For over forty years, the ICOM International Committee for Museology (ICOFOM) has been charged with fostering theoretical debates and circulation of knowledge in museum theory and practice. We have been actively engaged in addressing ICOM’s goal to establish basic concepts and definitions for the museum field. Most recently, we have been involved in the project of defining the museum in the 21st century that was initiated by ICOM in 2016 after the adoption of the 2015 Recommendation Concerning the Protection and Promotion of Museums and Collections, Their Diversity and Their Role in Society , and developed since 2017 by the Standing Committee on the Museum Definition, Prospects and Potentials (MDPP).
Understanding that the ICOM museum definition is the most structural and operational tool for the organization to express its central values and mission to the museum world, we, the International Committee for Museology Chair and Board members, would like to consult the ICOM community using a dialogical methodology to collect our various viewpoints on the current proposed definition.
ICOFOM therefore invites all National and International Committees to survey their members and express their views to us on the new proposed museum definition. Our goal as a committee is to collect a wide range of opinions representing the cultural diversity of ICOM members, including those who have not yet had the opportunity to participate fully in this debate. Gathering this greater range of diverse viewpoints, we will then present and publicize a general report, in keeping with our mission within the ICOM network.
ICOFOM, November 2019
All UMAC members are strongly encouraged to contribute to this debate by replying to the ICOFOM’s questionnaire below UNTIL 26 January 2020.
We will forward all replies to ICOFOM, and they will be taken into account in their report to the ICOM’s General Assembly, Paris, June 2020.
UMAC Board, November 2019