This is an announcement for the online Practice planned for the 9th of December, 2023.
Title : What is YOUR museum definition?
Time schedule
18:00-18:05 Introduction
I will briefly explain the structure of the Practice and introduce the ICOM Museum Definition (see below for the background information).
18:05-18:25 Group discussion
Participants will join a breakout room of 3-4 people and talk about their own museum experience(s).
Please choose a timekeeper in your group and give each person up to 5 minutes to talk, so that everyone can speak.
You can talk about any museum visit(s) that you remember for any reason.
Please tell others what the museum was about, where it was, when/why you went there, who you went there with, and how you remember your museum experience(s).
If you have extra time after everyone's presentation, please ask questions to each other.
18:25-18:35 Free talk
Based on your own and others' museum experiences, the participants will exchange thoughts on the main question - what is YOUR museum definition?
18:35-18:40 Short conclusion and administrative notices from the ESS staff members
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Background - please read only if you are interested!
Do you know that there is such a thing as an international museum definition?
ICOM (the International Council of Museums), a global organisation of museums and museum professionals founded in 1946, has established and evolved an international museum definition in its history - here, let's name it the "ICOM Museum Definition".
The latest version of the ICOM Museum Definition was adopted last year, in 2022:
“A museum is a not-for-profit, permanent institution in the service of society that researches, collects, conserves, interprets and exhibits tangible and intangible heritage. Open to the public, accessible and inclusive, museums foster diversity and sustainability. They operate and communicate ethically, professionally and with the participation of communities, offering varied experiences for education, enjoyment, reflection and knowledge sharing.”
(https://icom.museum/en/resources/standards-guidelines/museum-definition/)
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...as you can see, there are too many conceptual, theoretical, or practical ideas in this definition to be discussed at all within 40 minutes!
So, instead of discussing the ICOM Museum Definition itself, the Practice will focus on talking about what museums mean to you.
In the end, I believe that there can be as many museum definitions as individuals, and I genuinely wish to learn your own versions of museum definitions based on your own museum experiences.
Thank you very much once again for inviting me to host this online Practice, I am looking forward to seeing you online soon!
All the best, Minamo Akiyama