountainous areas in Sichuan Province, giving millions of people in less developed areas opportunities to observe history and learn.

Editor: Jane Chen