In the context of Lida Tsene’s course Cultural Entrepreneurship, our team (consisting of Lydia Bedros, Katerina Thanasi, Kostas Dragatsis and Eva Papadopoulou) was assigned to visit the Museum Of Cycladic Arts.
The Museum provides a fruitful and high quality experience for its visitors which was the reason why our team was delighted to contribute (even slightly figuratively) to its improvement. Dedicated to the study and promotion of ancient cultures of the Aegean and Cyprus, the museum and the staff takes you aback by the professionalism as well as the diversity of the exhibits.
The problem we were assigned to deal with is linked to the museum educational kits that are designed to cover the needs of schools and provide the kids with knowledge around the exhibits and the general ancient culture. The kits contain copies of artifacts, slides, teaching material, books as well as photographs and educational games.
And we had to face a challenge. The interactivity and the direct involvement of the kids with the fake artifacts often lead to failure. The main reason behind this is that the teachers are too afraid that the students may cause trouble to the museum property or even break the copies. It seems that the static and the strictly scientific exhibitions we were used to is still present.
So our challenge had to do with treating this problem. By inventing new ways of having contact with the objects so that the students have the ability to (l)earn much more than a simple visual contact.
Leaving the museum, our team was eager to find new ways of helping the staff overcoming the problem and amazed by the alternative ways the museum attracts the public.