Registered with the Registrar of Newspapers for India under R.N.I 53640/91
Vol. XXXIV No. 7, July 16-31, 2024
Yet another Government-run Museum in city – with no creative plans for making it relevant
-- by Sriram V.
The State Government has announced that Humayun Mahal, part of historic Chepauk Palace, will soon be converted into Independence Day Museum. It will house memorabilia from the freedom struggle, donated by families of various patriots. It will have besides, a gallery for women freedom fighters and one more which will be an interactive site for lesser-known faces from the struggle for Independence. There will also be on display cannon, swords, documents and other objects transferred from various other museums in the State. The Department of Museums is preparing a detailed project report with the help of a consultant, after the approval of which, the process of release of tenders will begin, followed by execution. Which is all to the good. What about the actual functioning of the museum? Has any thought been given to that?
Past experience indicates that this vital, and often more important aspect of a museum will not have been paid any attention to. There are, all over the city, many museums now, ranging from the Government-run entity at Egmore to smaller displays belonging to the High Court, the Police, the Regional Institute of Ophthalmology, the ASI, the Railways and the San Thome Basilica. On the anvil are a few more including the old Anatomy Block at the Madras Medical College, the Victoria Public Hall, and one more at Ripon Buildings itself. There are besides, many memorials that double up as museums as well, such as the residences of Kamaraj and Subramania Bharathi, and the commemorative buildings including, and around, Gandhi Mandapam. The Government needs to ponder over how many of these receive footfalls if any, and why the numbers are so few. This exercise needs to be done before any more museums are thought of.
All of these are run on the lines of Government departments. After the initial fanfare of an inauguration, very little thought is given on how to make these attractive for repeated footfalls.How many times will people go to see the same displays, especially in this day and age when much of it is already on social media? If a museum needs to be relevant, it will have to have a mix of stationary and revolving exhibits – the latter being changed every few months. The space will also have to double up as an area for public events. In Mumbai and in Kolkata, this has been the practice for quite some years now and that has resulted in higher footfalls. Museums also need to be looked at from their income-generation point of view. In order to exist, a museum needs to collect revenue by way of sale of tickets and event rentals. The days of opening a museum for free have long gone and if at all the below poverty level people need to be attracted, free programmes and access can be considered for them. The rest of the people need to pay. Which they will only if what is on display kindles curiosity and interest.
Viewing museums differently cannot be done by a government department or an IAS officer. While these can be in charge of the Trust or the vehicle that governs a museum, the actual running needs to be in the hands of a professional curator-cum- chief executive who has to be given targets by way of revenue, footfalls, events and media presence. The city already has a stellar example in DakshinaChitra. This is a privately managed Trust-governed institution running on leased Government land which has emerged as a major attraction in the city. There are events throughout the year and the number of visitors keeps increasing owing to the variety of what is on offer and the manner in which it is displayed. The existing and proposed museums would do well to study what makes DakshinaChitra different before they embark on anything further.
