Temporary Exhibitions: Exhibition Development and Capacity Building for Museums in East Africa

The Norwegian Government through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs supported the AFRICOM Exhibitions Development and Capacity Building Project for museums in East Africa in 2011.

This project had two main components: a training of trainers capacity building workshop on exhibition design and development; and the development of a temporary exhibition in each of the participating countries in order to put the skills gained during the workshop into practice as well as impart the same skills to other colleagues. During the workshop held from the 20th -22nd July at the Nairobi Museum, 30 participants from the five East African countries of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda were trained and they also shared experiences resulting in the exchange of information and skills on museum exhibition standards and best practices thereby building capacity and training trainers in exhibition planning, exhibition development, and exhibition support operation services. At the same time a network of museum professionals in the region was established.

The second component of the project which is the development of Temporary Exhibitions in each of the 5 East African Countries has reached an advanced stage with story lines having been developed and exhibition material identified and assembled. This is being spearheaded by the workshop participants who are imparting the knowledge and skills gained during the training to other colleagues working in their museums who did not attend the workshop in Nairobi.

We are happy to let you know that the developed story lines engage the audiences in socio-cultural themes in relation to heritage issues in the participating countries and the exhibitions are expected to be launched by the end of the year. The exhibitions currently being mounted in the countries are focusing on different themes as highlighted below:

BURUNDI

Exhibition: The traditional dances of Burundi

The Project comprises a collection of objects and documents on traditional dances to be presented to the Burundi public and tourists at the Gitega National Museum. The exhibition will be enlivened by the actual presence of some of the dancing groups, storytellers, and video projections. The main objective of this exhibition is to contribute towards the protection and development of national cultural heritage through:

- Encouraging re-establish of traditional dancers

- Promoting participation of locals in cultural activities

- Restore access to hidden treasures and values of traditional dances

- Showcase musical instruments used by dancers and promote their production

- Promote traditional dancing sites

The expected outcomes of the project include: better knowledge of museums and its activities; appreciation and safeguarding of heritage by local communities; collaboration between the museum institution and heritage guardians; acquisition of new exhibition material; capacity building of museum personnel and an improvement of the livelihoods of the involved communities.

KENYA:

Exhibition Title: Tambach: A heritage Town

Tambach is one of the oldest towns in Kenya. The general objective of Tambach Town exhibition will be to explore the evolution of the town during the colonial and independence periods and then highlight factors that made the town cease as the district administrative headquarters of the Elgeiyo/Marakwet District.

In telling the story of the town, the following are considerations that have guided the decisions on the themes content and interpretative plan:

· The starting of the story will be the development of the town in the 1920s

· The progression of the story will highlight socio-economic and political developments in the town from 1920 till today.

· The primary target audiences are Kenyans especially the school children.

· Visitors to Tambach will also be an important target group.

The exhibition will be at the Tambach Museum, within Iten County in Western Kenya.

UGANDA

Exhibition: Famine and Food Security

Uganda has an agriculturally based economy and most parts of the country receive plenty of rain with temperatures of around 20C. The climatic conditions favoring agriculture have changed due to many factors but most notable is the mass deforestation in most parts of the country. This has led to severe shortage of food in most parts of Uganda especially in areas considered the bread basket of the country such as Bukwo district.

The exhibition is being mounted at the Uganda National Museum in Kampala. The major aim of this exhibition is to raise awareness on the increasing famine and food insecurity among local communities especially in Uganda as well as to highlight ways of reducing food shortages. Through the sub-themes the exhibition will systematically address issues of famine such food insecurity and famine, history of famine, causes of famine, legal issues on food, food preservation methods and the opinions of the community members about the raised issues.

TANZANIA

Exhibition: An evaluation of Tanzania’s key historical events

This temporary exhibition will be showcased in the history gallery at the Museum and House of Culture in Dar es Salaam. Its major aim is to unfold the remarkable history of the people of the United Republic of Tanzania through vivid evidences which include authentic objects, pictures and documents portraying the history of Tanzania between the pre-colonial period and the present. The exhibition has been developed along the following themes:

Theme 1: Pre-Colonial Tanganyika

Theme 2: Colonial Tanganyika

Theme 3: Tanzania from Independence (1961) to 1992

Theme 4: Tanzania from 1992 to the Present

Theme 5: Father of the Nation Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere

Through this project the Museum and House of Culture will profoundly become a source of knowledge to schools, universities and other scholars and will attract new audiences, both local and international. It is also envisaged that the exhibition will contribute towards increased revenue generation and strengthen partnership and collaboration with both local and international communities.

We thank all the museums in East Africa who are part of the project for developing exhibitions that involve the participatory of other museum staffs as capacity building is key to the success of exhibitions in most museums on the continent. Exhibitions provide opportunities for museums to connect communities to the collections. The Norway-AFRICOM Partnership has succeeded in training a core group of museum professionals including directors, heads of public programs, curators, researchers, conservators, exhibition designers, education officers and tour guides. This core group is now imparting the skills to other museum professionals in their museums and countries while they undertake temporary and permanent exhibition programmes thus injecting new life into these museums. Through this project AFRICOM is partially fulfilling some of its constitutional objectives on contributing to the development of museums and museum professionals; and strengthening the collaboration and networking among museums and museum professionals in Africa.

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