International Museum Day (IMD) is an international day a celebration that held every year on or around 18 May, coordinated by the International Council of Museums (ICOM). The event highlights a specific theme that changes every year and that is at the heart of the international museum community’s preoccupations.
The IMD provides the opportunity for museum professionals to meet the public and alert them as to the challenges that museums face. Indeed, following the definition of museums provided by ICOM, a museum is a non-profit, permanent institution in the service of society and its development, open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits the tangible and intangible heritage of humanity and its environment for the purposes of education, study and enjoyment. International Museum Day therefore serves as a platform to raise public awareness on the role museums play in the development of society today, on an international level.
History
Each year, all museums in the world are invited to participate in IMD to promote the role of museums around in the world, creating unique, enjoyable and free activities around a theme discussed within the ICOM community for this special day. Since its creation in 1977,[1] International Museum Day has gained increasing attention. In 2009, International Museum Day attracted the participation of 20,000 museums hosting events in more than 90 countries. In 2010, 98 countries participated in the celebration, with 100 in 2011, and 30,000 museums in 129 countries in 2012.[citation needed] In 2011, the official IMD poster was translated into 37 languages. Since 2012, this number jumped by one to 38.
Themes
- 2017 - Museums and Contested Histories: Saying the unspeakable in museums
- 2016 – Museums and Cultural Landscapes
- 2015 – Museums for a Sustainable Society
- 2014 – Museum collections make connections
- 2013 – Museums (memory + creativity = social change)
- 2012 – Museums in a changing world. New challenges, new inspirations
- 2011 – Museum and memory
- 2010 – Museums for social harmony
- 2009 – Museums and tourism
- 2008 – Museums as agents of social change and development
- 2007 – Museums and universal heritage
- 2006 – Museums and young people
- 2005 – Museums bridging cultures
- 2004 – Museums and intangible heritage (Intangible cultural heritage)
- 2003 – Museums and friends
- 2002 – Museums and globalisation
- 2001 – Museums: building community
- 2000 – Museums for peace and harmony in society
- 1999 – Pleasures of discovery
- 1998–1997 – The fight against illicit traffic of cultural property
- 1996 – Collecting today for tomorrow
- 1995 – Response and responsibility
- 1994 – Behind the scenes in museums
- 1993 – Museums and indigenous peoples
- 1992 – Museums and environment