The Montserrat National Trust announced today that as of January 6th, 2020, the Montserrat Museum will be opened three days a week. Dr. Vernie Clarice Chambers Barnes, will be the curator/manager.
Dr. Barnes, who also currently chairs the Montserrat Arts Council, is an independent scholar specialising in the Psychosocial Effects of the Montserrat Volcanic Disaster, Coping and Intervention. She has advised on the “Mountain A Glow” Exhibition which is currently on display at the museum. Dr. Barnes curated the first exhibition at the museum “Crossing Stitches” which was opened by Prince Edward in 2012. She also brought the travelling portion of the Equiano Exhibition which was curated by the Birmingham Museum and the Equiano Society to Montserrat. The Equiano Exhibition commemorated two hundred years of the abolition of the Slave Trade Act in British territories. Dr. Barnes advocated for Montserrat to be the final resting place of the travelling exhibition because Equiano was enslaved on the island and bought his freedom here.
Dr Barnes is currently an Hon. Professor at the African Development University Niger where she teaches Research Methodology; formerly teacher of History and Social studies in Montserrat and the UK, Professor of History Education and Psychology at the William VS Tubman University Liberia, Visiting lecturer in Public Health in Developing Countries at the University of Birmingham, Programme Officer of the Women and Development Unit (WAND) University of West Indies, Barbados.
Developer and Host for nearly 15 years of “Under the Tamarind Tree” through which participants from Montserrat, the Caribbean and elsewhere share oral histories on ZJB Radio Montserrat.
Dr Barnes welcomes this opportunity to contribute to the work of the Montserrat Trust. She believes that the museum is a critical resource for the fostering of education that will help to shape the Montserrat identity, as well as marketable heritage/ and tourism products.
Get updates on upcoming exhibitions at the National Museum on the MNT Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/MontserratNationalTrust/
