Quote – Will Durant

Civilization exists by geologic consent, subject to change without notice.  Will Durant

view across the caldera, Santorini, Greece photo source : wikipedia

While learning about geological processes, I have been studying about the great volcanic eruption of Mt.Thera on Santorini, Greece. In fact, the whole island is a remnant of a massive volcano on the edge of two tectonic plates. The Thera eruption occurred 3600 years ago during the height of the Minoan Civilization. It is thought that a major tsunami obliterated the Minoan settlements on the northern edge of Crete, and that it never recovered from the devastation.

William James Durant (November 5, 1885 – November 7, 1981) was an American writer, historian, and philosopher. He is best known for The Story of Civilization, 11 volumes written in collaboration with his wife Ariel Durant and published between 1935 and 1975.   wikipedia

Palaeo-terrific week

Our museum identified a new dinosaur and re-described an ancient primitive fish, all in the same week, through publications in prestigious science journals.

Mercuriceratops

Mercuriceratops (cwntre) compared to Centrosaurus (left) and Chasmosaurus (right) illustrations by Danielle Dufault

Metaspriggina

Metaspriggina illustration by Marianne Collins (Journal Nature)

Amazing new information in the ongoing discovery of the diversity of life 70 million and 505 million years ago.

 

3D printing

It’s new and it’s coming your way.

3D printing is a new creative tool and I recently took an introductory course in its use.

3D printer photo source : Lorie Pierce

Files needed for these printers (eg. STD format) can be downloaded from web sources or created from objects by using a 3D scanner.

3D scanner photo source : Lorie Pierce

spool of plastic for printing photo source : Lorie Pierce

 

3D objects printed photo source : Lorie Pierce

This will be a great tool to make reproductions and touchables of museum artifacts.

 

Ontario Volunteer Service Award

Tonight I will be one of the recipients nominated by my museum to receive a volunteer service award. It’s nice to have my efforts recognized.

Colour Plus

Community Heritage Days are great events to get colour and activity into your museum in a way that dazzles visitors. Traditional costumes, music, dance, artwork, films, readings can be provided by an invited cultural group. Match it with gallery tours and curator/educator talks that address the museum’s collections and research.

These photos are from a recent South Asian Heritage Weekend event.

craft table

henna designs

how to tie a turban

Sri Lankan dress

dancers getting ready to dance
all photos : Lorie Pierce

Besides providing the colour and activity, these cultural groups also attract new visitors and sponsorship from within their own community.

 

 

 

 

Timing is everything

In a large metropolitan community, there may be many events going on at the same time that compete for the same population of visitors. Careful planning to avoid such conflicts can go a long way in ensuring a good crowd to a museum event. After all, it takes a lot of organization (aka time and money) to set up a multi-platform event in a museum.

visitors to Iranian Heritage Day source: Lorie Pierce

It is not possible to plan for the weather. Most large events take months to organize. However, there are some conflicts to consider that can be foreseen even a year in advance :

– a large charity event run or bike ride that closes down major roadways for a large portion of the day

– scheduled shutdowns of transit routes for maintenance or rebuilding

– large scale, once a year events such as Doors Open

– alternate festivals that will draw on the same community group you are trying to attract. Your Chamber of Commerce may have a list of what is going to be happening