Slide from Keynote Museum Forum 2017 | Museum Education NOW!

1. We Make the Museums as we Learn
Storytelling as a bridge between
Education and Exhibitions
ANA MARIA THERESA P. LABRADOR, PhD
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE PHILIPPINES

2. 2
Abstract
Museum Education must not be confined to the work of a
group within a museum. It should be part of the work of
its researchers, curators and conservators to enable a
direct articulation of stories behind objects, collections
and exhibitions.

3. Abstract
During our reorganization at the National Museum of the
Philippines, we made a bold move to take out the
department dedicated to education. Instead, we embedded
education work within the research departments. In this
presentation, I will be talking about the processes we went
through and the framework we developed to ensure that
instead of predigested information delivered to our
museum audiences, we could tell stories so we can fill the
gap that we normally have when translating education in
exhibitions.

4. Museology in the Southeast Asian Context

5. Museology
•Interdisciplinary
•An academic discipline
•Refers fundamentally to the relationship between
people and the material world (Stransky)
•Scientific basis for the museum profession (van
Mensch)
•Heritage

6. In Southeast Asia, tradition is not the past
Reinvention of tradition
It is constantly practiced, hence why certain practices continue to be
observed
Belief that the past and present occur simultaneously and in cycles
Concepts of duality and tripartitioning are found in practices and
beliefs

8. Duality in Southeast Asia
Past and present occur at the same time
This life and the after-life coexist
Notions of two sides of most issues
The anthropological concept of binarism (e.g. hot and
cold, raw and cooked, sacred and profane) actually exist
as data gathered from the field as I found out through
my own research

9. Tripartitioning in Southeast Asia
This life, transition, and after life
Balance between center and periphery
The river or waterway as center
Rites of passage in life cycle rituals
The anthropological concept of ‘in-between-ness’ or transitory phase are from data on ritual
practices

13. Background in Museum Education
•Academic for 22 years specializing in humanities
and museology
•Social anthropologist
•Material culture studies
•UNESCO programme on Intangible Heritage
•Appreciating ownership of objects and heritage
•Shifts in museum practices
•Awareness of SPAFA’s flagship projects

14. The National Museum shall be a permanent institution in the service of the community and its
development, accessible to the public, and not intended for profit. It shall obtain, keep, study and
present material evidence of man and his environment…”
The National Museum Act of 1998

15. THE NATIONAL MUSEUM
AS AN EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION
• “As an educational institution,” the National Museum shall “take the lead in
disseminating knowledge of Filipino cultural and historical heritage and
developing a corps of professionals knowledgeable about the preservation,
enrichment and dynamic evaluation of the Filipino national culture.”

16. THE NATIONAL MUSEUM
AS A SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTION
• “As a scientific institution,” the National Museum shall “conduct basic and systematic
research programs combining integrated laboratory and field work in anthropology
and archaeology, geology and paleontology, botany, and zoology; and to maintain
reference collections on these disciplines and promote scientific development in the
Philippines.”

17. • “As a cultural center,” the National Museum shall “take the lead in the study and
preservation of the nation's rich artistic, and cultural heritage, in the reconstruction
and rebuilding of our past, and the development of the national cultural wealth.”
THE NATIONAL MUSEUM
AS A CULTURAL CENTER
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18. Embedding Museum Education in our work
•Regarding viewers (passive) to audiences (more interactive)
•Pre-digested information narrated by museum guides does not quite
capture what NM is about
•Importance of direct communication from our researchers to our
audiences
•Meeting actual scientists or archaeologists more fascinating
•Cutting the ”middlemen” or “gatekeepers” and going straight at the
heart
•Emphasizing context

