In the beautiful Palazzo Bo, University of Padova, home to the oldest Anatomical Theatre in the world (1495), several national and international experts will debate the evaluation of ‘third mission’ activities in Italian universities.
UMAC has been invited to reflect on the role of museums, collections and heritage in the ‘third mission’, and how this role can be measured.
The meeting is promoted by ANVUR, the Italian Agenzia Nazionale di Valutazione del Sistema Universitario e della Ricerca.
On Friday, September 29, at the Leading Culture Destinations Awards event in London, the Davis Museum at Wellesley College won the Best Soft Power Cultural Activation Award. The honor recognizes the ingenuity and global impact of ART-LESS: the Davis Without Immigrants,an initiative, and intervention launched by the Davis Museum in February 2017.
ART-LESS responded to President Trump’s first executive order on immigration, issued on January 27, 2017—a proposed “Muslim ban” on entry to the United States that left many feeling alarmed, threatened, and frightened. The goal of the ART-LESS initiative was to demonstrate the critical role that immigrants to the United States have played in the arts, via both their creative contributions as artists and their philanthropic roles as museum donors. It also articulated the Museum as a public space for critical discourse on matters of national importance.
Dr. Claire Whitner, Assistant Director of Curatorial Affairs and Senior Curator of Collections, says “the Davis puts cultural pluralism at the heart of our mission; to take that seriously means to create programming that emphasizes that value and defends it when threatened.”
During this six-day event, which encompassed the American “Presidents’ Day” holiday, the Davis Museum de-installed or shrouded all works of art in its permanent collections galleries that were either created by or given to Wellesley’s art collection by immigrants to the United States. Approximately 120 works of art—roughly 20 percent of the objects on view in the Museum’s permanent collections galleries—were either taken down or covered in heavy black cloth. Signage was posted next to each affected piece to indicate “Made by an Immigrant” or “Given by an Immigrant.” The concept and its impact were dramatic, particularly in light of a sluggish response among most American museums. The initiative garnered extensive international media coverage.
“I believe that museums can be important political spaces,” said Lisa Fischman, the Ruth Gordon Shapiro ’37 Director of the Davis,” for generating discourse, social engagement, and smart activism. Through actions like ART-LESS, the Davis takes a stance on contemporary issues, modeling social activism and political integrity for students—for the next generation—and for the larger community. Particularly at this moment in the nation’s history, it is extremely important to demonstrate the impact of immigrants—past, present, and future—on American cultural life. ART-LESS posed an invitation: taking the Davis as a microcosm, one might extrapolate out and consider the tremendous impact of immigrants on the nation as a whole.”
Audacious Ideas: University Museums and Collections as Change-Agents for a Better World
We live in a dangerous, often unstable, and environmentally compromised world. What can academic museums, galleries, and collections do to remedy this situation? If we are dedicated to teaching and training new generations of students, to serving increasingly diverse communities, how do we make a positive difference? How do we know we are making that difference?
Audacious Ideas asks presenters to share with us exciting and unusual ways that their museums, galleries, and collections are serving as change-agents. We’re interested in proposals that address how you are adopting new roles and adapting old ones, welcoming new constituencies while keeping current visitors, and creating new paradigms that make our institutions more valued and critical partners in higher education and in building a more peaceful and healthy world.
2008 Oklahoma Native American Youth Language Fair.
First Place: 3rd Ð 5th Group Language with Music and Dance
Anadarko Youth Two Steppers
UMAC AWARD 2017 | PRIX UMAC 2017 | PREMIO UMAC 2017
Oklahoma Native American Youth Language Fair (ONAYLF), Sam Noble Museum of Natural History, University of Oklahoma
Helsinki, Finland – The Oklahoma Native American Youth Language Fair (ONAYLF), Sam Noble Museum of Natural History, University of Oklahoma, is the winner of the UMAC Award 2017!
For its innovation, creativity, excellence, transferability, and significant impact on the university, the community and society at large.
In the words of the UMAC Award Evaluation Committee:
The Sam Noble Museum’s vision is to be “at the heart of our community, collectively working to inspire understanding, appreciation and stewardship of the earth and its peoples.” Nowhere is this more evident than in the Museum’s Oklahoma Native American Youth Language Fair.
Now in its 15th year, the Fair celebrates linguistic diversity presentations of spoken language, traditional and modern song, performances and creative arts, with awards selected by Native speakers, elders and educators. Through its commitment to educational and community inclusiveness, the Museum expands beyond its walls to uphold the continued use of indigenous languages while honoring the heritage and cultures – historic and contemporary – of the Native peoples of Oklahoma and the United States. In doing so, it sets a global paradigm for university museums and collections to acknowledge and respect indigenous populations and underserved communities.
