Today, 18 May 2026, is International Museum Day. The theme chosen by ICOM this year is “Museums Uniting a Divided World,” inviting us to rethink the role of museums in bridging geopolitical and cultural differences, as well as the social fractures that increasingly divide societies around the world.

After reflecting on it for several days, I keep coming back to something closer to home. Before a museum can unite anything, people have to walk through its doors first.

It sounds simple. But try to remember, how many people around us have not stepped inside a museum for years? Perhaps the last time was during a school field trip.

In Bali, there are many museums and cultural institutions worth visiting. Take the time to come, look around, join a tour, read the stories behind the collections, or simply enjoy the atmosphere. Take photos, share your experience, and let others know that museums can also be exciting spaces that feel close to our everyday lives.

I believe museums can open doors to appreciation, conversation, and constructive criticism. A museum is not only a place that stores objects, but also a space to ask questions, understand, and look again at history, culture, and ourselves.

That is where care begins to grow. That is where a child or teenager may quietly decide that the museum is a world they want to enter.

We also need more young people to choose museums as a career, whether as gallery guides, curators, conservators, educators, designers, researchers, writers, or cultural managers. They do not appear out of nowhere. They grow from small experiences that quietly remain in memory.

So on this 18 May, my invitation is simple. Go to a museum. Any museum. Bring someone who rarely, or perhaps has never, visited one.

And for those who want to go deeper, I have gathered a few short reading materials, from a directory of museums in Indonesia to several ebooks on museum management.

Here is the list:

Katalog Museum Indonesia: Jilid I
Direktorat Pelestarian Cagar Budaya dan Permuseuman, 2018

Katalog Museum Indonesia: Jilid II
Direktorat Pelestarian Cagar Budaya dan Permuseuman, 2018

Museum Basics
Timothy Ambrose and Crispin Paine, Routledge, 2006

Museum Management
Edited by Kevin Moore, Routledge, 1994

Opportunities in Museum Careers
Blythe Camenson, VGM Career Horizons, 1996

Permendikbudristek No. 24 Tahun 2022 tentang Museum
Kementerian Pendidikan, Kebudayaan, Riset, dan Teknologi RI, 2022

PP No. 66 Tahun 2015 tentang Museum
Pemerintah Republik Indonesia, 2015

And, if you visit a museum this week, write the name of the museum you visited in the comments.