20. Central Offices (Old Legislative Building)
National Museum of Fine Arts (Old Legislative Building)
National Museum of Anthropology (Old Finance Building)
National Museum of Natural History (Old Agriculture and Commerce, later Tourism
Building) – *To be opened on June 12, 2017
National Planetarium
THE NATIONAL MUSEUM
COMPLEX IN RIZAL PARK, MANILA
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21. Regional Museums and Satellite Offices:
1. Ilocos Regional Museum and Satellite Office (Vigan and Magsingal, Ilocos Sur)
2. Cagayan Valley Regional Museum and Satellite Office (Peñablanca, Cagayan) –
*Upgrade of present field station projected for 2018
3. Cordillera Regional Museum and Satellite Office (Kiangan, Ifugao)
4. Bicol Regional Museum and Satellite Office (Daraga and Tabaco, Albay) – *Daraga
(Cagsawa Ruins) ongoing under 2016 GAA; scheduled to open in 2017
5. Western Visayas Regional Museum and Satellite Office (Iloilo City) – *Ongoing
under 2015 GAA; scheduled to open in 2017
6. Western Mindanao Regional Museum and Satellite Office (Zamboanga City)
7. Eastern Mindanao Regional Museum and Satellite Office (Butuan City)
THE NATIONAL MUSEUM
REGIONAL NETWORK
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22. Area Museums and Satellite Offices:
1. Batanes Area Museum and Satellite Office (Uyugan, Batanes) – *Scheduled to
open in 2017
2. Marinduque Area Museum and Satellite Office (Boac, Marinduque)
3. Negros Area Museum and Satellite Office (Dumaguete, Negros Occidental) –
*Programmed under 2017 GAA
4. Bohol Area Museum (Tagbilaran, Bohol) – *Expanded museum under 2015 GAA
scheduled to open in 2017
5. Sulu Archipelago Area Museum (Jolo, Sulu)
THE NATIONAL MUSEUM
REGIONAL NETWORK
22

23. Site Museums and Satellite Offices:
1. Kabayan Burial Caves Site Museum and Satellite Office (Uyugan, Batanes)
2. Angono-Binangonan Petroglyphs Site Museum and Satellite Office (Boac,
Marinduque)
3. Banton Caves Site Museum and Satellite Office (Banton, Romblon) - *Projected
for 2018
4. Tabon Cave Complex Site Museum and Satellite Office (Quezon, Palawan) –
*Expanded site museum under 2016 GAA scheduled to open in 2018
THE NATIONAL MUSEUM
REGIONAL NETWORK
23

24. Site Museums and Satellite Offices:
1. Kabayan Burial Caves Site Museum and Satellite Office (Uyugan, Batanes)
2. Angono-Binangonan Petroglyphs Site Museum and Satellite Office (Boac,
Marinduque)
3. Banton Caves Site Museum and Satellite Office (Banton, Romblon) - *Projected
for 2018
4. Tabon Cave Complex Site Museum and Satellite Office (Quezon, Palawan) –
*Expanded site museum under 2016 GAA scheduled to open in 2018
THE NATIONAL MUSEUM
REGIONAL NETWORK
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26. MANDATED OUTCOMES
AND OUTPUTS
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Sector Outcome
◦ Equitable access to adequate quality societal services and assets.
Organizational Outcome
◦ Management and preservation of museums, collections and cultural properties
strengthened.
Major Final Outputs
1. Museum Exhibit and Education Services
2. Cultural Properties Protection and Preservation Services

27. KEY STRATEGIC AND OPERATIONAL
AREAS OF ACTIVITY AND CONCERN
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1. Promotion of access .
◦ Strengthening Awareness
◦ Boosting Appeal
◦ Promoting Inclusion
◦ Improving Convenience
◦ Minimizing Cost
◦ Ensuring Positive Experiences
◦ Expanding Capacity
2. Enhanced safeguarding and conservation of cultural property .
3. Effective educational programs, and promotional programs supporting tourism and international
relations,
4. Sustainable institutional and sectoral development in terms of human resources and professional
capacity.

28. KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS
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1. Sustained support for, and completion of, new/upgraded infrastructure and public facilities/amenities
(including office, research, storage and conservation facilities).
2. Restructuring of the organization, and upgrading and expansion of staffing in all key areas of museum
operations; intensified training/capacity-building initiatives.
3. Complete recuration of all permanent exhibitions to update and make these more accessible, as well as
to feature a far greater proportion of the national collections.
4. Strengthened relationships domestically, bilaterally, regionally, inter-regionally and globally.
5. Enhanced public programming aimed at wide and diverse audience development, and inclusion of
underprivileged or marginalized sectors.
6. Stronger involvement with indigenous peoples and cultural communities, as well as Muslim groups.
7. Adoption of the free general admission policy nationwide (since July 1, 2016) once upgraded facilities and
operations were considered adequately in place.

