JOIN USB’luru foundation unites 8 museums for climate action
Two museums in the city have joined the fight against the climate crisis.
Bengaluru-based ReReeti Foundation that works to revitalise museums and heritage sites has onboarded eight private museums and trusts on its latest initiative, Indian Museums Against Climate Change (IMACC). The Indian Music Experience Museum, and The Museum of Art & Photography are from Bengaluru, and the others are from Goa, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Delhi, and Rajasthan. The UK-based Culture Declares Emergency, a movement of people in arts and culture rallying for climate action, is also a partner.
Museums are hubs for knowledge-sharing, so they can play a key role in generating conversations about climate change among visitors, who can then take it forward in their respective circles, says Tejshvi Jain, founder-director of ReReeti. In fact, museums have been formally recognised by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change as key actors in climate education and empowerment.
The initiative’s agenda is for these museums to create awareness about the climate emergency but also take measures to cut down their carbon footprint. No targets have been set — they are free to design the interventions and share their learnings with the network.
IMACC will also organise workshops by sustainability experts every quarter online. The first was held in March to ideate how museum exhibits can start a conversation on all things environment. The next will focus on ways to make travelling exhibitions eco-friendly.
Since IMACC is possibly a new concept in India, Tejshvi says, these museums were curated for their dynamic leadership and openness to innovation.
The Indian Music Experience museum in JP Nagar is currently hosting an exhibition on birdsongs, musical instruments inspired by birds, audio-visual kiosks showcasing bird calls, and graphic panels espousing the need for coexistence. More shows on the ecological theme will be held, using natural materials like bamboo stands for display. Going forward, it plans to provide water to performers and guests in glasses over single-use plastic bottles, switch to reusable cutlery, explore solar power, and hold nature walks. Virtual shows happen on the side.
Composting food waste, encouraging car-pooling and the use of public transport among visitors, and turning off the air-conditioning when the crowd is fewer or the weather is cool are some practices the museum had already been running. They also have a vegan mridangam in their collections.
Manasi Prasad, director of the museum, feels museums are sustainable spaces by design because they “reuse and preserve things” and joining IMACC has only given a push to do better. “Our visitors are mostly young. So we see our role there, in educating them,” she adds.
The team of the Museum of Art & Photography, Kasturba Road, was unavailable for comments.
Sustainability watch
Globally, many groups have been empowering museums as key sites of climate education. Moreover, Jockey Club Museum of Climate Change in Hong Kong, Museum of Tomorrow in Rio de Janeiro, The Climate Museum in New York, Klimahaus Bremerhaven 8 ° Ost in Germany, and Living Waters Museum in India are promoting the cause in various formats.