The deadline of the call for proposals for the UMAC-Universeum 2021 online conference has been extended until 18 April 2021.
Submit your abstract here.
UMAC-Universeum 2021: Deadline expanded!
Participate in the ICOM Museum Definition CONSULTATION
ICOM is revising the museum definition dating from 2007. UMAC invites the global community of university museums and collections to participate in the ICOM consultation.
A summary of what is happening
In 2019, the ICOM Extraordinary General Assembly held in Kyoto approved to postpone the vote on a new museum definition, deciding to enter into a process of consultation and improved cooperation between committees. Since then, committees around the world have led activities of consultation with their members. In December 2019, the Executive Board decided to expand the MDPP to include over 20 members, incorporating figures who represent varying opinions on the matter. In February 2020, with the committee renamed MDPP2 to reflect the change, members entered into a phase of establishing a new methodology for proposing a museum definition for the 21st Century. This process has had to take into consideration the specificities of different regions and specializations represented by the many ICOM committees, regional alliances and affiliated organizations. Continue reading from the ICOM Advisory Council Report.
The new methodology was presented by ICOM Define at the webinar “Defining the museum in times of change: a way forward” (10 December 2020). If you missed it, click on the image below.
Participate in the consultation
UMAC invites the global university museum community (members and non-members) to participate in the public consultation.
Please fill out the brief survey here BEFORE 14 March, 2021.
References
‘The future of tradition in museology’, ICOFOM Study Series, 48 (1), 2020
‘Defining the museum: Challenges and compromises in the 21st century’, ICOFOM Study Series, 48 (2), 2020
Marta C. Lourenço, UMAC Chair: Defining the UNIVERSITY MUSEUM today: Between ICOM and the ‘third mission’, Speech 8 May 2019.
New volume on university museums
The Revista CPC, University of São Paulo, just released a full issue dedicated to university museums in Brazil (in Portuguese).
Get the full pdf here.
International Museum Day 2021: THE FUTURE OF MUSEUMS
The year 2020 has been like no other. The COVID-19 crisis has swept the whole world abruptly, affecting every aspect of our lives, from the interactions with our loved ones, to the way we perceive our homes and cities, to our work and its organisation. Some already pressing issues have been exacerbated, questioning the very structure of our societies: the call for equality is stronger than ever.
Continue reading in ICOM’s website.
Six months after the explosion in Beirut
Exactly 6 months after the terrible tragedy of the Beirut explosion, UMAC and Universeum want to evaluate the situation of university museums and collections, and museums and cultural heritage in general.
Where are we now? What was achieved and what remains to be done? What are the main problems and difficulties?
Invited speakers:
Suzy Hakimian, Chair of ICOM Lebanon, Director of the MIM – Museum of Mineralogy of the University of Saint-Joseph
Leyla Badre, ICOM-Lebanon
Elsa Urtizverea, Heritage Protection Coordination, ICOM
Nadine Panayot, Curator, Archaeological Museum Associate, Professor of practice, Department of History and Archaeology, American University of Beirut
Maya Haïdar-Boustani, Director, Museum of Lebanese Pre-History, University of Saint Joseph of Beirut
Joanne Farchakh, Board of Blue Shield-Lebanon, Chair of BILADI NGO
Gilbert Nicholas and David Chelala ,Architects specialized in museums, who mobilised and coordinated the specialized team of volunteers.
Moderation:
Marta Lourenço, UMAC President
Sébastien Soubiran, Universeum President
CIMUSET: New Publication
ICOM’s committee for Museums of Science and Technology — CIMUSET — has just released the proceedings of its Kyoto Annual Conference in 2019.
Download and explore the publication here.
UMAC and Universeum will meet online in 2021
Message by the UMAC President, Marta Lourenço, and the Universeum President, Sébastien Soubiran:
Dear members, dear colleagues, dear friends,
Despite our strong will to meet and be together physically, it is now clear that it will not happen yet in 2021, for the reasons we all know.
The Boards of Universeum and UMAC have therefore decided i) to postpone the physical conference at the Technical University of Dresden, Germany, to a later date and ii) to organize in 2021 a joint meeting, to be held exclusively online, between 1 and 3 September.
While frustrating of course, we are also incredibly excited by the opportunities that an online conference provides, namely in terms of audiences, presentation formats, and worldwide access, both in the present and future. It’s a new experience for UMAC and Universeum, and we will do our best.
The theme of UMAC-Universeum 2021 will be NEW OPPORTUNITIES – NEW CHALLENGES IN TIMES OF COVID-19.
Last year, we shared our experiences of COVID19 and its immediate impact on university museums and collections. In 2021, we would like to use these experiences to explore deeper and longer-term lessons of adaptability and resilience.
While we wait for the conference website, the Call for Proposals is already accessible here.
You can propose papers, workshops and … for the first time, videos. We want to hear from you, wherever you are in the world.
Looking forward to your proposals.
Best regards,
Marta Lourenço, UMAC President
Sébastien Soubiran, Universeum President
Co-Chairs of UMAC-Universeum 2021
New volume of UMACJ just out!
Volume 12 of the University Museums and Collections Journal has just come out!
Two thick issues addressing the omnipresent themes of COVID-19 and its impact on university museums and collections — collections access, new ways of teaching, adaptability, uncertainty.
From the Editorial (UMACJ 12, 1):
“If the rapid and continuing development of new knowledge is driving higher education, then it is up to those who work with material collections within the academy to find new ways to transmit that knowledge and new ways to help underpin pedagogy with materiality. We see some great examples of this sort of creativity every year with the UMAC Awards. The development of these future-focused pedagogies will require increasing innovation and creativity from university museums and collections.” (Andrew Simpson, Marta Lourenço).
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UMACJ 12 No. 1
Editor: Andrew Simpson
Six papers, 1.1 M
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UMACJ 12 No. 2
Editor: Andrew Simpson
Eight papers, 1.2 M
Explore more issues of UMACJ.
Call for papers extended: MÁS MUSEOS DIGITAL
Continue reading here.
New Map of University Museums in Brazil
As a result of the research project ‘Cultural Heritage of Science and Technology and University Museums: research, analysis and characterization of strategic relationships’, coordinated by former UMAC Secretary Marcus Granato, from the Museum of Astronomy and Related Sciences in Rio de Janeiro, 444 university museums were identified in Brazil, including 21 virtual museums.
These museums are part of a universe of 201 Brazilian universities registered in the official accreditation platform for higher education institutions (e-MEC). It should be noted that a university museum is understood as any museum inserted in the administration of a university.
Search here the distribution of these museums by geographic region and by state (in Portuguese). When these exist, the museum websites are also provided.
Explore and enjoy!