Over 1.5 million visitors expected to visit the members of the Olympic Museum Network in 2022
The 17th General Assembly of the Olympic Museums Network (OMN) was held both in Lausanne and virtually last week. Members of the OMN from around the world came together to share their experiences and projects for the future.
Based on current understanding and numbers provided by the members, the OMN is expecting a total of over 1.5 million visitors in 2022, showcasing 555,000 artefacts across 176,000 square metres of exhibition space, while the audience on social media is approaching 300,000 Facebook, 100,000 TikTok and 630,000 Weibo followers.
The Olympic Foundation for Culture and Heritage (OFCH) Director and OMN Chair Angelita Teo said: “We are elated with the success of Olympic Museums all around the world. It is very motivating to see the work our members have put in to reach out to their audiences and communities. We are certain with closer collaborations and partnership initiatives we would be able to achieve more together.”
Conversations covered a wide range of topics, including presenting the Olympic Museums as social players in their cities/regions, exploring their role as cornerstones in successful placemaking, creating/enhancing communication in order to showcase the network, and making sure the network serves a specific role within the Olympic Movement thanks to its special relationship with the general public.
“The positioning of Olympic Museums is key for their development and contributions to local communities; having the opportunity to listen to, and discuss the experiences of, our members is therefore very valuable to us,” said Andie Doyle, Board Chair of the US Olympic and Paralympic Museum.
As the General Assembly was held in conjunction with Olympic week (a free event held in Lausanne during the October school break dedicated to discovering sports and the world of Olympism through sports initiations, workshops mixing sport and culture, meetings with athletes and sports demonstrations), a proposal to create a shared Olympic day program to collaborate globally while tailoring their content for local environments has been made and will be discussed in the near future.
“We have developed many initiatives in the past that could be used by the OMN members in the next years” said Anne Chevalley, Chief Curator of The Olympic Museum in Lausanne. “Sharing our knowledge and best practices, developing a joint-programme and present it to our public would bring the OMN to the next level”.
The OMN was founded in 2006 at The Olympic Museum in Lausanne, and today is a 32-member multi-national organisation that creates a unique, integrated platform to promote Olympism and the values of sport and the Olympic Games. The members of the network share best practices, co-develop meaningful programmes, and cooperate on common issues to improve efficiencies related to the acquisition, curation, conservation and restoration of Olympic heritage items.