October, 2011 - Cross-Cultural Foundation of Uganda(CCFU)

Contents:
1) News updates
2) Are our museums
still living museums?
Uganda Community Museums Association
Newsletter
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Are our museums still ‘living’ museums?
Kikonzo language
center
Dear all, greetings from the UCOMA Secretariat
and from CCFU
The 25th edition of our newsletter is revisiting the
concept of a living museum. The choice of this
issue was based on the need to examine the vibrancy
of our museums. In the training on Museum
management in 2009 at Munyonyo, emphasis
was placed on the need to promote community
museums as living museums to reflect the dynamism
of culture, engage community members and
enhance the value of visiting our museums. See
page 2 for details.
As has been our tradition, let us first find out
what has been happening at the different museums,
CCFU and with UCOMA.
NEWS UPDATES
Update on UCOMA registration.
We are happy to inform you that UCOMA has
been fully registered with the national NGO
board. The registration certificate was issued on
the 17th July 2011.
Mutesi Monica of CACISA museum and Ali Ssempereza
of the Butambala Heritage for Civilization
are hosting a steering committee on 3rd November
at CACISA museum in Ggaba to discuss plans
for 2012. An official communication will be issued
to the steering committee members by Monica at
an appropriate time.
Update on the Heritage Education Programme
Thanks to the museums which disseminated the
call for heritage entries for a national competition.
More than 109 entries have been received. A
jury of experts have been identified to evaluate
the entries and select the best 12 which will be
used to produce a national heritage calendar for
2012.
The 3 participating museums in the heritage education
programme, Ediirisa, Cultural Research
Centre and the Cultural Assets Centre have progressed
well with the implementation of outreach
activities with secondary schools.
Inter-schools board
game competition, one
of the quarter final
games; St. Johns’ SS
player (L) takes St.
Monica’s SS player (R).
The captain of Mother
Kevin SS Gideon Otto
(L) and Andrew
Malimba (R) pose with
the trophy the school
won from the Interschools
heritage board
game tournament on
1 st –October -2011.
The Cultural Assets Centre museum in Kagadi
has completed the creation of a forest trail exhibiting
herbal medicines and elements of the
natural environment. A TV set has also been
purchased to expose young people to heritage
issues through film shows.
The Home of Edirisa museum have ordered for
instruments such as drums and calabashes to
enrich the museum and supported the formation
of heritage clubs in 3 schools, namely, Kabale
Trinity College, Kabale Secondary and Kabale
Brain Storm High School.
News from CCFU
Update on Prince Claus Fund
CCFU has embarked on the implementation of
a project funded by Prince Claus which aims at
producing publications on experiences of community
museums. This involves developing 12
catalogues for Community Museums, a publication
and a DVD film. Catalogues for CACISA
Museum in Ggaba, Kawere African Museum at
Nsangi, Uganda Martyrs University Nkozi Museum,
and St. Luke Museum in Kyotera four
Community Museums were completed by the
end of September.
Ankole Drama Actors in Isingiro, the Home of
Edirisa in Kabale and the Batwa Cultural Experience
in Kanungu have also been documented.

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Kabalega
Development Founda-
Community Museums in the media:
On the 27th September which was a World
Tourism Day, the New Vision published an article
written by Nsibambi Fredrick calling upon
government to support Community Museums
as one of the ways to boost local tourism. In
the article the role and potential of community
museums in the area of research, education,
tourism was emphasized.
ARE OUR MUSEUMS STILL LIVING
MUSUEMS?
During the training on managing Community
Museums in 2009, Dr. Kamuhangire explained
that a living museum constantly generates new
ideas to bring to its artefacts and stories to life.
A visit to a museum then leaves a lasting impression
and is an experience that is remembered
and shared. This concept is in contrast to
the more conventional museums that tend to
be static, often irrelevant to the local population’s
learning and information needs, sometimes
depict African culture as backward.
Examples of how to make Community Museums
“living” included making video recordings of
donors as they explain why they donate objects;
linking collections to live dance and drama performances,
linking the museum to local radio
programmes; having annual cultural exhibitions;
linking the collection to contemporary events
and development challenges, such as peace
building; partnering with government and other
institutions such as Uganda Wildlife Authority.
Let us reflect on how much we have done to
make our museums lively and relevant to community
needs. If members of the community do
not feel that the museums are part of them or
at least represent their values, they will not support
them.
But what is a “living museum?”
It is a museum that recreates to the fullest extent
conditions of a culture, natural environment or
historical period and connect with members of
the community. Sometimes, a drama performing
group of historical re-enactment of historical
scenes in historical buildings is considered as a
living museum.
Living museums present an accurate portrayal of
what life was like in a certain time period with the
use of live acting, in addition to books and photographs.
These museums provide a more active,
hands-on learning environment.
This mind map was developed during the 2009
training in Munyonyo. It presents ideas on what is
considered to be a living museum.
Signs of a museum that is not living?
These may include:
1. A museum that is not open to the public especially
to members of the neighbouring communities
2. Lack of access to museum objects in case
they are all in store or are glass cased with
‘do not touch’ labels
3. Absence of social-cultural events to engage
community members
4. Weak link with the evolving value and significance
attached to artefacts
5. Limited demonstrations and opportunities to
transfer skills and knowledge to members of
the community

