Bhubaneswar: At a time when museums are facing unprecedented challenges amidst Covid-19 scourge, museum authorities and professionals associated with the industry felt the need for exploring advanced digital tools to keep their audiences engaged.
Odisha State Museum in association with The Heritage Consortium, Patna Wednesday started a webinar series titled ‘Rainbow: The hope’.
They invited all museum professionals to come forward and participate in this webinar and share their views.
On the inaugural day of the webinar on the theme Covid: Museum: challenges, Tourism, Odia Language, Literature and Culture Minister Jyoti Prakash Panigrahi said, “A museum is a mirror of a state. The museums showcase the history of a state and its rich tradition and culture which is very important for the learning of our students and future generation.”
Unfortunately, the museums are out of bounds for the public owing to the pandemic, he stated.
“At this juncture, it is essential to explore the digital tools for capturing the attention of the audiences. We had already started this in our state. As of now, this is the only way for continue the museum activities and public interaction,” said the minister.
Principal Secretary to Odia Language, Literature and Culture department Bishnupada Sethi said that the pandemic has stopped the plans of collaboration with other state museums in Chennai and Bihar.
Sethi said that very soon the government will launch Kalinga Gallery of contemporary art in the State Museum which is fully ready. This apart, a Mahatma Gandhi gallery will also be launched soon to celebrate the 150th Birth Centenary of Mahatma Gandhi. Sethi said, “The current scenario tells us to adopt the virtual space completely for now. We need to understand that this will be the reality for some time.”
On the occasion, chief speaker of the webinar Anamika Biswas, Deputy Director of SAARC Cultural Centre, Colombo said that online is the best way for museums to reach the global audience.
She said that Covid has brought challenges for museums across the world in terms of social distancing, lockdowns and for many the museum visit is not a necessary activity. “In such a situation, we have to use the digital way to provide e-content to people,” she added.