Delivering on a promise made by the Hon. Premier, Sharlene Cartwright-Robinson earlier this year at the inaugural Museum fundraising Gala, Hon. Karen Malcomb, Minister of Education, Youth, Culture and Library Services presented a fifty-thousand-dollar sponsorship check to the Turks and Caicos National Museum Foundation (TCNMF) at the third Right Excellent JAGS McCartney Lecture Series at the National Memorial Site.
The money will be used by the museum to:
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Expand and create new events which will increase their fundraising ability and community programming,
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Expand the museum’s research programming into little known aspects of TCI history to also include local students that can train in heritage management
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Create new products to help educate locals on undiscovered TCI history,
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Develop new exhibits, and
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Expand the archival storage ability to help with the increased request to store historic documents.
Museum Director, Dr. Michael Pateman explains that “Over the next year we will be premiering many new programs including a documentary on traditional boat building, several history books aimed at the local schools, new exhibits on Salt and Governance in the TCI and so much more.”
President of the TCNMF Seamus Day said, “On behalf of the Members and Directors, we thank the Turks and Caicos Islands government and especially the Hon. Premier for this support. Over the last several years, the Museum has refocused on incorporating the local community more into our events, programs and exhibits and the government’s support will really allow us to expand on that.”
The sponsorship check from the government was not the only donation the Museum received during heritage month. Mr. Alton Higgs a traditional “bush doctor” from Lorimers, Middle Caicos (now resident on Grand Turk) gave the museum a basket he made from coconut leaves and stems marking the occasion of his 99th Birthday on October 17th 2019.
The TCNMF is a registered not for profit organization aimed at recording, interpreting, preserving and celebrating the history of the Turks and Caicos Islands and its people. The TCNMF is headquartered at two-hundred-year-old Guinep House on Grand Turk and also has a facility in the Village of Grace Bay on Providenciales.
