Sahapedia marks International Museum Day with week-long events in 15 cities

Sahapedia, an open online resource on art and culture, is marking International Museum Day by holding a host of programmes including museum walks, workshops and baithaks (talks) across 15 cities.

The week-long event kicked off with guided tours of National Handicrafts and Handlooms Museum in Delhi and Sanskar Kendra in Ahmedabad on Sunday.

Organised in partnership with the Delhi Police, the walk in the national capital was customised for children who were taken on a tour of the National Handicrafts and Handlooms Museum that houses a vast collection of tribal and rural crafts as well as textiles and jewellery.

"In Ahmedabad the participants visited the iconic Sanskar Kendra, marking the start of a week of walks and workshops led by a host of researchers and subject experts in these cities," the organisers said in a statement.

Aimed at "raising awareness around museums and identifying them as significant spaces for cultural exchange and enrichment", the event will encourage people to understand their histories and traditions through antiquities, artefacts and knowledge protected and conserved by museums.

"Additionally, this year's theme Hyper-connected museums: New approaches, new publics is aligned with Sahapedia's Museum of India project's vision of engaging with museum professionals and the audience through varied mediums available, both online and offline," Vaibhav Chauhan, Secretary, Sahapedia, said.

Apart from Delhi and Ahmedabad, the event will hold programmes in Mumbai, Srinagar, Jodhpur, Kolkata, Shillong, Baroda, Amritsar, Allahabad, Varanasi, Kochi, Bengaluru, Gurugram and Chandigarh.

The events also include specially crafted walks for underprivileged children in partnership with CRY in Bengaluru and Magic Bus in Mumbai.

A special blindfold tactile art workshop titled Anubhuti' will be organised in Delhi on May 18 in partnership with Access for ALL.

In Chandigarh a museum walk and a storytelling session will be held at the International Doll Museum on May 19.