International Museum Day is a day established at the initiative of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) and held annually on May 18. The event highlights a specific theme that changes every year to promote cultural exchange and cooperation among peoples. This year's theme is Museums for Equality: Diversity and Inclusion.
Due to the current situation with the coronavirus threat, museums of Azerbaijan will celebrate International Museum Day online.
Thus, within the Virtual Museum Tour project, famous public figures will become our guides, take us to a virtual tour around the museum's permanent exhibition, and talk about carpets and other samples of decorative and applied arts in Azerbaijani, English, and Russian. More, for the first time in our museum practice, the tour will be accompanied by sign language translation consistent with the motto Museums for Equality: Diversity and Inclusion!
Furthermore, this day, the Azerbaijan National Carpet Museum and the Russian Ethnographic Museum will organize the online conference and discuss ongoing work within the joint project Treasures of Azerbaijan in the Russian Ethnographic Museum Collection, both museums' virtual activity, and exchange their experience in this direction.
On May 18, 2 pm Baku time, for the first time, the National Museum of Art of Azerbaijan will present the exhibition of paintings by children with vision disabilities. These paintings were created by students of the Republican Special Boarding School No.5 and the Rehabilitation Center during masterclass led by Georgi Guraspashvili, Professor at the Tbilisi Academy of Arts. The masterclass was a part of the international seminar Art Without Borders. The virtual exhibition will be available on the museum’s Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
The Azerbaijan State Museum of Musical Culture will present its collections to a wide audience in three languages: Listen to What We Have; Fine Arts in the Azerbaijan State Museum of Musical Culture. The presentation will be adapted to people with disabilities. The audio and video anthology prepared by the museum will include posts about national and world musical instruments. The Museum Ensemble of Ancient Musical Instruments will give a festive concert to congratulate museum workers around the world.
On May 19, the YARAT Contemporary Art Center plans to implement an urban multimedia project where they present to the public exclusive artworks. Viewers will be able to get acquainted with museum collections and exhibition projects dedicated to various historical periods and topics. The artworks for the project will be presented by the Azerbaijan National Carpet Museum, the Museum of Azerbaijani Painting of the 20th-21st Centuries, the National Museum of Hungary, the National Museum of Latvia, and the YARAT Contemporary Art Center. The viewers will be able to observe the show from their windows and balconies without need to leave home.
The National Museum of the History of Azerbaijan has developed an online project One Touch - A Thousand Values. As part of the project, on May 18 at 10:20 am, Sevinj Nasirova, Head of the Museum's Ethnographic Science Foundation, PhD in Arts will inform the public about the protection of cultural heritage and future joint activities of museums in the Dikdaban public television program.
Gobustan National Historical and Artistic Reserve has announced on social networks the media campaign Be on the Rock of Gobustan! Those who want to join this campaign should send their photos taken in Gobustan to the reserve’s Facebook and Instagram. These photos will be used in the poster design in Gobustan. Furthermore, this day at 3 pm, the reserve will arrange a live meeting on Facebook with the ceramics artist Mir Teymur Mammadov.
On May 18, the Icherisheher Museum Center will present a video Promotion of Inclusive Education Through Traditional Arts about the first program of inclusive education for artistic and creative expression in the field of culture, implemented by the Museum Center of the Administration of the State State Historical-Architectural Reserve "Icherisheher" together with the European Union and UN Development Programme.
The Azerbaijan Independence Museum will conduct an online tour Equality for vulnerable groups within society on May 18 at noon on Zoom.
The Azerbaijan State Museum of Theater after Jafar Jabbarli will join the celebration with the program World Belongs to All of Us, which includes a virtual exhibition of paintings by children with autism spectrum disorders from the Birgə və Sağlam Public Association, as well as a live broadcast a play Blue Bird of the inclusive theater Əsa. The virtual exhibition will be live on the museum’s Facebook at noon, and the performance at 5 pm.
The House Museum of Jafar Jabbarli will present the Morning Star photo exhibition, introducing visitors to unique historical exhibits stored in the museum, as well as photographs reflecting successful projects and interesting events implemented by the museum in different years.
On May 5-18, the Khachmaz Museum of History and Local Lore holds an online painting contest Mysterious and Magical World among schoolchildren under the motto Museums for Equality: Diversity and Inclusion and My Exhibit. Students send their drawings of favorite museums or exhibits, as well as their photos to the museum’s Facebook and Instagram. Winners will receive diplomas and gifts.
On May 18, at 11 am, the Masalli Museum of History and Local Lore will arrange on its Facebook a virtual presentation Past and Present of Our Folklore accompanied by the Khalai folk music and dance ensemble. – N
