The museum is the message

The Children's Museum, CSMV

Why do we need museums? To conserve and preserve the past, is perhaps the most generic answer. But museums need to be seen as more than just containers of objects - they remind us of what we can do better. Tomorrow being International Museum Day (IMD), organised by the International Council of Museums, step out of your home and engage in fun activities brought to you by institutions in the city.

A night to remember

Bilwa Kulkarni conducting a workshop at the CSMVS

"Museums are just not about the past, they are about the present and the future as well," says Bilwa Kulkarni, education officer at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS). To celebrate the day, the museum has events all day including a guided tour, an open mic and a storytelling session. What more? Fossilised eggs and bones of dinosaurs from India will be on display at the museum for the first time and Princess Aaliya Sultana Babi aka Princess Dinosaur will also be present.

Fossilised dinosaur egg from Balasinor

"We're also organising Night at the Children's Museum for the first time," Kulkarni says.

TIME 11 am onwards
AT CSMVS, Fort
EMAIL education@csmvs.in

Get to work

The primary aim of IMD, according to Ashvin Rajgopalan, director of the Piramal Museum, is to build a community. "Traditionally, the museum-going culture of any city has been defined as esoteric. I believe that this supposedly closed group can grow or prosper if museums take up the responsibility of igniting interest in more visitors," he says. The space will host free activities like paper marbling and clay modelling as well as workshops by experts for a fee of R499. These include tile making, thread painting and digital art.
The events are open to people of all age groups. As Rajgopalan says, "We hope that above everything else, they associate this day with fun and recreation, and also as a space that they would want to keep coming back to whenever they have the time."

TIME 11 am onwards
AT Piramal Museum of Art, Lower Parel
EMAIL artfoundation@piramal.com
COST Varies

Kiddy curator

A clay modelling workshop will be conducted at the museum

Those kids who are still curious after attending a museum exhibition will have an opportunity to learn what it takes to become a curator, at this workshop. Inspired by the museum's collection, they will be curating an image collage.

TIME 11.30 am to 2 pm
AT Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Byculla East.
COST Museum entry charges applicable

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