TCI: Museum Day Event “Back in the Day” – International Council of Museums (ICOM) 

TurksandCaicos, May 16, 2018 – Providenciales – According to International Council of Museums (ICOM) Statutes, adopted by the 22nd General Assembly in Vienna, Austria on August 24th, 2007:

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. This definition is referenced in the international museum community.

UNESCO’s definition of Intangible Cultural Heritage includes traditions or living expressions inherited from our ancestors and passed on to our descendants, such as oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festive events, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe or the knowledge and skills to produce traditional crafts.

As stated by UNESCO: community-based intangible cultural heritage can only be heritage when it is recognized as such by the communities, groups or individuals that create, maintain and transmit it – without their recognition, nobody else can decide for them that a given expression or practice is their heritage.

The ‘Back in the Day’ museum day event is all about reliving the memories from the early to mid-1900s.  The way of life, pastimes, farming, boatbuilding, food and cultural entertainment from that period will all be part of the celebration of the cultural heritage of the Islands.

International Museum Day is organized worldwide around May 18^th annually, to raise awareness of the importance of museums in the development of society.  This Museum’s event, ‘Back in the Day’ will be centered on the ‘Caicos Heritage Homestead Exhibit’ located at the museum in Grace Bay. Through this community event the museum is carrying out its mission ‘to preserve the history and cultural heritage of the Turks and Caicos Islands’.

We invite you to come and relive, reminisce, and rekindle and share your memories with family friends and visitors, bring the children and tell them your family stories.

We will take you ‘Back in the Day’ on Saturday 19th May at the Village in Grace Bay from 1- 6 pm.  For more information call 247-2161 or email: candianne.williams@tcmuseum.org

Release: TC National Museum