This year, the International Council of Museums (ICOM) announces that more than 10.000 museums are expected to participate all around the world celebrating the theme “Museums: Agents of Social Change and Development”. In the real world, hundreds of museums are offering free admission, special guided tours, expo openings and many other special activities during the week of the 18th of May. 3,429 events have already been announced in European museums, more than 2,500 in Latin America and the Caribbean, hundreds in North America, Africa and Asia. News on these events and activities are available on http://icom.museum/2008_contents.html as the big day approaches this Sunday.
 
For the first time, the virtual world will also be present thanks to a global cooperation with the San José, California (USA) museum The Tech Museum of Innovation, hosting the ICOM IMD event at “The Tech Virtual” on Second Life.  Museums all around the world are invited to participate online in celebrations at The Tech Virtual where virtual scientific and technology exhibits, cultural and community leaders along with museum curators and artists will meet during 24 hours of virtual museum programming online.
Second Life is open to the public for free.
 
Alissandra Cummins, ICOM President, states: “The developing world has been suffering from the digital divide: on International Museum Day, we want to show how museums can help bridge that divide.”
 
She will give a welcome speech on Second Life at The Tech Virtual Museum at 6pm Paris time (9am SLT).
 
Selected museums on all continents will serve as cybermuseums for online connection so that staff and museum visitors can participate in ICOM’s International Museum Day online through thematic discussion forums and creative events.
 
Country by Country Activities Around the World: http://icom.museum/imd2008_links.html
Press Kit: http://icom.museum/2008_contents.html
CONTACT: Carla Bonomi, ICOM :  bonomi@icom.museum
 
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ICOM is the international organisation of museums and museum professionals which is committed to the conservation, continuation and communication to society of the world's natural and cultural heritage, present and future, tangible and intangible.

Created in 1946, ICOM is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) maintaining formal relations with UNESCO and having a consultative status with the United Nations' Economic and Social Council.

As a not for profit organisation, ICOM is financed primarily by membership fees and supported by various governmental and other bodies. It carries out part of UNESCO's programme for museums. Based in Paris (France), the ICOM Headquarters houses both the ICOM Secretariathttp://icom.museum/centre.html
and the

The 24,000 members of ICOM in 150 countries participate in the national, regional and international activities of the organisation: workshops, publications, training, twinning programmes, and the promotion of museums through International Museum Day (May 18, annually). The membership participates in the activities of 117 National Committees and 30 International Committees. Some National Committees have also organised on a regional level to reinforce their action. ICOM is affiliated with 15 international associations.
The ICOM Strategic Plan adopted by the General Assembly is implemented by the ICOM Secretariat as well as National and International Committees who contribute to the realisation of ICOM's programmes.

ICOM's activities respond to the challenges and needs of the museum profession and are focused on the following themes:

• professional cooperation and exchange
• dissemination of knowledge and raising public awareness of museums
• training of personnel
• advancement of professional standards
• elaboration and promotion of professional ethics
• preservation of heritage and combating the illicit traffic in cultural property