The worldwide community of museums will celebrate International Museum Day around 18 May, 2013.

This year, the theme of the International Museum Day will be:

Museums (memory + creativity) = social change.

Our rich heritage, which museums both display and protect, is associated with inventiveness and vitality, both of which have characterized the museum sector in recent years and are museums’ greatest strengths.

The International Council of Museums (ICOM) General Director, Julien Anfruns adds:

“Reconciling their traditional mission of preservation with cultivation of the creativity necessary for renewal and visitor growth is the evolution that museums are striving for, with the firm conviction that their presence and their actions can change society in a constructive manner.”

ICOM established International Museum Day in 1977 to increase public awareness of the role of museums in the development of society. Momentum has been rising unabated ever since. In 2012, International Museum Day garnered record‐breaking participation with almost 32,000 museums hosting events in more than 129 countries.

ICOM is partnering with the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme – which celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2012 – for International Museum Day 2013. ICOM and Memory of the World, which is dedicated to world documentary heritage, share a common vision of safeguarding heritage for the benefit of society and are joined in their reflection on the potential of digitization for this purpose.

Visit the official International Museum Day website Visit the official International Museum Day Facebook Page