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Engage in history with National Museum West virtual outreach sessions

Published:Sunday | January 17, 2021 | 12:11 AM

Representation of Port Royal circa 1840 by artist Peter Dunn. Today Port Royal is known as a sleepy fishing village located at the end of the Palisadoes at the mouth of Kingston Harbour, in southeastern Jamaica. Founded in 1494 by the Spanish, it was once
Representation of Port Royal circa 1840 by artist Peter Dunn. Today Port Royal is known as a sleepy fishing village located at the end of the Palisadoes at the mouth of Kingston Harbour, in southeastern Jamaica. Founded in 1494 by the Spanish, it was once the largest city in the Caribbean, functioning as the centre of shipping and commerce in the Caribbean Sea by the latter half of the 17th century.

In March last year, cultural and sports facilities, including museums, galleries, and stadia run by the Government, were closed to the public in keeping with the Government’s strategy to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in Jamaica and to minimise the potential health impact across the island.

Since then, local museums have had to find new and innovative ways to continue to meet the cultural needs of the Jamaican people and the diaspora at large. National Museum West in Montego Bay, sister museum to National Museum Jamaica, a division of the Institute of Jamaica, has been engaging the public through virtual-outreach sessions.

These virtual-outreach sessions are not virtual tours of the museum’s spaces, but rather an educational support tool that focuses on various levels of the Jamaica school curriculum from the primary level to CSEC and CAPE.

HISTORY LOVERS

Though these sessions cater mainly to primary, secondary, and tertiary schools and students, they are also open to church and community groups, the general public, as well as culture and history lovers at home and in the diaspora. The main subject areas that are focused on are social studies at all levels, history, theatre arts, and general culture-related matters. Topics covered include but are not limited to The ‘People Who Came’, which focuses on all major ethnic groups that came to Jamaica; The Maroons; Slave Systems; Post-Emancipation Society; National Heroes; and Resistance and Revolt.

Each session covers one topic and includes time for a question-and-answer session. Each group should be no less than 10 with a maximum of 40, and all sessions are free.

Sessions can be booked between Mondays to Friday between the hours of 10 a.m. -2 p.m. Each group may book one session per week. Call 876-971-9417 or email us at sbalfour@museums-ioj.org.jm to book the session.