Dear UMAC members and friends,

It’s that time of the year when we distribute good wishes. But this year it does not feel like it usually does, does it?

The strangeness is not only about the changed plans or the cancelled or postponed activities in 2020.

Yes, we adapted. UMAC cancelled the University Museum Training Week Shanghai 2020 and so many other initiatives with local partners in Asia, Africa, Europe, the Americas. Like so many conferences and events around the world, our 2020 Annual Conference in Sydney Australia had to be postponed. We moved our main activities online and invented new ones: the POST-LOCKDOWN Webinar Series helped us navigate the impact of the pandemic in our university museums, the UMAC ORIGINS series documented the history of UMAC as we approach our 20^th anniversary (eight episodes already!), the UMAC AWARD 2020 with three fabulous winners (the call for the Award 2021 is still open), and the 20^th Annual General Meeting. We were delighted to be together, even remotely. Check it out because it shows.

But it’s not only that.

The year felt like a big blur, a haze. The most disturbing thing about 2020 – apart from the isolation, the loss and grief – was the uncertainty, the constant doubt and change, the endless need to adapt. We realized our plans, our hopes, our sense of normalcy, were precarious. We did not know it one year ago.

But a new year – and a new decade – is beginning today. Teaching will change, funding possibly too, but I think all in all universities have survived very well the stress test of 2020: in every continent they were at the forefront of research, public service and vaccine development; they have assisted governments in defining health policies, and they have been in the media almost every day explaining what is known and not-known about the science behind COVID-19.

I think university museums and collections will also survive the stress test. We need to feel hopeful because despite all the challenges, we’re in this together – together with each other and together with our universities and our communities.

I am joined by the UMAC Board in looking forward to 2021 together with each one of you, sharing our experiences, our plans and our hopes, supporting each other, and through that support, promoting university museums, collections and heritage everywhere in the world.

Warm wishes,

Marta C. Lourenço, UMAC Chair

Lisbon, 31 December 2020

From December 21, 2020, applications for participation in the international online program for the exchange of professional experience between museum specialists of Russia and the UK CULTURAL CURRENT will be accepted. The program is implemented with the support of the Department of Culture and Education of the British Embassy in Moscow as part of the program UK-Russia Creative Bridge 2020-21. 

The program is designed to activate the work of university museums and the communities around them. Using examples of the best museum practices in Russia and Scotland, we will consider the diverse possibilities of university museums, and through them universities as centers for the preservation and presentation of scientific and cultural heritage, centers of social change. The implementation of this program is a step towards increasing the openness and accessibility of university museums. The program will expand the sphere of influence of museums within universities, through universities to form the cultural and social agenda of cities and regions. 

The program provides participants with the opportunity to: 

– to establish professional contacts with leading experts of museum affairs of Russia and Scotland; 

– share your own experience in implementing various projects and get instant feedback; 

– develop strategic thinking, gain skills in setting and achieving goals; 

– expand its sphere of influence within universities. 

Organizers of the program: Tomsk Polytechnic University,  Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University,  Perm State National Research University together with the Association of University Museums of Scotland  UMIS. 

Co-organizers of the program: Department of Culture and Education of the British Embassy in Moscow. 

Seminars of the CULTURAL CURRENT program will be held online on February 5, 11, 12 and 19, 2021. Participation in the program is free – you can join it as a speaker or listener. To do this, you must register by specifying the selected form of participation in the application. The organizers reserve the right to select participants. 

The program is aimed at: 

– managers and employees of university, corporate, and school museums who believe that difficulties harden and open up new opportunities; 

– students who want to change, expand their social circle, find new topics for inspiration; 

– volunteers who need to be in the museum and with the museum; 

– researchers who are open to scientific and creative projects in partnership with university museums; 

– anyone who understands how great and underestimated the potential of university museums in the world is. 

Working language of The Program: russian and english. 

Registration for the program: 

– for those who want to participate in the program, registration will be open from December 21, 2020 to January 15, 2021 through this online form.

The number of seats is limited. All relevant information about the program and seminars will be provided in the  program group on Facebook. 

Curators of the program: 

Lidia Lozovaya 

Supported by: