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Cuba has a new network of university museums!

 

Last week, on International Museum Day — 18 May 2019 — the Cuban community of university museums and collections came together and created a national network.

The Network of Cuban University Museums will be led by the Heritage Unit of the University of Havana, under the chairmanship of Professor Claudia Filipe.

UMAC is delighted and entirely supports this initiative. There should be even more local and national networks of university museums and collections. See here the ones we know about.

Congratulations to our Cuban colleagues!

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International Museum Day 2019

18 May is fast approaching and ICOM has prepared all the necessary information for planning and disseminating the activities of your university museum and collection.

Here are all the materials you need:

  • a IMD2019 kit with all the history, context, reasons and tips for organising activities, as well as communication tools.
  • the official IMD2919 website, with posters and banners to download in your language.
  • an interactive map, where you can tell the world, in real time, about your activities.

UMAC strongly encourages all university museums and collections to join this international celebration.

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UMTWS 2019 edition was a success

Last week, university museum professionals from all over China gathered at the Qian Xuesen Library and Museum, Shanghai Jiao Tong University for another edition of the UMTWS.

This year, the course counted with the presence of Marta Lourenço (UMAC Chair), Jill Hartz (President Emeritus of the Association of Academic Museums and Galleries USA), Sébastien Soubiran (President of Universeum, the European Academic Heritage Network) and Andrew Simpson (UMAC Board). Moreover, from China, and apart from Laishun AN (Vice-President of ICOM), high officials from the cultural sector attended, namely Qiang GUAN and Xiaobo CHU, respectively responsible for the cultural heritage of China and Shanghai.

Kai Zhang and Hu Hao were our kind hosts at Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

Xiaobo CHU, Qiang GUAN, Marta Lourenço, Laishun AN and Kai ZHANG.

UMAC and Shanghai Jiao Tong University have agreed to continue their partnership, diversifying the training offer to suit different types of professionals and creating new initiatives to promote university museums in China.

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UMAC and QLM-SJTU consolidate their partnership

Marta C. Lourenço and Kai Zhang, Qian Xuesen Library and Museum, Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

Today, UMAC and the Qian Xuesen Library and Museum of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, have publicly agreed to take their partnership to a more substantial level.

Here are some of the changes:

  • UMTWS (University Museum Training Weeks Shanghai) will be more directed to the needs and aspirations of university museum professionals.
  • There will be internships in overseas university museums for Chinese university museum professionals.
  • A high profile event, called the SJTU Directors’ Forum, will bring together university museum directors, higher education senior administrators and stakeholders from the museum and culture sectors, to discuss strategic issues related to universities, museums, heritage and culture.
  • The creation of a Research Centre for University Museums and Collections at SJTU.

The agreement was made after the opening session of the UMTWS 2019, and counted with the presence of An Laishun, Vice-President of ICOM; Guan Qiang, Vice-President of the National Cultural Heritage of China; and Hu Hao, Member of the SJTU University Council, among others.

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University Museums Training Week Shanghai: 2019 edition is next week!

Next week, 33 university museum professionals from China and Japan will participate in the University Museum Training Week Shanghai UMTWS 2019, 23-27 April, organized by UMAC-ICOM in partnership with the Qian Xuesen Library and Museum, Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

The UMTWS is part of UMAC’s strategic Professional Development Program, aimed at significantly increasing the qualification of university museum professionals worldwide. Almost 100 Chinese professionals have been trained by the UMTWS since its first edition in 2016.

In 2019, UMTWS is dedicated to the theme INSIDE AND OUTSIDE THE UNIVERSITY: A ROADMAP TO UNDERSTANDING UNIVERSITY MUSEUMS TODAY. The program of the 5-day course is rich and intense, encompassing lectures, round tables, workshops and visits to university museums in Shanghai. Faculty includes Andrew Simpson (Macquarie University, Australia), Jill Hartz (University of Oregon, USA), Xiangguang Song (Peking University, China), and Zhongmou Li (Shimao Group, China).

Moreover, the opening ceremony will count with Qiang Guan, Vice-President of the National Cultural Heritage Administration of China, and An Laishun, Vice-President of ICOM and Vice-President and Secretary-General of the Chinese Museums Association, in representation of ICOM.

In the words of Marta C. Lourenço, UMAC-ICOM President, and Kai Zhang, Executive Director of the Qian Xuesen Library and Museum, “UMTWSs are currently the only regular and sustained training offer for university museum professionals anywhere in the world and we want to reach many more in coming years. That is why in 2019 we are both very excited to take the UMAC-QLM-SJTU partnership a step further”.

UMTWS 2019 is supported by the two largest university museums associations in China: the National Educational Alliance of University and College Museums (NEAUCM) and the Shanghai Educational Alliance of University and College Museums (SEAUCM).

Media release

 

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UMAC contribution to the ICOM museum definition debate

ICOM is promoting a debate about the museum definition. The current museum definition dates from the 1970s (with changes introduced at the 2007 General Assembly in Seoul). Fifty years have meanwhile passed and ICOM is compiling contributions from museum professionals all over the world.

The importance of the ICOM’s museum definition should not be underestimated. Governments, accreditation agencies, among others, in many countries, derive national legislation, regulation and standards for the museum sector from the definition.

When the debate opened, we made an announcement here and we strongly encourage UMAC members to participate. More than 150 proposals from all continents can be read here.

UMAC wants to contribute:

Is there anything we can — and should — contribute as a collective? Does the current museum definition reflect the needs and aspirations of university museums and collections? What should we add? What is our agenda, if any?

Please send your views to Marta Lourenço, or leave your comment below before the end of April.

The current ICOM Museum Definition is:

The museum is a non-profit, permanent institution in the service of society and its development, open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits the tangible and intangible heritage of humanity and its environment for the purposes of education, study and enjoyment.

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First ever university museums meeting in Indonesia

Today, c. 20 managers of university museums in Indonesia are meeting at the Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia, in Jakarta, for the First National Colloquium of University Museums.

UMAC Chair Marta C. Lourenço addresses the Jakarta Colloquium (photo Musiana Yudhawasthi).

UMAC strongly encourages this Colloqium and wishes fruitful discussions — perhaps even a national network? — to Indonesian university museums.