Some of the children's paintings on display in the museum

February 2010: Plan Guinea has funded an educational museum in Kissidougou in running an open doors project, fostering children’s creativity and cultural awareness.

The Musée Au Public Scolaire opened its doors to 50 children from 5 local schools, from 15th to 25th February 2010.

The project taught children about the arts and traditions of their communities, and to encourage creative expression. Workshops explored the museum’s collections, based on social life, economic life, cultural life, the effects of armed conflict, and children’s painting. The children then painted pictures about children’s rights, inspired by these themes.

Celebrating cultural richness

A kaleidoscope of different ethnicities live in Kissidougou, including the native Kissia, Kouranko, Lélé and Sarakolé. There are also the non-native Malinké, Peulh, Soussou, Toma, Gbèlè and Konianké peoples: this combined with waves of migration and conflict means there are lots of people with a mixed ethnic background. The co-existence of so many ethnic groups gives Kissidougou a rich and varied cultural heritage.

The open doors project aimed to celebrate this cultural richness, sharing it with local children. Their work was recognised by officials with 10 prizes awarded to the best artists, 7 boys and 3 girls.

Encouraging creativity

Prizes were awarded to the 10 best artists

The project had several aims over the 10 days: fostering and encouraging children’s creativity was a priority, as well as honing the students’ skills in artistic and cultural fields. Children also got the opportunity to broaden their knowledge of the culture and history of their country.

What's more, the children discussed the effects of armed conflict on Guinea's cultural heritage. They said that armed conflict is not true to Guinean moral values.

Another goal was to promote the museum and its collections to the wider public. Before the project the museum was not that well known, especially amongst primary school students, and now it is more popular. Because a space inside the museum has been dedicated to exhibiting student’s work, they now have a real sense of belonging.