Photo Courtesy of Emily VanderBent.

Ever since I was little, I have loved museums. I could spend hours wandering around the marble halls, getting lost in another culture, another time, another place. They almost act as these liminal spaces, these in between places where worlds collide and time stands still. 

The liminality of museums and other forms of the arts, such as theatre, have long drawn us to them because of the way they force us to connect deeper with ourselves and with others. As humans, we are naturally curious creatures and, therefore, carry those questions around with us wherever we go. When we engage with the arts in a corridor of a museum or the seat of a theatre, those questions we carry with us shape our interactions with them. If we approach the arts looking for answers, we will more often than not leave the interaction disheartened because art, theatre, music, and poetry, even to their creator, isn’t made to help us answer our questions, it is made to help us understand our questions better.

This world and our lives will always hold uncertainty. That is part of the beauty in being human. But as with COVID-19 and our current circumstances worldwide, the present uncertainty is one we share collectively. Since most of us are quarantined and businesses like museums and theatres are closed, we are forced to confront our questions and the uncertainty from our homes. But that doesn’t mean we are alone or without a means of understanding them better.

Those who work for museums understand the human need to be creatively and culturally fed, especially during times of uncertainty. Several museums have moved a lot of their content online, giving the public access to exhibits, information, and even virtual tours. 

Whether you have questions you need to understand better, need a break from Netflix, or need some inspiration for your own creative arts, I’ve listed several links below to museums who have moved online for the time being.

The Art Institute of Chicago

George Washington’s Mount Vernon

The Palace of Versailles

The International Spy Museum

Shedd Aquarium Penguin Field Trip

And, as always, you can check out Girl Museum since our entire platform is online.

If there is a museum or historic site you’re interested in that’s not linked above, check out their website and see what resources they have available to you.

Stay safe everyone. We’ll get through this together.

-Emily VanderBent
Junior Girl
Girl Museum Inc.

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