P A G E 2
U G A N D A C O M M U N I T Y M U S E U M S A S S O C I A T I O N N E W S L E T T E R
The home of Edirsa
Buganda Museum
-
Butambala Heritage
Center for Civilization
-Karamoja Women Cultural
Group-Karamoja
-Ankore
Isingiro
Dramactors-
-Attitude change museum
-Bulemba Museums in
Rwenzori Mountains
-C.N. Kikonyogo Money
Museum
5. Lack of appropriate programmes for different
categories of community members for instance,
young people, tourists and elderly people
6. Lack of creativity in a museum where one object
is showcased to the public for a long period
7. Lack of new collections
Some examples of living museums
1. The Home of Edirisa museum: it engages
with community members including young
people
2. Igongo Cultural Museum: it also engages
community members of all age groups with
different events.
3. Cultural Research Centre Museum: It engages
young people from schools as well
researchers from tertiary institutions.
4. Cultural Assets Centre: It engages members
of the community with different activities
including radio programmes on the cultural
heritage of Bunyoro.
5. Batwa Cultural Experiences: This museum
allows the Batwa people to recreate their
traditional lifestyles and showcase them to
other members of the community including
tourists.
What can we do to maintain the lively nature
of our museums and to ‘resurrect’
those that are on a ‘deathbed’?
1. Organize social-cultural events at our museums
not only as a way of publicizing our museums
but also as a way of engaging with
community members.
2. Encourage community participation. This can
take the form of involvement as a volunteers.
For example, encouraging community
members to collect objects and preserve
them in your museum. This further connects
community members to the museum if the
objects are attributed to them.
3. Organize exciting activities to engage young
and old people such as board game competitions.
4. Encourage members of the community to
form “friends of the museum” associations.
Through this kind of associations members
can boost visitation to the museum as well
as enhancing the appreciation and understanding
of cultural heritage objects preserved
inside the museum.
5. Develop simple publicity materials such as
fliers giving information about your museum
activities for different age groups. The fliers
can be distributed in places like bus/taxi
parks, super markets, restaurants and
schools among other places.
6. Provide opportunities for community members
to exhibit and transfer their knowledge
and skills e.g. during a Museum Open
day or a Cultural Quiz
7. Take the museum to the community. Organize
mini-exhibitions during public gatherings
or trade shows or community markets.
Ankole Cultural Drama Actors museum
and Cultural Research Centre Jinja, have
done this before quite successfully for the
public and schools, respectively. Find out
how they did it—Call CRC on 0772844221
and Ankole Museum on 0776121945 now!
Why do we need living museums?
Because the younger generations are the custodians
of our cultural heritage and this is one
important way to capture and retain their interest
in their heritage.
In Uganda, Community Museums are not well
known but have the advantage of being closer
to the people and have the potential of restoring
the appreciation of heritage. But they are
also faced with stiff competition from other
attractions such as computer games, movies,
television, etc.
We hope the information in this edition will
help to make a difference in our museums and
in how we engage with members of the community.
From the editors we wish you all the best!
Nsibambi
Fredrick
(CCFU)
Mutesi Monica
(CACISA)
Oloka Fred (CRC)
P E O P L E ’ S M U S E U M N E W S L E T T E R