A time of growth and gratitude

With the summer holidays approaching, it is a good moment to take stock and reflect on the past months. As a museum we have taken enormous steps and I am proud, as director, to be able to look back on a period full of progress.

First of all I want to express my sincere thanks to everyone who has supported the museum financially through donations. Your generous contributions have enabled us to realise important projects and to preserve our heritage for future generations. I am also grateful for the donations in the form of help, volunteer work and other services we have received. Your involvement and commitment are invaluable and strengthen the bond between the museum and the community.

Help and volunteering – the strength of community involvement

A large part of our efforts over the past months has gone into mapping our museum collection. Our aim is to document this heritage fully and in that way improve access to it. Re-inventorying and reassessing the collection is therefore our main task in the period ahead. I am delighted to report that our museum collection has now found a place in the municipal museum depot in Rotterdam. Our dedicated team of staff and volunteers is working there with passion on the further development of the collection.

Alongside this internal work we have greatly enjoyed organising various public programmes at Museum Sophiahof. We have enjoyed lectures by Erno Pickee on the graphic novel 'Molo Uku' and musical performances by Nicky Manuputty and Tasilo Pieck, among others. We also took a good look at our own collection with the exhibition 'Afgestoft' and devoted special attention to the project 'Wyldemerck' – a joint search for barracks in the woods. It has been a real pleasure to organise these diverse events and to see how they bring people together and raise awareness of our history and culture.

Looking ahead with challenges – the Museum Register and public presentations

As director I face the fine challenges awaiting us in the period ahead. We have set ourselves the goal of joining the Museum Register, which will give us the recognition our work deserves. We also aim to present our museum collection fully to the public again, both digitally and in real life. That will enable us to reach even more people and share our story with a wider audience.

Upcoming events

While we look back on the past months, we are also looking ahead with enthusiasm. On 16 August 2023 we present the programme 'Freedom in perspective', together with the Indisch Herinneringscentrum. In it we want not only to mark the Japanese capitulation, commemorated annually, but also to give attention to other perspectives on freedom. On 29 September 2023 we are organising a programme together with the Netherlands Institute for Sound & Vision, in which we examine the role of Moluccans in their database and highlight the value of Moluccan audiovisual material in our museum collection. And on 29 October 2023 a new edition of the Molukse Dialogen is planned, in which we once again want to encourage dialogue and connection between different generations and communities.

Towards a dynamic future

With all these plans and projects ahead of us there is still plenty to do. But before we throw ourselves fully into the future again, I want to wish everyone a well-earned and relaxing summer holiday. It is thanks to your support and involvement that we have come this far, and I look forward to writing the next chapters of Museum Maluku together with you.

With warm regards,

Director Henry Timisela