The list of activities includes:

In the run up to International Museum Day, on Saturday 16 May, the Company’s Garden (just off Cape Town’s Queen Victoria Street) is the place to be.  At 10h00 you can join a 1 ½-hour IMPLANTATION heritage treasure hunt with dramatist and doctoral candidate, Myer Taub and the Rooster Collective – a different kind of treasure hunt that is original, strange yet familiar and stimulating, encouraging participants to see museums and heritage sites in different ways.  Participants will gather at 10h00 in the Company’s Garden’s Rose Garden.  The event promises to be fun for all who share an appreciation of curiosity, clowns, history, museums and of course treasure hunts.  With fantastic prizes such as one year’s free entry to all 12 Iziko Museums of Cape Town, the event promises to be well supported, so do arrive early for your clues.  Quirky performances will include both actual and non-real characters such as Alain Said, Historical Anne, Miss Nothing, and Sir Dirkey Putt. 

While you’re about it, on Saturday, 16 May you can also snap up a bargain at the eternally popular annual Art Book Sale at the Iziko South African National Gallery.  Taking place in the Atrium from 10h00 until 15h00, a wide range of material will be for sale, including books, journals and exhibition catalogues that cover a host of topics.  The wide variety of literature will ensure that there is something for everyone, especially those with an interest in art history.  Documentaries will also be screened at the Iziko South African National Gallery.  Enquiries with regard to the Iziko SANG Art Library Annual Book Sale, as well as the documentary screenings, can be addressed to Suvashni Casoojee or Philasande Sokhweba on telephone (021) 467 4677 or e-mail sjcasoojee@iziko.org.za

On Monday 18 May – International Museum Day – entrance to all Iziko Museums is free (except the Castle of Good Hope).     The Iziko Mobile Museum, which will be parked in the Amphitheatre in front of the Iziko South African Museum, is bound to fire the imagination of kids.  The Iziko Planetarium, for its part, will pay tribute to International Year of Astronomy by flighting the show ‘The Southern African Large Telescope’, scripted by the late Professor Tony Fairall.  The Whale Well situated inside the Iziko South African Museum will play host to a display of specimens from our behind-the-scenes collections, with scientists from the Natural History Department in attendance.   This is a unique opportunity for you to have a peek into our collections of insects, fossils and bones, etc, not normally on display in our museums.   A rare occasion indeed!

The jewel in the crown and also taking place on the Monday, Iziko Museums of Cape Town, in partnership with the International Council on Museums (ICOM), Cape Town Routes Unlimited, Cape Town Tourism, Groot Constantia and West Coast Fossil Park, play host to three symposia on the topic “Museums and Tourism.”  The symposia are all FREE and would prove of interest to:

• Museum and Heritage sector organizations, institutions, professionals and students

• Tourism industry organizations, institutions, companies, individuals and students

• General public interested in the topic

“Museums keep history alive and it is our responsibility and privilege to collaborate together to engage with, not least, the tourism industry and especially those segments of previously disadvantaged communities that have not always been reached or targeted – in order to rekindle, remind and nurture our country’s unique and precious heritage,” says Iziko Museums of Cape Town CEO, Professor H.C. (Jatti) Bredekamp.

Bredekamp adds that it is the challenge of museums to nurture and invest in the domestic and international tourism market.  “It starts on our home ground,” he notes.  “If we can persuade more Capetonians to visit our museums,” he says, “they in turn will encourage those friends, relatives and colleagues visiting from other cities and countries to consider Iziko Museums of Cape Town a ‘must see’ on their itinerary while visiting the Mother City.”

Museum guided and behind-the-scenes tours will accompany the symposia programmes, details of which appear below:

IZIKO SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM (TH BARRY LECTURE THEATRE)
IZIKO MUSEUMS OF CAPE TOWN “MUSEUMS, TOURISM AND TREASURES” SYMPOSIUM

10h00 for 10h30                      Registration of delegates
                                                Tea / coffee on arrival
                       
10h30 – 10h40                        Welcome        
Professor H.C. ‘Jatti’ Bredekamp, CEO Iziko Museums of Cape Town

10h40 – 11h00                        Calvyn Gilfellan, CEO Cape Town Routes Unlimited
                                                “Museums and Tourism”

