Government must give more money to the Island's museums if it wants to promote a greater diversity in the types of exhibits they display.

Dr. Edward Harris, director of the Maritime Museum, issued this challenge during a seminar on multi-culturalism in museums at the Bermuda College last week, after a survey pointed out that many exhibits did not reflect all of Bermuda's people fairly.

Dr. Harris said most museums were specialised because they collected materials other people discarded.

"Government has not been very supportive of cultural institutions,'' he said.

Mr. Michael Huntley surveyed 11 local museums and found that less than 10 percent of the exhibits represented people who were not white.

Human Affairs Minister the Hon. Jerome Dill said this survey lent substance to the conclusion that Bermuda's museum's "are very Eurocentric in their vision.'' Moreover, Mr. Dill said this did not reflect Bermuda's history accurately because it was "evident that numerous cultural groups have been a part of the Island's history and development up to the present day.'' Dr. Helen Stemler, an American who is currently working with the Department of Education as the curriculum co-ordinator, and Ms Maria Martin Thacker, an applied cultural anthropologist with Bermuda Cultural Services, each spoke on multi-culturalism. Dr. Stemler said that the goal of any multi-culturalism programme, whether it took place in a museum or in a restructured educational system, was a "community that is sensitive to the human condition.'' To do that required caring, rationality and action so that differences were not necessarily viewed as always bad.

Dr. Stemler said that communication skills were necessary in order that people from various ethnic groups could negotiate areas of common ground instead of assuming what it should be.

Ms Thacker, meantime, said that the Island's museums should be more than a repository of stagnant relics.

Instead, she suggested that they became living organisations that assisted Bermudians to forge a national identity.

But before this could be achieved, those who selected museum exhibits needed to examine their attitudes and behaviour.

"Most people see themselves operating consistently and authentically with the reality as they know it,'' she said.

"It is very difficult to step outside of ourselves and look at our paradigms.'' Ms Thacker said Bermuda's museums had to look at how they used their resources to support a view of reality that might not be inclusive of other cultures.

Multi-culturalism, she said, was in Bermuda's national interest, it was inclusive and it was practical.