Support a local museum this International Museum Day

On 18 May we celebrate International Museum Day. This year, the global theme is “The Power of Museums”. Our Museum Service has been doing a lot of work across our province to illustrate the worth of museums to our communities.

Museums play a very important role in preserving and telling the stories of our country. It is crucial that we tell the stories of all our communities. That is why our department has recently opened various new exhibitions that ensure  all communities see themselves reflected in these spaces. This includes the new “Dorpies” exhibition at the Stellenbosch museum, which was recently opened, as well as exhibitions at the George and Tulbagh museums, which tell the histories of all the communities in the area.

Our department has also created travelling exhibitions which tell the stories of icons like Dulcie September and Imam Haron, as well as the “My name is February” exhibition – all these exhibitions have captured narratives which were often left out of our history books. We aim to have a museum service that tells the stories of all our communities and of the community heroes of the past.

Our Museum Service is also moving innovatively in the use of technology in our exhibitions – the Togryers Museum in Ceres recently launched their virtual historical tour of Ceres exhibition while the George museum also has an extensive virtual exhibition on the history of the local people.

Museums have the power to bring healing and connect our communities through the stories that they tell and preserve for future generations. I encourage all the people of the Western Cape to visit and support their local museums – not only for International

Museum Day but throughout the year. I am extremely proud of our museum service for the work they do to bring our local people together, but also in stimulating our economy through tourism and job creation.