Campaign Launches in Brazil to Encourage Visits to Museums

By Jay Forte, Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Brazilian Institute of Museums (IBRAM), in partnership with the Museums System of São Paulo (SISEM/SP), launched a campaign on the internet yesterday, (Monday, July 11th), to help boost and encourage visits to museums across the country.

The campaign, which runs until Friday, July 15th aims, through the hashtag #euamomuseus (I love museums), or #euS2museus, to reach new audiences and strengthen the more than 3,600 museums spread across the five regions of Brazil.

The campaign shares a number of proposals and suggestions with the audience, such as, ‘How about take advantage of the school holidays and visit the nearest museum?’ The message seeks to promote museums as a place of leisure, tourism, study, research, education, and also a resource for those working in social development areas.

Head of promotion and institutional image management for IBRAM, Ana Lourdes Costa, admits a primary challenge they are facing, “We have a large portion of society that has never been to the museum.”

She explains, “I think that today there is a misconception that the museum is very serious or saves only relics. [But] museums in Brazil are very diverse. They have exhibitions of items from the earliest of days, to items created every day.”

Ana Caroline Biavatti, a Brazilian living in Rio and founder of education courses, Empreenda Sonhos, says all her students are encouraged to visit museums. Adding they are “a place to find out what came before and all the possibilities that can come for the future! So much creativity on the walls! Such a celebration of human vision and potential!”

Strengthening the image of museums has proved to be one of the major contemporary challenges in Brazil, and a central focus is to better communicate the activities and attractions.

“We developed the campaign in partnership with the state systems of museums around the country. Where there is a state system for a representative. They are responsible for replicating the campaign.” explained Costa.

Posters and images created for the campaign are available for download on the SISEM/SP page.