[Photo: SUPPLIED]

The Fiji Museum has been given a funding boost by the New Zealand High Commission, allowing the facility to continue the digital preservation of artefacts to March 2027.

The museum began the digitisation programme in 2021 with support from the Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP) through the US Embassy in Fiji.

Fiji Museum Chief Executive Officer Armando Lowe welcomed the grant, saying it would help sustain the work to digitally preserve the museum’s collection.

“The museum requires an additional $300,000 beyond September to ensure the entire collection is fully digitised by December 2028.  This timely and much-needed assistance from the New Zealand High Commission brings us a step closer to our goal of a fully digitised collection here at the Fiji Museum. However, we are still seeking additional funding beyond March 2027 to guarantee the completion of this critical project.”

The Fiji Museum Digitisation Project aims to digitally preserve the collection of around 10,000 objects for future generations, although progress has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and funding interruptions.

“We have been urgently seeking funding to complete this project after the current funding cycle ends in September, by which time 40 per cent of the collection is expected to be digitised. The confirmation of support from the New Zealand High Commission will allow us to continue this work while we approach additional donors to help complete the project by December 2028.”

Lowe says the current grant has enabled the museum to recruit six collections interns who have worked for the last 17 months on collections photography, condition reporting and entering this information as well as accession records into the collections database.

Upon completion of 10,000 objects and an estimated 10-15,000 items in its archives, including around 8,000 photographic prints, will be digitised.

The Collections Manager, Jeff Fox, said that this does not include archaeological material that is also held by the Fiji Museum.

“We would estimate that we have around 30-35,000 items in our collection, of which only about 10,000 have been accessioned, including some of the photographic archives. It is unlikely that we will cover the archaeological material by December 2028, but we will have completed the main collection, including all photographic prints and audiovisual and paper archives.”