The Western Visayas Association of Museums, Inc. (WVAMI) looks forward to more community museums established in local government units (LGUs) with the support of their community.

“We have different kinds of museums, but here, in provinces, in municipalities, we encourage them to build. It doesn’t have to be big museums. When you say community museums, it is community-based, in a small venue. You can curate, you can display, you can bring your assets in your community,” said Cheryl Ann del Rosario, WVAMI president, which has about 40 members consisting of museums, cultural workers, and the academe.

In an interview at the forum “Cultivating Awareness and Inclusivity: Harnessing the Museum’s Potential,” facilitated by the National Museum Western Visayas, she said museums were not popular when she started 10 years ago.

She was elated that many people were now visiting museums.

Del Rosario underscored the need to start to expose elementary learners to art and culture, and the importance of preserving history and old structures, among others.

Meanwhile, Visayas National Museums Director II Cecil Tirol, in a separate interview, said October is the only month dedicated to museums and galleries.

Through the forum, Toril said, they would also like to highlight the impact of Indigenous Peoples, which is also celebrated in October.

She said they are among the groups where not much attention is given, but “they have so much to give so far as the cultivation of the culture-sensitive mindset or awareness.”

“They gave us an insight as to how rural communities live. And their arts and cultivation of whatever natural resources they have, is something different from the modern world. We gain so many insights as to how they continue to live notwithstanding modernization,” she said.

National Museum Western Visayas supervising administrative officer Honey Beso said the forum was also a venue for museums and heritage workers to talk about how they can position themselves in attaining Sustainable Development Goals. (PNA)