ÒMUSEOLOGY LESSONSÓ  Opening Ceremony
Yangon National Museum
Cecilia Brighi
ITALY- MYANMAR.TOGETHER. Ltd Gty
General Secretary
13.2.2019

Excellencies, Ambassador Schiavo, Director General Oo <kyaw Oo Lwin,  Rector U Myint Thien  Director General Kay Thi Soe, Dr. Nang Lao Ngin,
 Dr. Nu Mra Zan, Ladies and gentleman

It is a great honour  be at this Opening Ceremony.
 
During her visit to Rome  in May 2017,  the State Councillor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi asked to my Association ITALY-MYANMAR TOGETHER LTG  to work on a project to support the modernization of the Myanmar museum poles, to  enable them to become real social attractors and a leverage for cultural and social growth, enhancing  the existing great material and immaterial resources.

A path  that, in the future, can increase quality employment in the cultural sector. 
What we are starting today is an important pilot initiative, that aims to build exchanges of experiences, on equal basis, between Italian and Myanmar experts.  
Each party can learn from the other and,  I hope, can activate further common actions for the preservation of the Myanmar cultural, historical and architectural heritage, to produce material and immaterial wealth for Myanmar citizens, while developing local and international tourism.

A similar project is going to be implemented at the Mrauk U Museum and a representative of the National Museum and the University sector will have a study visit in Rome next April.
We are all aware that cultural heritage can play an important social role fighting the various phenomena of exclusions and becoming an experimental ground for new forms of cultural citizenship, promoting and supporting social cohesion, considering the public not only as consumers, but as actors that participate to the cultural production process.
Museums are democratic institutions, open to people from all walks of life, of all ages, genders, backgrounds and cultures. They can nurture new ways of thinking and encourage cross-cultural and intergenerational exchanges, in addition to playing an important role in preserving and enhancing cultural diversity.
Therefore, museums and culture have a great social role and responsibility toward the local communities.

We know that globally, museums, their missions, their civic, social responsibilities, and their modes of engagement with communities are in a constant process of transformation, in response  to new technologies, social and economic imperatives at local, national and global levels. 
It is a global challenge to stay relevant and be responsive to changes.
We know that museums can Òbring down barriersÓ that make difficult the access to museums and Òbuild bridgesÓ between various disciplines and types of knowledge, through lifelong education and with different groups, to assure that their actual necessities are met.

Museums have the important educational tasks particularly in a multi-ethnic society, such as  in Myanmar, with complex important history, heritage, cultures.
 This is a positive challenge that can stimulate exchanges, contamination, constructive dialogue between different communities, often in opposition in the past engaging the museums in new educational frontiers. 

The involvement of ethnic communities can develop positive pride in local traditions and customs, helping people to feel a sense of belonging and involvement, also through specific projects promoting cooperation across cultures. 
With the diffusion of digital technologies, hypermedia solutions and the Web are likely to answer to the new museologyÕs concern of projecting museums toward a social dimension, increasing cultural participation and learning through co-creation. 
Learning can become more inclusive and accessible through digital applications tailored to different needs.

These developments challenge museum experts, architects sociologist in the general concepts of new museums design, new systems of display, in enhancing and developing museums exhibitions, that can attract the public far more than museums per se and creating didactic materials that enable visitors to contextualize objects in the exhibits.
These great changes represent big challenges, that involve all of us, and we hope we can work together to overcome them


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Italia-Birmania insieme Onlus                                                                                   direzione@italiabirmania.org 
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