An awards event dubbed as the “Oscars for Museums” recognized Ayala Museum in Makati City as among the world’s best for its exhibit that looked into the country’s state prisons.
The museum bagged the much-coveted Best Soft Power Activation award at the Leading Cultural Destinations Awards or the “Oscars for Museums” on October 3.
“One, did you guys know there was an ‘Oscars for Museums’? and two, did you guys know that we just won an award for it last week?” the museum tweeted.
It added in a Facebook post:
“That makes Ayala Museum the first Philippine museum to get recognized and we’re honoured to bring this home for our country! We’re getting Philippine art & culture on the podium, you guys. It’s happening.”
The Lord Cultural Resources and Soft Power Destinations are international bodies that recognize notable institutions, cities, districts and events in the cultural sector.
Veteran photographer Rick Rocamora’s exhibit “Bursting at the seams: Philippine detention centers,” mounted in March was chosen as the best under the Soft Power Cultural Activation category.
This category recognizes notable places or destinations that hosts “an event or series of events” in different parts of the world.
“Visitors to the exhibition are empowered to share their reactions and their thoughts with legislators about the country’s prison system,” the agency stated in its website.
“This exhibition and the public’s positive engagement with it demonstrate how a historical museum can step outside its traditional role of examining the past to setting the agenda for the future of the Philippines and other nations with penal systems in need of reform,” it said.
Other winners include the Museum of Tomorrow in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil as the Best Soft Power Organization and the Fogo Island in Canada as the Best Soft Power District.
