National Museum of Vanuatu
Background
Background
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The Vanuatu Cultural Centre was founded in 1959\. From its inception, it was designed to encompass a National Museum of Vanuatu. By 1960 a Board of Management was established with British, French and ni\-Vanuatu members. In the early years the museum focussed on exhibitions, mostly of collections formed by colonisers. Its first site was on the waterfront of Port Vila.

In 1989 leadership of the museum passed from the expatriate anthropologist Kirk Huffman, to ni\-Vanuatu Jack Keitadi.

### Official opening

In 1995 the VCC and the museum moved to a new purpose\-built structure in Port Vila. The new building was 45 metres long and 20 metres wide, and its architectural design was inspired by buildings from the northern islands. Its official opening was held at 9\.30am on 17 November 1995, and was preceded by four days of ritual and cultural activity. This festival brought people from a range of communities to the capital and emphasised the museum also belonged to them. The opening ceremony involved gift\-giving and a "Kastom dedication" of the building. The "Kastom dedication" included covering the building with a spiritual net and the sacrifice of a specially selected pig. The date of the museum opening, 17 November, was also dedicated as National Cultural Day.

### Building

The museum is within the shared structure, which contains an exhibition hall, where displays regularly change. The museum also has an archival space, known in 2003 as the Tabu Room, where *[kastom](/wiki/Kastom "Kastom")* objects can be deposited by their owners for safekeeping, but where access to them is also kept along *kastom* traditions. The museum also has storage space, where objects that cannot be displayed are kept, either because they are fragile, or because they are the subject of dispute.

### Public engagement

The museum runs a Kastom School where traditional arts and stories are passed on to young people from Vanuatu. In 2020 the museum hosted an exhibition on the history of archaeological research in Vanuatu. In 2021 the museum was the location of the launch of Vanuatu's first anthology of women's writing *[Sista, Stanap Strong!](/wiki/Sista%2C_Stanap_Strong%21 "Sista, Stanap Strong!")* Exhibitions in the 1990s included: money, contemporary art, domestic spaces.


How does the museum engage with the public?