On 18 May, many institutions took part in the great world celebration of International Museum Day which was organised around the theme Museums (Memory + Creativity) = Social Change. The International Council of Museums would like to thank all participating museums that have contributed in their own way to strengthening their local communities by engaging in an open dialogue with their visitors. You will find below some highlights of what was held on the occasion of IMD.

ICOM President Dr Hans-Martin Hinz in Malaysia and Philippines for IMD
ICOM President Dr Hans-Martin Hinz was kindly invited by ICOM Philippines and ICOM Malaysia to IMD celebrations in Southeast Asia.

---

Massive participation of Mexican museum institutions to IMD
From Monterrey to Mexico City, approximately 80 institutions in Mexico dynamically participated in International Museum Day this year, each developing an inspiring and unique activity program for their visitors. In addition to opening their doors for free on 18 May, most institutions spread their program over a few days, inviting audience members to take part in a wide range of activities including guided tours, multidisciplinary workshops, conferences and story-telling sessions.

---

Google Art Project joins in the celebration of International Museum Day
During this week of International Museum Day, Google announced 1,500 new high-resolution artworks including masterpieces such as Monet’s “Waterlilies,” Rembrandt’s “Portrait of a Man in a Broad-Brimmed Hat” and Johannes Vermeer’s “The Geographer,” adding to the Google Art Project’s collection of more than 40,000 total works and 250+ cultural organisations around the globe. Google also released 20 additional Street View collections, allowing anyone in the world to virtually explore a collection.  And on 16 May, the Museo Nacional de Arte MUNAL in Mexico, participated to a Google Art Project Art Talk on: New technologies, new audiences: does the museum respond to the demands and conditions of the contemporary world? Check out the Art Talk here, and be sure to follow the Google Art Project Google+ page to stay up to date with their latest.

---

Riverside Museum (Scotland, United Kingdom), winner of the European Museum of the Year Award 2013
On the occasion of IMD, the European Museum Forum celebrated another year of accomplishment and innovation in the museum field at the Gallo Romans Museum in Tongeren, Belgium. ICOM congratulates this year’s recipient of the European Museum of the Year Award, the Riverside Museum of Glasgow: as Scotland’s Museum of Transport and Travel, the institution offers exemplary public quality and has brilliantly renewed its mandate by engaging with wider social and universal issues.

---

Follow IMD on Facebook
International Museum Day’s Facebook page keeps you up to date on celebrations occurring all around the world, and is a space for virtual dialogue between museum professionals and worldwide visitors!
Come and join us on Facebook.

---

ICOM General Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
This year’s IMD theme Museums (Memory + Creativity) = Social Change will extend beyond 18 May celebrations, and will be explored on another level by members of the worldwide museum community from 10 to 17 August at the 23rd ICOM General Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. More than 3,000 participants are expected to attend this event, open for the first time to non-ICOM members, which represents a unique opportunity to meet other members of the museum industry.

---

International Museum Day 2014
ICOM is delighted to officially announce the IMD 2014 theme: “Museum collections make connections”. This theme will strive to demonstrate how museum objects have the ability to not only tell a story, but also engage the community through shared memory. Stay tuned for upcoming information on next year’s activities.

CONTACT: imd@icom.museum