In the UK not much used to happen on Museums Day until the Campaign for
Museums organised Museums Week in 1994. It has since become an annual
event and this year will take place from Saturday 15 May to Sunday 23
May.

It's the biggest museums event in the world (they hope 1,000 museums
will take part this year) and is about raising the profile of museums
and getting people to think about just how much their local museums have
to offer, as well as encouraging them to discover new ones. It's up to
each museum to take advantage of the promotion Museums Week offers.

The themes this year are Food, Travel and Treasures. There is also an
initiative linked to the National Year of Reading: Design a Label. This
aims to improve the standard and understanding of labelling and captions
in museums and galleries. It will lead to a set of guidelines and
museums are encouraged to set up projects involving the public in
designing and writing labels during Museums Week. They also plan to have
a Caption Competition on the Museums Week website in May.

The Campaign for Museums is starting a schools initiative over three
years encouraging schools and museums to work together to develop
Museums in the Classroom, School, or in the museum itself. This year
they will produce an education pack for schools (and museums) aimed at
primary schools and pre-school groups with guidance and examples of
involving children in setting up their own museums. The pack will be
launched in Museums Week and distributed to schools during the Summer
and Autumn. A website version will be available in May. Once up and
running, schools and museums in joint projects will be invited to submit
entries for the most interesting efforts and these will be presented in
2000.

There will be a series of one day workshops around the UK to provide
museums with the knowledge and tools to market their Museums Week event
successfully.

More leaflets will be produces this year (to Tourist Information
Centres, libraries, museums) and the Radio Times and BBC Regional Radio
are involved.

The Campaign for Museums and Engage (National Association for Gallery
Education) successfully bid for a Millennium Festival grant to hold
Museums and Galleries Month in May 2000.

There is much more information on the website about all of this:

http://www.museumsweek.co.uk

As an ordinary museum-goer I feel very enthusiastic about Museums Week.
In the past there has been too much complacency about our wonderful
museums and galleries and so many organisations in the museums world in
the UK all with their different view points. The Campaign for Museums
seems able to pull them together with a common aim but it is still up to
each museum to make the most of the opportunities and ideas presented.

Best wishes,

Rosemary Silvester
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