Created in 1977, International Museum Day is intended to provide a nucleus for museums' creative aspirations and efforts and focus international attention on the work done by museums. It is designed to be an opportunity for professionals from all over the world to promote the roles of their respective institutions and to reflect on a particular theme.

ICOM invites museum professionals to use International Museum Day as a springboard for initiatives which promote the work of their institutions to the public, draw the attention of supervisory bodies and governments to the role and needs of museums, and foster dialogue between professionals and across disciplines.

International Museum Day is held once a year, around 18th May, and has inspired professionals to many differing initiatives over the years.
We hope that the suggestions we have collected together, some traditional and some original, some simple to implement and some requiring more organisation, will meet with your approval and inspire you to add ideas of your own for each edition of the International Museum Day.

INITIATIVES AIMED AT THE PUBLIC

Promotion and communication

Posters, stickers, bookmarks, postcards, lapel pins, stamps.
Leaflets, free distribution of documents.

Media campaign:
Partnerships with the media.
Radio interviews.
Press and television advertising, press releases, conferences and visits.

In the museum itself

Integration of International Museum Day into a longer national programme (e.g. a museum week or ongoing projects) either as a mid-programme break or as the main focus of the event.

Visits:
Opening ceremonies, openings of additional rooms.
Guided tours of collections not normally on view or newly restored collections.
Special tours (themed tours, tours with an unusual theme or programme, tours of unexpected places), "behind the scenes" tours of the museum, educational itineraries.
Guided tours by specialists.

Welcome of publics:
Gratuities, open days, free guided tours.
All-day opening, evening opening, longer opening hours.

Programme of cultural events:
Series of lectures and/or colloquia.
Concerts, theatre workshops (storytellers and shows).
Artistic performances.
Cycle of film screenings.

Programming aimed at adults:
Specialists on hand to answer questions in the museum.
Interactive exhibitions.
Quizzes.
Information on legislation to protect heritage (in the form of exhibitions, talks and leaflets).
Information on the running of the museum.

Educational activities, initiatives aimed at the young:
Folder of teaching materials.
Cyberschool.
Workshops (games and competitions, dressing up, plays, museum tours with specialist guides).
Interesting young visitors in museums by creating an emotional or intellectual connection with the museum and the way it works (via tree adoption schemes and schools "adopting" a museum or monument).
Role-playing and treasure hunts.
Creating tour programmes suited to children (tours led by a "character", tour booklets etc.).
Helping children set up their own exhibitions and introducing them to conservation work and the various jobs done by heritage professionals.

Reaching out to a wider public

Extra-mural and/or travelling exhibitions.
Meetings between museum professionals and teachers in the schools where they work.
Presentations about the various museum and heritage-related professions.
Internet workshops and tours.

INITIATIVES AIMED AT PROFESSIONALS

Meetings between professionals working in a given museum or via the national committees.
Talks, colloquia, conferences, round tables, working groups, days of debates, international forums and lectures by foreign speakers.
Twinning initiatives (within regions or countries or world-wide).
National or international mutual aid schemes.
Exchanges of exhibitions.
Encouraging cross-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary projects.
Taking stock of the museum and the way it is run (inventories, security procedures etc.).
Reminding staff of the existence of and promoting the ICOM Code of Ethics for Museums, distributing copies of the Code. Discussions and information initiatives centring on relevant legislation.

Initiatives aimed at universities and young professionals:
Visits by heritage protection officers to schools and universities, twinning initiatives, invitation to the museum.

Publications:
Special issues of journals, newsletters, letters and articles.

RAISING AWARENESS OF SUPERVISORY BODIES AND GOVERNMENTS

National and international campaign to increase awareness of heritage and museums and to encourage governments to propose, adopt, explain and integrate international laws and conventions on museums, national heritage and cultures into national legislation, on or around international Museum Day.

Ways of raising awareness of the need for new legislation and amendments to existing laws
Passing laws the same day as International Museum Day.
Proposing legislation on cultural heritage.
Proposing motions and amendments.
Signing manifestos.
Disseminating the ICOM Code of Ethics for Museums to cultural institutions, supervisory bodies, decision-making bodies and members of parliament.
Drawing the attention of supervisory bodies to the need to ratify international conventions regarding heritage.

International Museum Day is made possible by the Réunion des musées nationaux (RMN) and the Direction des musées de France (DMF).