Museums role in modren era highlighted

By Mahtab Bashir

ISLAMABAD: A workshop was organised on ‘21st Century Skills for Museum Professionals’ here at the Lok Virsa (LV), Shakarparian on Wednesday to highlight significance of museums in the modern age.

Information, Research and Communication (IRC) Unit of Embassy of the United States of America in collaboration with Lok Virsa (LV) organised the workshop. Around 25 museum personnel, researchers, archivists and other professionals attended the workshop.

LV Executive Director (ED) Khalid Javaid, in his opening address, welcomed the participants and thanked the US Embassy for providing an opportunity to people associated with museums and libraries to learn.

Highlighting importance of the museums, the ED said, “Museums have a great significance in people’s lives because they creatively depict and portray cultural environment of people. We can rightly call museums rich treasures of our glorious cultural heritage.”

Sharing efforts made by LV to promote museums in Pakistan with participants, Javaid said, “LV is proud of having established the first ever ethnological museum in Pakistan showcasing the country’s living cultural traditions and lifestyles of people.”

Explaining LV’s future projects, he said, “Presently, we are actively working on a proposal to introduce a subject on museums at the National Institute of Cultural Studies (NICS), a newly established venture under private-public partnership.

He said that for this purpose, assistance had been sought from Germany to provide services of an expert, who would not only teach students at NICS but also hold regular workshops and training sessions for persons employed at different museums in Pakistan.

“I think it would be of great help to all of us working for the promotion of museums in Pakistan,” he expressed the optimism.

IRC Director Afshan Amir briefed the gathering on the resources and services of the IRC Public Affairs Section, while Reference Specialist Umar Farooq gave a presentation on ‘21st Century Skills for the Museum Professionals’. He also displayed popular websites of museums in the United States.

Rashid Ahmer, an Archaeological Conservator, shared with the audience his experience of visits to various museums in the United States.

Professionals took keen interest in the workshop and shared their views on museums and archaeological research in Pakistan.

Talking to Daily Times (DT), a participant said, “This was an excellent get together of professionals dealing with museums and libraries in Pakistan.”

Meanwhile, Ministry of Culture Additional Secretary SM Tahir also attended the workshop. He highly appreciated role the US Embassy played in creating awareness among the museum personnel and library staff by organising the workshop.

He assured them Ministry of Culture’s full cooperation and assistance for the continuation of these workshops in future as well.

The workshop concluded with remarks by an American diplomat who highlighted contribution of the US Embassy to the preservation of historical sites in Pakistan.

Courtesy: Daily Times