Over the next six months, local museums, libraries, archives and trusts will benefit from the services of an intern specially trained in museum work as part of a Commonwealth Association of Museums (CAM) programme.
Guyana successfully applied to CAM to be part of its internship programme, which is funded by the Commonwealth Foundation Fund.
Under this initiative, Canadian Renée Homiak will be here for six months trying to improve the capacity of local agencies.
The process was kick-started on Wednesday with the opening of a two-day workshop at the National Museum.
Director of the Walter Roth Museum Jennifer Wishart said Homiak has specialized in public programming and will assist the local authorities as they seek to draft a National Museum Policy. She said that after Guyana was shortlisted for the internship, seven candidates applied to come to Guyana. Guyana then had to select three persons and Homiak was one of these three.
Wishart explained that apart from her expertise in public programming, Homiak also has a background in anthropology and history.
Director of Culture Dr James Rose, who delivered the feature address in the absence of Culture Minister Dr Frank Anthony, encouraged the participants to make the most of this opportunity saying that they should focus on how the training could serve the needs of the particular agency.
He said that there is a need to make museums, libraries, archives and trusts more relevant to the current generation while emphasizing the need to make these agencies more interactive.
The current systems, he said, need to be fast tracked into the 3rd Millennium.
Rose said the government’s successful application for the internship from CAM showed that the local museum was part of a wider fraternity.
He said too that it was also a realization by the local authorities that there were limitations. James said that one of the ways to overcome these limitations is to have ongoing training.
Regarding her plans, Hormiak said she hopes to develop programming for the institutions and identified increasing the instructiveness of the local museums as one of her priorities.