Never before has the Memorial Museum had to resort to its essence: resistance.
Closed since March last year, when the Covid-19 pandemic entered the country, it faces the biggest challenge that equally threatens the existence of most museums in the world.
It is estimated that 13% of museums worldwide will not be able to reopen their doors due to the economic and health crisis caused by the new coronavirus.
The outlook looks so bleak that the Louvre Museum, located in Paris, France, one of the most famous and visited on the planet, lost 70% of its visitors in 2020 and its revenues fell by about 90 million euros compared to with 2019.
An AFP report reported last week that US museums can now sell their artwork to make up for their losses due to the deadly disease pandemic.
In April 2020, the American Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) lifted the ban and authorized the sale of works of art for two years to balance budgets.
In September last year, the Brooklyn Museum, which was already in financial difficulties before the pandemic, put 12 works up for sale in order to create a maintenance fund for its collection.
The director of the Memorial Museum of the Dominican Resistance (MMRD), Luisa de Peña Díaz, acknowledges that the entity has been severely affected by the preventive measures applied to prevent the spread of the virus.
Facility maintenance and employee pay were significantly affected. “Employees have resisted because they feel dedicated to the institution, we have continued together and we must acknowledge this,” he added about how almost zero income prevented the museum from operating.
Heavy tests
De Peña Díaz is aware that there are still months of hard testing for MMRD and other museums in the country, as there can be no talk of a reopening while the escalation of Covid-19 infections persists.
Despite this inevitable reality for the time being, with its income almost zero and some services suspended, the museologist exudes optimism about the future of the entity created ten years ago to collect, organize, preserve and display the tangible and intangible heritage assets of resistance during dictatorships. from the Dominican Republic, especially the one led for 30 years by Rafael Leónidas Trujillo (1930-1961).
“Above all, we stand once again thanks to the support of the community, friends and donations we receive,” said the director of MMRD.
She remembers that at the beginning they also fought with a titanic fight to make the project a reality. It refers to the remains of the Trujillo dictatorship and to some people who served in the twelve-year regime of Joaquín Balaguer (1966-1978), as opposed to the operation of a museum with these characteristics.
“They have often tried to silence us, those sectors that have participated in state crimes and human rights violations,” said the specialist in management, economics and financing of culture.
De Peña Díaz trusts to keep the museum because there are many who thirst for justice to know the truth and who claim their right to historical memory.
“I have no doubt that we will survive, beat, like all museums, and it will be difficult for us to get up again, but we will reopen our doors and the students will return to the museum because we have filled a gap,” he said. he said.
Back to the origins
MMRD is practically working today, which the collection expert considers a return to its origins, because this is how this museum appeared, located on Arzobispo Nouel Street in the Colonial City.
He acknowledges that the virtual does not replace face to face, but they have developed a series of programs and activities through social networks and their website, with a very positive response from the population.
He cited that he conducts educational workshops, discussions, podcasts, contests and trivia on networks, in addition to the program “A day like today ten years ago”, designed to save the activities carried out in the first ten years of operation of MMRD.
“People are very excited, because, although the virtual does not replace the face to face, it has more coverage and reaches more people. We have multiplied our virtual coverage “, explained the museologist.
Although in quarantine, they plan to celebrate the museum’s tenth anniversary and the 60th anniversary of the execution of tyrant Trujillo in May next year.
Exhibitions will open in most parts of the country for the anniversary. “The resistance is still active,” said De Peña Díaz, after 10 years of fighting for the establishment of a museum whose collection was declared a “Memory of the World” by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization on July 31, 2009. and culture (Unesco).