Chinese American Museum of Chicago offer virtual tours amid pandemic
The Chinese American Museum of Chicago reopened July 1 after being closed for over three months as Chicago entered Phase 4 of the state’s reopening plan.
“We will do everything to protect not only our staff but also our visitors,” Ben Lau, executive director of Chinese American Museum of Chicago, said.
Following the city’s coronavirus guidelines, the museum has a hand sanitizing station at the reception, and posts signs reminding guests about social distancing. Each visitor’s temperature is measured with a touchless thermometer before entering the museum.
The museum was initially shut down in mid-March. As many other small businesses, the museum faces financial difficulties “with no visitors coming in”.
However, the museum operators still try to keep their audience engaged through various ways.
They created virtual tours for their current exhibition Attic Treasures II, where people can browse from their home the historic furniture, treasured jewelry, teapots, and other items saved over the generations.
Screenshot of the museum’s online tour page.
“People cannot go out to any public events, but they can still have an opportunity to enjoy fun, interesting and educational tours from the museum,” Lau said.
Lau added that they have planned to create more virtual tours in the future.
The museum is collecting stories of people combating coronavirus from different organizations as well as community members. The contents submitted will be archived to acknowledge those who donated their time and money during the pandemic.
Lau said that donations to frontline workers from businesses in the Chinese community has had a significant impact on fighting the pandemic.
“As a museum, we have a mission to keep all the important history and culture so that the next generation will not forget what people did in the past,” Lau said.