The Virgin Islands will join the rest of the world in observing International Museum Day on the 18^th of May under the theme “The Power of Museums”.

Director of Culture, Dr. Katherine Smith, stated that several activities have been planned for the week from May 16 to 20 for the Territory’s secondary schools. These she said include a focus on the many exciting careers that exist within the museums sector. These include, among others, museum curator, collections manager, exhibition designer, museum educator, marketing manager, public programmer and exhibition installer.

Dr. Smith added that presentations will also include written and visual descriptions of what these professions do, as well as the qualifications required for these careers. They will use the local as well as the international museum sector as context.

The Director said, “If we want to begin exploring the “power of museums” more effectively in the Territory, we must begin to expand our museums’ offerings – in all ways. One way to do this is to begin to seek professional qualifications in various aspects of the museum sector, and these careers are quite diverse and exciting.”

This year’s activities are also expected to reflect the theme “The Power of Museums” through exploring the power of the stories behind the actual artefact – storytelling.

The Department of Culture has engaged with its museum curators as storytellers and has developed a short video series around this topic.  In order to view the storytelling videos, follow on Facebook @Virgin Islands Department of Culture for the following:

The following contains the schedule for secondary school visits: