Revamped museum to re-open
AFTER a hiatus of two years, the Fiji Museum will be re-opening with a new and innovative exhibition called – Voyages: Stories of an Ocean People – on Saturday, December 10.
Fiji Museum director Sipiriano Nemani said it was not an easy task revamping the museum galleries, but he was thankful to his team for pulling through.
“The total overhaul of the galleries is the first of its kind in over 30 years,” he said.
“The one thing we wanted to do was basically introduce a new storyline – so with this new introduction there are five sections to the exhibition and with each section we wanted to link it to our communities and our people as much as possible so that their stories and voices are heard and not forgetting, covering and exploring the stories of the people of Fiji who have who have made Fiji home have had an impact on the Fijian coast and way of life.”
Mr Nemani said they were faced with a lot of challenges that they eventually saw through.
“While we have a lot of expertise in hands on areas of exhibition as and doing education programs that are pertinent to the work of the museum – we do not have as much expertise in the curatorial part of an exhibition – we are really thankful to one of our counterparts from New Zealand Crystal Mann she was instrumental in working with us to develop a storyline for the museum and not forgetting of chairperson of the board Kate Vusoniwailala.
“The other challenge was funds and when we do something of this magnitude it requires
The total overhaul of the galleries is the first ...
– Sipiriano Nemani
massive funds – we also had a big budget and we are so grateful to Fijian Government, Tokani: Friends of the Fiji Museum, Evolution of Fiji Fashion Show, iTaukei Trust Fund Board, Embassy of France, Embassy of the People’s Republic of China, Fiji Airways, Bebe Enterprises (Fiji), The Greenhouse Studio, Erasito Consultants, Japan International Cooperation Agency Fiji (JICA) and the Grand Pacific Hotel for their funding and support.”
He said that during the closure of the museum they were at a losing point when tourist cruise ships visited the country.
“We lost massive a greater percentage in fact because one of our major takes for the museum in terms of revenues concerned is admissions from the public but also tourists as they make up a greater portion of our visitors.
“We lost a lot due to the lockdown and because of the revamping of galleries and we had a lot of queries from the public and from overseas on when we would re-open but it was very difficult for the museum to respond and provide a definite timeline but we excited for the re-opening and we trust that the public and tourists will expect something different.”