FRIENDS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF MALI<\/p>\n
Pro bono Assistant sought for innovative project in interactive website design and cutting\u00a0edge exhibition design for US based non-profit and leading West African Museum.<\/p>\n
The Friends of the National Museum of Mali, a tax-exempt, charitable institution, seeks\u00a0a highly creative and motivated interactive web designer and innovative museum exhibition\u00a0designer to build its website and provide further services. A potential of site residency in Mali is\u00a0a possibility but unrelated to the service of the web design.<\/p>\n
Description of Purpose and Project Description<\/p>\n
The Friends of the National Museum of Mali is organized to provide support for the\u00a0training, education, exhibition, collections and other programs of the National Museum of\u00a0Mali and to promote, document and preserve Mali\u2019s rich cultural and artistic heritage for future\u00a0Primarily through its interactive website and the use of innovative technology, the\u00a0Friends intend to develop in the United States and globally an appreciation for and understanding\u00a0of the rich archeological, anthropological, cultural and artistic tradition of Mali, raise money\u00a0for director identified projects and assist in the acquisition and repatriation to the museum\u2019s\u00a0collection of works of art and antiquities pertaining to the cultural artistic heritage, primarily\u00a0those illegally and clandestinely exported from Mali.<\/p>\n
The Friends of the National Museum of Mali is the first \u201cFriends\u201d group for an African\u00a0Museum. The museum is one of the most outstanding, if not the most outstanding museum of the\u00a0African continent. The crisis that Mali has undergone in the past few years has threatened the\u00a0very nation to its core and threatened its cultural and artistic heritage.<\/p>\n
As Dr. Samuel Sidibe, the museum\u2019s long-term director, has observed, \u201cthe Jihadists, by\u00a0destroying mausoleums, by forbidding traditional cultural practices, like the artistic and musical\u00a0traditions, have as an omen the destruction of Malian culture and denial of a rich history that\u00a0includes respect for diversity and the vibrant tradition of its ethnic groups.\u201d We want to have the\u00a0website up and running when Dr. Samuel Sidibe is here in March, as an invited guest of the\u00a0Metropolitan Museum of Art.<\/p>\n
The projects which the Friends intend to fund are in the early stages of development,\u00a0collectively the outreach and education projects, are aimed at making cultural heritage and\u00a0patrimony a central part of reconstruction and development for the country. With the use of\u00a0interactive technology and web design to provide further support for the National Museum of\u00a0Mali\u2019s countrywide programs and museum initiatives, this rich cultural heritage can become a\u00a0catalyst for education and development and a model for other African nations.<\/p>\n