A Plan for the Museum

During this past election cycle, the Grenada National Museum (GNM) was occasionally mentioned in the media, often in conjunction with the National Library. While it is true that the current closure of the Museum risks another defunct institution, such an outcome is unlikely at this stage. For one, there is still a skeleton crew working there. Secondly, it still has a Board, and they want it reopened ASAP (as will the incoming Board).

The biggest risk right now is not permanent closure, but rather that the GNM will be reopened ASAP with little improvement and packed with random government offices. The Museum is falling apart. Reopening right away means ignoring all the things that need to be fixed – solely for reasons of perception and politics. That is not how the National Museum should be run. The roofs need replacing, many floors need fixing, the walls need patching and painting, the exhibits need updating — any of those things would require the Museum to (at least partially) close in the future, so it would have been better to get it all done while closed during the pandemic. Had my plans been implemented, that would have happened already.

Furthermore, no “National Museum” in the world has random government offices in the same building…. except Grenada. This was another frustration I had with the Board, which ultimately led to my dismissal. In the end, I felt like I had fought a hundred battles and lost every single one. If I could not change things, why was I even there?

So in an effort to make some of my work accessible to whoever runs the Museum in the future, I offer here the Development Plan that I pitched to the Board last year. Although revised and updated for this release, it’s still not perfect. But at present, this is the most comprehensive plan ever proposed for the GNM, and it took a lot of work to put together. It’s unfortunate that I could not implement it, but maybe someone else will (at the least, they wouldn’t have to start from scratch). The Grenada National Museum has such enormous potential, and this Plan is an attempt to both show that potential and provide a path to realizing it.

-JAH

View the GNM Development Plan here: http://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.28439.04006

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