Global Recognition!
I was delighted to learn today from our committee member Dan Laufer that he has received confirmation that the Friends of Te Papa have been granted membership of the World Federation of Friends of Museums (WFFM). This was noted in the recent WFFM newsletter as follows:
As Dan has excitedly pointed out, “This is great international exposure for us” (Friends of Te Papa) and for Te Papa itself”. As members of the Friends in New Zealand we are now joining over 2 million Museum Friends and volunteers around the world.
It is interesting, reading from the objectives statement on the WFFM website (with extracts quoted below), to observe just how closely aligned are the aims of overseas Friends groups with what we are seeking to achieve here in New Zealand:
“WFFM champions and preserves cultural heritage as the representative of museumgoers worldwide”.
“All “Friends of Museums” share the objective to support museums and contribute to their development, acknowledgement and influence among the public. They act on a voluntary and non-remunerative basis. Their support may be moral, financial or provided through voluntary work or expertise”.
“Worldwide, what Friends have achieved is to bring the voice of the lay person, the non-specialist, into the museums. And over the years, their hard work and ideas have brought about a change in museums themselves, bringing museums closer to the people and people closer to the museums”.
“Whether legally constituted or not, Friends groups around the world can operate only with official recognition for the institution concerned”.
The internationally shared purposes and context of Friends groups around the world, so succinctly expressed in the above quoted extracts and more broadly expanded upon on the WFFM website, provide strong affirmation to the Friends in New Zealand that our purposes are sound, valid, and consistent with international thinking in this area. By gaining membership of this global organisation the Friends in New Zealand can now more easily remain up to date with developing thinking and practice of Friends organisations and of the institutions that those Friends support.
I invite you to visit the website of the World Federation of Friends of Museums https://www.thewffm.org/, or their Instagram page or other informational pieces, to find out so much more about this organisation and the activities of Friends groups worldwide. It is inspiring to see that, although tucked away here at the bottom of the world, the New Zealand approach is contributing in an internationally aligned manner to the present and future success of the museum sector worldwide.
Richard Dean
President.