Working together, preserving, celebrating and nurturing the heritage of the peoples of the Pacific Islands
International exchange programme to
benefit Pacific museums
Tuesday 14 February 2012, Port Vila, Vanuatu – Solomon Islander Eddie Wale has been
selected to take part in an international staff exchange programme between museums in the
Pacific and Caribbean regions.
Wale, a thirty-year-old who has worked at the Solomon Islands National Museum (SINM) for
several years, will be travelling to the Caribbean island nation of Barbados for a six-week
internship that begins on 24 February 2012. He will be attached to the Barbados Museum.
Tony Heorake, Director of SINM, says that the selection of Wale will boost SINM's effort to
revamp the museum for the 11th Festival of Pacific Arts that will run from to 1 to 14 July this
year. He adds that SINM has been selected as one of the Honiara venues for the festival.
Heorake explained that, since its official opening in 1969, SINM has updated its exhibitions
only twice — once in 2010 and the second time in 2011. The second update showcased
Solomon Islands’ role during the Second World War. This time, they hope to focus on the
country's history, which includes the Lapita people and pottery, the migration of Pacific
Islanders through Solomon Islands, as well as Solomon Islands’ political and cultural diversity.
For their part in the exchange programme, SINM is hosting the counterpart from the Barbados.
Kerron Hamblin, the successful candidate selected by the Museum Association of the
Caribbean (MAC), will travel to Solomon Islands in the first week of March.
Administered by the Pacific Islands Museum Association (PIMA), the Museum Association of
the Caribbean and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, the programme should advance
the professional development of the participants, giving them cross-cultural understanding,
allowing them to carry out research and, at the same time, contributing something tangible to
their host museum.
PIMA President and Chairperson, Adi Meretui Ratunabuabua, says the programme is the first
of its kind since the establishment of the regional body in 1994. She says it will contribute
towards capacity building in areas of curatorial expertise and museum management policies
and practices. It will also promote museums to the general public and local communities, and
will establish a working relationship with its Atlantic counterpart MAC.
Pacific Islands Museums Association C/- Vanuatu Cultural Centre PO Box 184, Port Vila, VANUATU
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She adds that the regional and global collaboration resulting from this programme will benefit
the preservation of Pacific Island heritage.
MAC President Cyril Saltibus shares Ratunabuabua’s sentiments and congratulates the two
museum staff selected to be part of this inaugural exchange programme.
The programme, funded by the European Union and managed by the Secretariat of the Pacific
Community’s (SPC) project — Structuring the cultural sector for enhanced human development
— involves PIMA-member and MAC-member organisations and institutions. The employing
institutions will act as the host for exchange candidates.
PIMA will be sending students and researchers on similar programmes later this year.
For further information, please contact:
Adi. Meretui Ratunabuabua,
Chair, Pacific Islands Museum Association,
SUVA, FIJI ISLANDS
Ph: +679 3306349
Fax: +679 3310 357
Email: mereculture@hotmail.com or pimachair@gmail.com
Pacific Islands Museums Association C/- Vanuatu Cultural Centre PO Box 184, Port Vila, VANUATU
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