Akira Gokita, director of the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum, served as a keynote speaker at the International Council of Museums-International Committee on Management (ICOM-INTERCOM) annual meeting held in Taiwan from May 1 to May 4. It was held under the theme, “The Social Impact of Museums,” in collaboration with the Federation of International Human Rights Museums (FIHRM).
Established in 1946, ICOM is a public interest organization with more than 30,000 members and museum professionals, and includes some 20,000 museums. INTERCOM is one of its 31 committees that specialize in museum operations. FIHRM is an initiative established in 2010 by National Museums Liverpool to promote human rights themes and cooperation among museums worldwide.
TFAM Director Gokita’s speech was on cooperation between museums and communities. He referred to TFAM’s 600-person volunteer organization, Obikai, which literally means “splendor of cherry blossoms” in Japanese, who live within a 20-kilometer radius of the museum to support its activities at the local community level, either by posting exhibition posters, distributing leaflets of upcoming events or provide family, friends and associates with discount admission tickets.
Gokita also introduced TFAM’s art appreciation program for school children in Hachioji City, where the museum is located. In 2013, for example, 1,200 elementary and junior high school students took part in the program, in which TFAM curators visit classrooms and interact directly with pupils to impart the joys and inspiration of art to them. They are then brought to the museum to view artworks for themselves at no cost to the student or school.
Among its other community outreach initiatives, he said, TFAM holds workshops, summer vacation exhibitions and related activities for children, and special tutor programs for college students.