29. •In this presentation, I would like to focus on an integrated approach to
tangible and intangible heritage in managing museums
•Inspired by the UNESCO declaration on intangible heritage as well as
published studies on material culture studies, such as that of Arjun
Appadurai’s The Social Life of Things and Janet Hoskins’ Biographical
Objects, we at the National Museum of the Philippines have been exploring
processes of holistic approaches in running the Museum
•For instance, lore, oral history and storytelling are some of the devices to
gather information on materials that will give us clues for making
conservation decisions. We have applied this not only for ethnographic art
collections but to paintings made before World War II in the Philippines to
fill gaps where few published and archival references are available.
Storytelling for Access:
Linking Tangible and Intangible Heritage
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30. Paint materials, technique and style data may be traced through
word-of-mouth, painting practices passed on in ateliers or within
kin groups (in the case of inheriting a form of trade) as well as the
more tangible personal papers (e.g. letters and diaries).
These are markers that give us clues of communities’ system of
valuing particular types of objects and may have preservation
practices attached to them. This could further our understanding
of other methods of preventive conservation beyond those that
we have learned through conventional means.
Linking Tangible and Intangible Heritage
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31. Definition: those related to language, traditional music,
‘non-physical heritage’ and intellectual property rights.
UNESCO’s programme in 1997, given one of the highest
priorities in the cultural field and a new project entitled
Proclamation of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible
Heritage of Humanity
It also included the anthropological concept of ‘cultural
space’
Intangible Heritage
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32. 1992 United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity,
in particular its Article (j) which refers to the significance
of the respect and preservation of traditional knowledge
and practices of indigenous and local communities which
have relevance for the conservation and the sustained
use of biodiversity
The subsequent setting-up of the United Nations decade
for indigenous and minority people (1995-2004)
generated a number of significant events in favour of the
safeguarding of the intangible heritage of indigenous
people
Predecessors of UNESCO’s programme on
Intangible Heritage
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33. Begin investigating local practices that may have yet to
be recorded or studied with more depth
Taking more seriously traditional knowledge
Negotiating with owners of the knowledge to allow us to
use them in our preventive conservation work and
exhibitions
Enabling the sharing credit and acknowledging their
contribution
Implications of integrating intangible heritage in
museum practice
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34. Example: Weaving textiles among the Bontok
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Handloom weaving in the Philippine Cordilleras and most parts of the world involve
invocation of spirits, use of mental templates of weavers in which designs are
created, processed, translated and transformed into textiles

35. Example: Weaving textiles
among the Bontok
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Weavers process designs
in their heads in which they
think of their technical
possibilities and aesthetic
criteria. In the case of the
weaver Khayapan, she had
the designs tattooed on her
arms as an aide-memoire.

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45. Material Analysis: Digital scanning project
at the NM 2013

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48. Intergovernmental Meeting in Paris in May 2015
for the final discussions and draft

49. Provisions of the UNESCO Recommendation
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/culture/themes/museums/reco
mmendation-on-the-protection-and-promotion-of-museums-
and-collections
Final title: Recommendation Concerning the Protection and
Promotion of Museums and Collections, their Diversity and their
Role in Society
One important aspect is that it is inclusive of collections outside
museums and recognition of the range of collections and
museums and the societies that founded them

50. #Unite4Heritage campaign

51. Challenges to Intangible Heritage
Fragility
Risks of losing rich variations as a result of
documentation that would tend to privilege one
knowledge system over another
Ownership of intellectual property
Romantic notions vs. scientific inquiry
Remembering as power and prowess: Being able to
keep memories and transmit them

52. More Challenges
The case of the UNESCO World Heritage Site: Maintenance
of Status of the Ifugao Rice Terraces

53. Traditional & Contemporary Research: IAP
2012-2015

54. Traditional & Contemporary

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