via Business World Online, 27 June 2022: An editorial by Jeremy Barns and Jorell M. Legaspi, the director-general and deputy director-general for museums, at the National Museum of the Philippines.
While we gained digital experience and confidence, we remembered to love and appreciate our physical spaces even more, especially in the many regions of our country that are struggling with internet connectivity. These imbalances in access factor very strongly in everything we do, encouraging a fully holistic direction in the way we ideate and develop exhibitions and programs for our several regional, area and site museums.
We rely on interdisciplinary collaboration and input from our various curatorial and research divisions, as well as consultations with local communities, drawing out as many perspectives and connections as we possibly can — a key approach the National Museum of the Philippines has always been very proud of. Most of these projects are being rolled out this year, with tremendous support from local government stakeholders and community partners, who will all play an important role in promoting and activating these exhibitions as platforms for capacity building and appreciation of our unique and wonderful heritage.
In carefully navigating the road to recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, museums should be open to transformation and commit to being exemplars of collaborative community-based practices and dedicated custodians of spaces where we could all hone and appreciate imagination and creativity, our tangible and intangible heritage, celebrate our rich Filipino patrimony, and express the many different versions of ourselves.
Source: Museums in the Philippines: Looking forward post-pandemic – BusinessWorld Online