11h00 – 11h20                        Dr Sarah Wurz and Dr Gerald Klinghardt
                                                “African Heritage”

11h20 – 11h40                        Dr Hamish Robertson
                                                “The role of museums in palaeotourism and eco-tourism”

11h40 – 12h00                        ACTIVATE Presentation
Myer Taub

12h00 – 12h45                        Panel Discussion:  Speakers and industry representatives
(Heidi Keyser – Tourism Strategist, Managing Director of EDGE Tourism Solutions, and Director of the International Centre for Responsible Tourism South Africa; Noxolo Ntenetya – Acting Director: Tourism Participation Provincial Government Western Cape)
“What Tourists Want”.
                       
12h45 – 13h00                        Closing Remarks – Michelle van der Merwe
                       
13h00 – 13h30                        Light Lunch

13h30 – 15h00                        Guided tour of Collections

                                                Behind-the-scenes tours (Delegates to choose site visit)

GROOT CONSTANTIA JONKERSHUIS CONFERENCE CENTRE
IZIKO MUSEUMS OF CAPE TOWN “MUSEUMS, TOURISM – EN DOP” SYMPOSIUM

09h00 for 09h30          Registration of delegates
                                    Tea / coffee on arrival
                       
09h30 – 10h00            Welcome                                
Dr Patricia Davison, Executive Director Core Functions, Iziko Museums of Cape Town

09h40 – 10h00            Mariette du Toit–Hembold, CEO Cape Town Tourism
                                    “Museums and Tourism”

10h00 – 10h25            David Biggs
                                    “Wine Tourism”

10h25 – 10h45            Thys van der Merwe
                                    “Slavery, winemaking and the dop system”

10h45 – 11h00            Closing statements
Lalou Meltzer, Director Social History, Iziko Museums of Cape Town
                                                           
11h00 – 11h30            Tea / coffee break

11h30 – 12h00            Historic tour of museum – Thys van der Merwe

12h30 – 13h30            Cellar tour and wine tasting: Groot Constantia Estate

13h30 – 14h30            Lunch at Jonkershuis restaurant

WEST COAST FOSSIL PARK
“MUSEUMS AND TOURISM” SYMPOSIUM (in partnership with ICOM, Iziko Museums of Cape Town, Cape Town Routes Unlimited, and Saldanha Bay Tourism Organisation)

10h45 until 11h00        Tea and coffee on arrival
                       
11h00 – 11h05            National Anthem by local school choir

11h05 – 11h10            Opening remarks
11h10 – 11h20            Welcome by Advocate Dave Mitchell: Chairperson of Fossil Park Trust

11h20 – 11h50            Keynote Address by Ms. Buyelwa Sonjica: Minister of Minerals and Energy (to be confirmed)

11h50 – 12h00            Brief history of West Coast Fossil Park by Manager,  Pippa Haarhof

12h00 – 12h10            Mayoral address (to be confirmed)
                                    Unveiling of plaque

12h10 – 12h25            Tea and coffee break.  Transfer to fossil excavation site

12h25 – 12h30            Welcome to fossil excavation site by Dr Roger Smith, Curator Karoo Palaentology Collections

12h30 – 13h00            Dr Roger Smith: Research on first excavation site

13h00 – 13h30            Dr Deano Stynder: Research on second excavation site

13h30 – 14h30            Lunch and performance by local school choir

14h30 – 14h40            Launch of the West Coast Community Trust Birthday Calendar by Leonardo Appies: Chairman of the West Coast Community Trust

14h40 – 14h50            Overview of Cape West Peninsula Tourism by Andre Kruger: Chairman of Saldanha Bay Tourism

14h50 – 15h00            Closing by Andre Kruger
                                               
To register for any of the symposia, download the form at www.iziko.org.za or contact Sibulele Tyhomfa on (021) 481 3923 or e-mail styhomfa@iziko.org.za.  For enquiries pertaining to the West Coast Fossil Park Symposium, contact Laura Bourhill on (022) 766 1606 or e-mail wcfpark@iafrica.com

Visit the website www.iziko.org.za for International Museum Day updates.   Entrance to Iziko Museums is free to children under 16 – and free to everyone on certain commemorative days, including International Museum Day: Monday 18 May.