The Replication of the Curie Experiment on Radioactivity, University of Rennes, and the ‘I C Taiwan’ Exhibition by the National Cheng Kung University Museum both won second place.
The Evaluation Committee recognised the quality of the three nominations.
Helsinki, Finlande – L’Oklahoma Native American Youth Language Fair (ONAYLF), Musée d’Histoire naturelle Sam Noble, Université d’Oklahoma, remporte le Prix UMAC 2017 !
En raison de son caractère novateur, de sa créativité, de son excellence, de sa transmissibilité et de son impact significatif sur l’université, la communauté et la société au sens large.
Selon les propos des membres du Comité d’Attribution du Prix UMAC:
La vision du Musée Sam Noble est d’être « au cœur de notre communauté, en œuvrant collectivement pour susciter la compréhension, l’appréciation et la gestion de la terre et de ses habitants ». L’Oklahoma Native American Youth Language Fair est LE lieu qui en atteste.
Fêtant aujourd’hui ses quinze ans d’existence, cette Foire est consacrée à la diversité linguistique et aux chants traditionnels et modernes et accueille des performances artistiques. Des prix y sont décernés par des locuteurs autochtones, des anciens et des éducateurs.
À travers son engagement pour l’inclusion pédagogique et collective, le Muséum va au-delà de ses murs pour défendre l’usage des langues indigènes tout en rendant hommage au patrimoine et aux différentes cultures – historique et contemporaine – des populations autochtones d’Oklahoma et des États-Unis. En agissant de la sorte, il définit un paradigme global permettant aux musées et collections universitaires de reconnaître et respecter les populations indigènes et les communautés fragilisées.
La « Reproduction de l’expérience des Curie sur la radioactivité » de l’Université de Rennes et l’exposition « IC Taiwan » du National Cheng Kung University Museum se partagent la seconde place du classement.
Le Comité d’Attribution reconnaît la qualité indéniable des trois nominés.
Helsinki, Finlandia – El ‘Oklahoma Native American Youth Language Fair ( ONAYLF)’, Museo Sam Noble de Historia Natural, Universidad de Oklahoma, es el ganador del Premio UMAC 2017.
Por su innovación, creatividad, excelencia, transferibilidad e impacto significativo para la universidad, la comunidad y la sociedad en general.
Según la opinión del Comité de Evaluación del Premio UMAC:
La visión del Museo Sam Noble es la de estar ‘en el corazón de la comunidad, trabajando colectivamente con el fin de inspirar comprensión, apreciación y administración de las tierras y sus pueblos’. En ningún otro lugar es más evidente que en el ‘Museum’s Oklahoma Native American Youth’.
Ahora, en su 15 aniversario, una vez más este Festival celebra la diversidad lingüística con presentaciones utilizando las lenguas orales, canciones tradicionales y modernas, artes performáticas y creativas, con premios otorgados por hablantes nativos, adultos mayores y educadores. A través de este compromiso con la educación y la inclusión en la comunidad, el Museo se expande más allá de sus puertas para mantener la continuidad de las lenguas indígenas mientras se hace honor al patrimonio y las culturas – históricas y contemporáneas – de los pueblos nativos de Oklahoma y de los Estados Unidos. Con esto instala un paradigma global en los museos y colecciones universitarios para reconocer y respetar a los pueblos indígenas y comunidades marginadas.
La Reproducción del Experimento de Radiactividad de Curie, Universidad de Rennes, y la ‘I C Taiwan Exhibition’ realizada por el Museo de la Universidad National de Cheng Kung fueron galardonados con el segundo puesto.
El Comité de Evaluación reconoce la calidad de las tres nominaciones.
Next year, UMAC‘s annual conference will be held in partnership with the AAMG, Association of Academic Museums and Galleries (USA). We are delighted to organise the conference with them, and also to be coming back to the USA after 15 years.
The date will be 21-24 June 2018, at the University of Miami.
We encourage members of either organization to join us and explore this year’s theme:
Audacious Ideas: University Museums and Collections as Change-Agents for a Better World
We live in a dangerous, often unstable, and environmentally compromised world. What can academic museums, galleries, and collections do to remedy this situation? If we are dedicated to teaching and training new generations of students, to serving increasingly diverse communities, how do we make a positive difference? How do we know we are making that difference? Let’s share great ideas and pressing concerns and learn and network with our global colleagues.
