President Luis Abinader was at the Museum of Modern Art in Plaza de la Cultura for the celebration of the International Museum Day on 18 May 2021. He spoke of the importance of museums in Dominican culture and took advantage of the event to present his government’s new volunteer management committee to ensure the sustainability of the museums.
The President was accompanied by Culture Minister Carmen Heredia; Deputy Culture Minister Gamal Michelen (Monumental Heritage); Carlos Andújar, general director of Museums; Federico Fondeur, director of the Museum of Modern Art; Carlos Guzmán, executive director of Promuseos and José Miguel Bonetti, president of the Management Committee of Museum Volunteers.
President Abinader highlighted the role of museums to motorize the development, complementing the promotion of tourism and small business. He said museums are a way to present communities to visitors, as they tell about traditions and particularities.
He pointed out that museums are a fundamental place to know and learn, to be amazed by the creativeness of the museographies. He said the museums, as democratic spaces of knowledge, allow visitors to forge a clear and responsible vision of the realities they present.
The head of government said he is convinced that of the importance of working and strengthening the initiative of the volunteers, so that today’s investments in museums be guaranteed into in the future.
“As far as I am concerned, I am clearly convinced that this articulation with society must take place through the establishment of public-private alliances that allow us to join forces to turn our museums into attractive, informative and aesthetically conceived spaces for visual pleasure as an effective means of learning,” he said.
He sees museums need to be transformed into places for the fundamental support of national education, for the consolidation of our cultural identity, the strengthening of our growing tourism, and, in general, for the integral development of the nation.
He stressed that he will continue to build and strengthen the support nuclei for each museum, acting as a unifying axis between sectors of civil society, government, businessmen sensitive to culture and the scientific community and researchers, to strengthen the necessary commitment to ensure that they become true interactive spaces for the benefit of the public who visit them.
The head of state said that the lack of sustainability of museums, which has been a recurring concern within his administration’s plans, is being addressed with the creation of volunteers to facilitate the shared management of these cultural spaces.
He explained the volunteer groups integrate personalities from the business world and relevant public figures of art, science and culture, that meet to formulate and implement plans and projects to relaunch the museums, develop and innovate their museography and consolidate their institutionalism.
He said he is convinced that these objectives will be achieved in a reasonably short time and that for this the committee can count on the strong support of the government.
Museums in the Dominican Republic were closed from 19 March to 9 December 2020 for the pandemic. There has been a gradual reopening of these to the general public under new protocols.
Speaking at the event, Cultural Minister Carmen Heredia stressed the importance of museums, their historic, cultural and scientific roles. She stated: “Museums are essential spaces for the tangible and intangible, material and immaterial heritage of nations. In general, they serve to preserve the legacy of past civilizations, with representative works contributed by the peoples, in their daily chores, in the evolution and transformation of time. We are willing to continue working for the benefit of museums, the visual arts of the country and in defense of our cultural heritage, defying adversity, with optimism and faith in the future.”
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19 May 2021