Posted on May 10, 2010
Cast your mind back to your school days. Through the haze of time, try to remember a time when your class went on an outing, perhaps to a museum or historic site. At this point, for many of us, the haze recedes and a vivid image comes into focus. Perhaps you were intrigued as to how your grandmother could have stood the heat in her nineteenth century attire; perhaps you were nervous as you stood in (or outside) an imposing building where you felt you did not belong (or were not allowed); or perhaps you were just happy to ride on a bus with all your friends and escape the humdrum of class routine. Whether the memory is fond or not, museums send powerful messages about the history, heritage, culture, art or identity that is (or isn't) valued in a society and these messages and experiences often remain in our long-term memories.

The challenge for me, as a museum educator, is to harness this memorable quality of the museum space and the unique opportunities that its artefacts offer to create a focused and rewarding learning experience. A learning experience that sparks a desire to question and learn more, that connects to the world beyond the museum walls - a nudge to see the world a little differently; a learning experience that leaves the residue of positive museum memories.

Western Cape Museum Educator Group Formed

Museum educators need this nudge to learn and develop sometimes too! Thus, a group of educators involved in developing and delivering education programmes in museums and other non-traditional/informal learning environments have established the Western Cape Museum Educator Group. This group will meet quarterly to network, share experiences with peers, learn about new ideas and discuss common issues related to our field. In this way, we hope to professionalise museum education in South Africa.

The April kick-off meeting, held at the Gold of Africa Museum in Cape Town, was a great success with 27 representatives from wide range of institutions. At the meeting we decided on how the group is going to function. We will meet four times a year at a different host site each time. Each meeting will consist of us sharing experiences, challenges and insights on a particular topic and possibly getting input from a speaker. A key element of the meetings will be a tour or taster of the host site. In between meetings we will communicate and share resources via a listserve.

Upcoming meetings for 2010

Thursday 15 July at Die Afrikaanse Taalmuseum en -monument, Paarl:
Strategies for designing and presenting programmes to 2nd/3rd language English-speakers.

Tuesday 12 October hosted by A Whale of a Heritage Route, Muizenberg:
Marketing on a shoestring

For more information or to join the group, contact Helen Joannides on h_joannides@hotmail.com.

If you are not in the Western Cape, you can always see what we are chatting about on http://groups.google.com/group/wcme. To contribute to the online chat, you will need to join the group.

Helen Joannides is the part-time Museum Educator at the Gold of Africa Museum in Cape Town and a heritage consultant. Her two particular areas of interest are developing educational programmes and archives.