A resource of Biophilia: Pittsburgh, #bioPGH is a weekly blog and social media series that aims to encourage both children and adults to reconnect with nature and enjoy what each of our distinctive seasons has to offer. 

Hello, friends! My first post for this blog series was back on September 29, 2016. Since then, almost every week we have explored a different seasonal facet of the wild world in Western Pennsylvania so we can reconnect with nature and enjoy what each of our distinctive seasons has to offer. Since you may have been reading along with me for quite a while, I’m guessing you’re a kindred spirit who loves to learn about wild nature as much as I do – in which case we both have something else in common: an appreciation for museums. Gardens, like Phipps, and zoos are living museums – institutions focused on building, preserving, and sharing knowledge throughout their communities. Today, my post is going to be a celebration of museums in anticipation of Sunday’s International Museum Day!

The International Council of Museums, ICOM, organized International Museum Day to highlight museums’ efforts to create accessible knowledge for all communities all over the world no matter the current climate of the world. First established in 1977, the day marks the importance of museums and acknowledges the changing landscape of the world and the need for museums to shift how they serve their communities and how to respect the stories and knowledge they share. It’s a challenging but exciting responsibility.

This week, we at Phipps have been celebrating International Museum Day by revisiting our educational opportunities and appreciating our relationship with all of you in communities around us. And if you would like to celebrate in person, come to Phipps this Sunday, between 11 am and 2 pm; I will have a family-friendly activity to check out what goes into designing an informative and engaging museum exhibit!

So let’s celebrate museums around the world! And as a museum, thank you for helping us to maintain Phipps as a place of natural beauty in the Pittsburgh region for over 130 years.