Museum Matters (2008-2012)

Irish museums are major cultural resources providing places of learning, curiosity and enjoyment. To celebrate this, the IMA created a touring exhibition: Museums Matter: Accessing Ireland’s Heritage to showcase the great treasures waiting to be discovered in our museums. 

Museums Matter - Accessing Ireland's Heritage was launched in May 2008 in the National Library of Ireland, Dublin and in June in The Linen Hall Library, Belfast; touring the country until 2012. 

Museums Matter was accompanied by a full colour booklet, activity sheets (see below), handling collection, a/v presentation and a programme of talks and workshops – designed to encourage the public to visit and use their local museums. 

The exhibition featured images from collections across Ireland, including folk life, archaeology, costume, natural history, transport, marine life, science and technology, fine art and the decorative arts. Each venue was provided with an exhibition manual, which contained a draft press release, exhibition launch suggestions, information and inventories of the handling collections, ideas for using the exhibition, exhibition management guidelines, and answers to questions that host venues may be asked about careers and volunteering in museums. 

An associated programme of lectures and workshops was arranged for the exhibition on many ocassions and the IMA also assisted in providing a panel of workshop facilitators, who travelled to the different venues. 

Museums Matter education worksheets were developed and are available to download. These worksheets were designed to complement the National Curriculum, and different worksheets made available for different key stages and ages. Teacher’s notes were also available. This material is also available in Irish. These worksheets were designed to be used before or during a visit to Museums Matter, or to any museum or gallery. 

Activity sheet Primary (English) Activity sheet Primary (Gaeilge) 

Activity sheet Junior Cycle (English)Activity sheet Junior Cycle (Gaeilge) 

Activity sheet Senior Cycle (English) Activity sheet Senior Cycle (Gaeilge)

Teachers' notes (English) Teachers' notes (Gaeilge) 

This project was supported by the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism (Republic of Ireland), Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (Northern Ireland), Northern Ireland Museums Council, Department of Education and Science (Republic of Ireland), National Library of Ireland, Dublin, Linenhall Library, Belfast, and the An Comhairle um Oideachas Gaeltachta agus Gaelscolaíochta (for Irish translations).