CIMAM Advocates for Museums for Modern and Contemporary Art at a time of World Crisis

At a time of social, economic and ecological crisis around the world that has been further intensified by the Covid-19 pandemic, the role of museums has never been more important. We congratulate UNESCO on their report on Museums Around the World in the Face of Covid-19, that outlines the social as well as the economic impact of some 85,000 museum closures.

CIMAM wishes to highlight the role of museums of modern and contemporary art as conveyers of collective memory, fostering cultural participation and social cohesion and equality, promoting cross-disciplinary dialogue and exchange, and as drivers of sustainable economic development. CIMAM subscribes to the resolutions elaborated by ICOM in Kyoto in 2019 on sustainability and the implementation of the United Nations Agenda 2030, Transforming the World. Among these goals are addressing social, economic and gender inequality, climate change, environmental and human rights.

With the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic, museums have been thrust into states of heightened precariousness. CIMAM advocates at this crucial time for funding bodies and boards and local and national governments around the world to support museums and their staffs, and the cultural and economic eco-systems that they enable.