In response to the coronavirus, the Westport Museum for History & Culture announced today the launch of its “Virtual Museum” initiative to provide house-bound citizens “interactive and engaging history-based content.”
“These are unprecedented times in our town and our nation,” Ramin Ganeshram, museum executive director said. “Folks are finding creative ways to keep their mental juices flowing and to remain involved with others.
“Our hope is that the Virtual Museum initiative fosters fun learning and a sense of connection at this time when we are all sequestered in our homes,” she added.
According to the announcement, offerings at the Virtual Museum include online exhibits; book, TV, movie and podcast reviews; historic recipes; videos; and, in the near future, sourced and original podcasts including some in the format of classic radio shows.
In addition, an oral history project featuring distance, long-lens portraiture by a noted local photographer is also planned, the announcement said.
Along with exhibits already featured on the museum’s mobile platform available at westporthistory.org/app, the exhibit “History of Westport in 100 Objects” has been relaunched online across platforms. Originally installed in 2018, the exhibit tells the story of the town through different eras, using objects from the museum collection to demonstrate historic themes.
“We hope that teachers and parents assisting with home schooling find a good deal of material they can use to aid social studies curriculum in an exciting way,” said Nicole Carpenter, the museum’s director of programs and education. “We encourage people to reach out with suggestions or their “wish list” for content. We’ll do our best to oblige.”
According to officials, the virtual museum is available on a variety of platforms beginning with the organization’s e-newsletter.
Those interested can sign up to receive the newsletter on the museum’s homepage at westporthistory.org. The museum’s Facebook and Instagram accounts are also key aspects of the Virtual Museum project, the announcement said.
Near-future plans include expanding to a dedicated website, which will be announced soon, officials said.
Ganeshram said the most important part of the Virtual Museum project is community participation.
She added that the public is invited to join in various content areas in different by emailing .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
