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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><strong><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55"">March 22, 2017<o:p></o:p></span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><strong><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55";font-weight:normal"><o:p> </o:p></span></strong></p>
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<strong><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55"">The Royal BC Museum signs MOU with the National Museum in Czech Republic<o:p></o:p></span></strong></p>
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<strong><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55""></span></strong><strong><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55";font-weight:normal"><o:p></o:p></span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right:9.3pt;text-autospace:none"><strong><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55"">VICTORIA, BC–</span></strong><a name="OLE_LINK5"><strong><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55";font-weight:normal">Monday
in Prague, the Royal BC Museum signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Czech Republic’s Národní muzeum (national museum).<o:p></o:p></span></strong></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right:9.3pt;text-autospace:none"><strong><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55";font-weight:normal"><o:p> </o:p></span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right:9.3pt;text-autospace:none"><strong><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55";font-weight:normal">The focus of the MOU is to foster and further a mutual understanding of First Nations
materials in both institutions’ collections, a significant step in the Royal BC Museum’s commitment to gain a comprehensive understanding of where First Nations artefacts are held beyond BC’s borders. This is a landmark agreement for two world-leading museums
to help share curatorial expertise and best practices. <o:p></o:p></span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right:9.3pt;text-autospace:none"><strong><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55";font-weight:normal"><o:p> </o:p></span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right:9.3pt;text-autospace:none"><strong><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55";font-weight:normal">“This is the first stage in an ambitious plan to ‘map out’ a database of cultural treasures
from British Columbia held by international museums,” said Royal BC Museum CEO Prof. Jack Lohman. “This partnership with the National Museum in the Czech Republic is a pilot project, the first opportunity for First Nations and Royal BC Museum professionals
to work together to study, catalogue, and share knowledge of valuable collections held abroad.”<o:p></o:p></span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right:9.3pt;text-autospace:none"><strong><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55";font-weight:normal"><o:p> </o:p></span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right:9.3pt;text-autospace:none"><strong><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55";font-weight:normal">A recent example of a similar collaboration was struck by the British Museum and the Museum
of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, a relationship that bore significant museological fruit, including a comprehensive cataloguing of the Maori taonga (artistic creations) in the British Museum’s collections.
<o:p></o:p></span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right:9.3pt;text-autospace:none"><strong><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55";font-weight:normal"><o:p> </o:p></span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right:9.3pt;text-autospace:none"><strong><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55";font-weight:normal">In broad strokes, the MOU between the Royal BC Museum and Národní muzeum reflects a mutual
agreement for the institutions to share professional expertise; share knowledge; develop collaborative activities; record the collections; employ digitization as a tool for sharing knowledge, understanding and awareness of the collections; and, focusing on
the Pacific North-West Coast collections, facilitate visits by Indigenous peoples, share information about cultural heritage and consider holding exhibitions and producing a joint publication.
<o:p></o:p></span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right:9.3pt;text-autospace:none"><strong><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55";font-weight:normal"><o:p> </o:p></span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right:9.3pt;text-autospace:none"><strong><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55";font-weight:normal">The signing of the MOU comes as the Royal BC Museum gears up to co-host, with the First
Peoples’ Cultural Council, a symposium on First Nations repatriation, in Kelowna March 29-31, 2017.
<o:p></o:p></span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55"">About the Royal BC Museum<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="xbodytext" style="margin-top:.1pt;background:white"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55"">The Royal BC Museum explores the province’s human history and natural history, advances new knowledge and understanding of BC, and provides
a dynamic forum for discussion and a place for reflection. The museum and archives celebrate culture and history, telling the stories of BC in ways that enlighten, stimulate and inspire. Looking to the future, the Royal BC Museum will be a refreshed, modern
museum, extending its reach far beyond Victoria as a world-class cultural venue and repository of digital treasures.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="xbodytext" style="margin-top:.1pt;background:white"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;background:white"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55"">- 30 -<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><a name="OLE_LINK1"></a><a name="OLE_LINK2"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55"">Media contact:</span></b></a><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55""><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55"">Royal BC Museum Media Inquiries
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55"">250-387-5051<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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</span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
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