We’ll be posting our Call for Proposals in September. We’re looking for presenters to share with us exciting and unusual ways that their museums, galleries, and collections are serving as change-agents. We’re interested in proposals that address how you are adopting new roles and adapting old ones, welcoming new constituencies while keeping current visitors, and creating new paradigms that make our institutions more valued and critical partners in higher education and in building a more peaceful and healthy world.
We will invite proposals that address:
New models of teaching across campus, including exhibitions and collections
New strategies for equity and inclusion on and off campus
Innovative translational collaborations
New ideas for advancing our mission as change-agents in society – locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally
The UMAC Award is presented annually to a university museum or collection in the world whose projects or initiatives demonstrate innovation and creativity, excellence and transferability of ideas that can be adopted by other university museums and collections, and that have significant impact on the host university, the community or society at large.
The nominees for the 2017 UMAC Award are (in alphabetical order):
Oklahoma Native American Youth Language Fair (ONAYLF)
Sam Noble Museum of Natural History, University of Oklahoma
Every spring, hundreds of students, teachers and community members gather at the Sam Noble Museum, University of Oklahoma, for the Oklahoma Native American Youth Language Fair (ONAYLF). The Fair celebrates language diversity, with live presentations of song, speech and story and students compete in material submission categories like poster art, films, books cartoons and advocacy essays.
The Fair has encouraged and supported the efforts of Native communities in Oklahoma and the surrounding region to document, revitalize and perpetuate their ancestral languages. The growth of the Fair over 15 years has established the event as a major celebration of indigenous languages.
Replication of the Curie experiment on radioactivity
University of Rennes
The first quantitative measurement of radioactivity was made in 1898 by Pierre and Marie Curie. They used a prototype experiment based on a quartz balance. These measurements led to the discovery of radium and polonium.
In 2015, Bernard Pigelet and Dominique Bernard achieved the delicate replication of the Curie prototype at the University of Rennes 1. Using an original quartz balance and pieces from historical instruments identified in the collections of the University they could make the experiment fully operational and it is now regularly presented to the public, through a permanent exhibition, online videos and particular events.
The ‘I C Taiwan Exhibition’
National Cheng Kung University Museum
The NCKU Museum, cooperating with National Technical Museum, the City of Prague Museum and the Mendel Museum of Masaryk University in Czech Republic, presents the exhibition ‘I C Taiwan’ as the largest international exhibition organized by a Taiwanese university. The exhibition features a matrix of interdependent themes about Taiwan; the melding of religious cultures, the innovation of traditional techniques in cope with preserving historical and cultural heritages. The Czech museums hosted the exhibition from July 2015 until January 2016.
MUSEUM BOOT CAMP: Surviving and Thriving within a University
Jill Hartz, University of Oregon, USA
This workshop is directed to museum professionals (particularly higher education museum professionals).
Participants will be introduced to the importance of aligning the museum/collection’s mission with the university (parent institution) mission; to evaluate the museum/collection’s educational role within the university structure; to apply basic theoretical and methodological skills to the development of a strategic plan, policies, and procedures; and to obtain a working knowledge of mission-driven strategic planning and implementation.
Jill Hartz has served as executive director of the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon, Eugene, since August 2008. She was director of the University of Virginia Art Museum in Charlottesville from 1997 to 2008 and previously worked in various capacities at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University as well as in the publishing field. She has organized numerous exhibitions, primarily in the contemporary art field, and is the editor of five books, including Rick Bartow: Things We Know But Cannot Explain (co-edited with Danielle Knapp, 2015) and Hindsight-Fore-Site: Art for the New Millennium (University of Virginia Press, 2003). Knapp and Hartz co-curated the Bartow traveling exhibition of the same name. Ms. Hartz is currently president of the national Association of Academic Museums and Galleries and a reviewer for professional museum programs, including accreditation. She received her MA with Honors in English Language and Literature from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland in 1973 and pursued undergraduate studies at Oberlin College in Ohio.
UMAC is presently updating its website and, simultaneously, organising its archives.
Do you have images from past UMAC Conferences and/or other UMAC activities?
We are especially interested in images from the founding conference in Barcelona in 2001 .
More generally, if you have photos, manuscripts, drawings, ephemera or other materials that you think could be part of the UMAC archives, please get in touch with us!
Dominick Verschelde, UMAC 2009, Manchester (Photo A. Simpson).
