On January 25, 2019, the International Council of Museums (ICOM) released the theme and poster for this year's International Museum Day. At the center of the poster is a location marker corresponding to the theme of museum day, "Museums as Cultural Hubs: The future of tradition."

Before the International Museum Day on May 18, CGTN interviewed Zhang Peng, a museum education promoter, who shares his views on this year's theme and the significance of museum education.

The theme

The ICOM explains this year's theme:

"While preserving their primary missions – collecting, conservation, communication, research, exhibition – museums have transformed their practices to remain closer to the communities they serve. Today they look for innovative ways to tackle contemporary social issues and conflict. By acting locally, museums can also advocate and mitigate global problems, striving to meet the challenges of today's society proactively."

The theme focuses on the role of museums as active participants in the community and society and advocates that museums should enhance the public's cultural identity and sense of belonging.

As Zhang Peng mentioned, there are many museums rooted in the community. Among the 5,136 museums in China, many are medium and small, yet with rich connotations; but unfortunately the number of visitors is really small.

As a "cultural hub," museums are obliged to building a platform for exchanges and dialogues between different civilizations, maintaining cultural diversity and promoting interconnection among different cultures.

"In my opinion, museums are not only the carrying center of knowledge and information but also the center of interaction among the general public. So these small and medium museums can play a greater role in the effect," said Zhang.

"With the change of new media, new technology and the public's demand for public education space, we need to think about the ways and media to spread the content of museum education in the future," Zhang added.

How to draw young people's attention?

As revealed in Sohu's report in 2018, in recent years, the number of Chinese teenage visitors has increased by more than 20 percent every year, and the content of museum education is becoming more and more colorful.

It is not just the number of museums, exhibits, and visitors that is increasing, but also the number of in-depth museum courses.

According to Zhang, there are three ways to attract young people to museums. First, to really understand the needs of teenagers and their cognitive, interest points.

"For example, we will require our teachers to have a deep understanding of middle school history textbooks or primary school Chinese textbooks, so as to stimulate teenager's inner learning efficiency," Zhang indicated.

"Second, we always believe that museum education is interdisciplinary," he added. Such as rhino-shaped bronze zun (wine vessel) inlaid with gold and silver, an object from the National Museum of China, Zhang said, "We can analyze it from a variety of perspectives, such as science and works of literature."

"We hope to bring teenagers an interdisciplinary learning space in museums," Zhang said.

Then, Zhang mentioned that the education of museums is three-dimensional. We can promote the reading and curriculum of museum books so that teenagers can continue the learning method of museums in a larger space. Find more possibilities for their personal growth.

At present, China's museum education has not been included in the national education system and the teaching plan of primary and secondary schools, and there are many places that simply equate exhibitions with education. 

In the face of the rapid development of new media and the change of audience reception and experience habits, many museums are innovating their means of communication and education.

(Head image by Jia Jieqiong)