Connecting Museums, Connecting People

Dr. Catherine Lewis, Museums of History and Holocaust Education in Kennesaw, GA:

Museums Connect formally is a partnership between two museums but that doesn't really capture what it is. What Museums Connect does is allow people who work with and are engaged with museums, allowed them to have extended dialogue about a serious topic that helps promote cultural diplomacy.

Dr. Leah Melber, Hurvis Center for Learning Innovation and Collaboration, Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, IL:

I think the advice I'd give anyone that was participating in this program is to expect the unexpected. One of the biggest gifts of the program is the opportunity to work with a partner in another part of the world and anything can happen and that’s actually what makes it most exciting. The learning opportunities are endless. 

Jenny Newell, American Museum of Natural History in New York, NY:

I think sharing those kinds of ideas cross-culturally is really valuable because you seen a whole completely different way of approaching things if you talk to people in another culture. So that is really valuable and its going to be really exciting having two coastal communities, in New York and in Samoa, both of whom have been subject to major storms. Cyclone Evan in Samoa and Hurricane Sandy in New York.

Lumepa Apelu, Museum of Samoa in Apia, Samoa:

Samoans believe in God and so it also believes in the other, the other people rather than its not an individualistic community its all about others. We are sharing our culture, we are sharing our skills, yeah, that's how I relate it to the museums.

Dr. Catherine Lewis, Museums of History and Holocaust Education in Kennesaw, GA:

It really is a grassroots approach. Museums Connect is a grassroots  approach to people to people diplomacy. And its one that lasts because friendships are built and sustained and because these questions and issues really matter.