For art’s sake get the jab at new hubs
MUSEUMS and galleries are set to be turned into pop-up immunisation hubs with jabs to be given under some of the nation’s most prized treasures.
The Australian Museums and Galleries Association will offer the government space housing some of the country’s most famous images, sculptures or artefacts to use as short-term Covid vax hubs when more vaccines arrive and national vaccination rates need a boost.
The idea stemmed from the world-famous American Museum of Natural History in New York City where jabs were being given in a room housing the much-acclaimed suspended giant blue whale model.
“Our sector would have an appetite to do similar things … if it speeds up the vaccination program,” Australian Museums and Galleries Association national director Katie Russell said.
She said in the UK the Science Museum and the Tate Modern in London had be
come vaccination hubs, the former offering a sneak peek at its latest exhibition of the history of Covid-19 pandemic.
Other world cultural greats becoming vaccination hubs include the Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art in Turin, Catalonia’s Railway Museum where jabs are given next to one of its famous Barcelona locomotives and Puglia’s archaeological museum where a concert pianist plays Mozart as jabs are given.
“Every person who gets vaccinated at the American
Natural History museum gets a ticket to return to the museum for a visit with their family, I think that is brilliant,” Ms Russell said.
“It’s a wonderful example and our sector would have an appetite for this in Australia because there are so many sectors of the community museums represent that people may feel safer in a museum that represents their culture and it could be a place they feel more confident to get vaccinated. It is a good idea.”
She agreed some might see it as a weird place to get a jab
but it could open up a new world for some who had never visited a museum.
Ms Russell said museums and galleries were pillars of communities, whether large or small, and after the first lockdown many saw greater visitor numbers and curiously more diverse audiences “seeking spaces of solace”.
“We’ve always been showcases for human creativity and ingenuity and a reminder of resilience and survival, in certain circumstances, and people like to connect to that,” she said.