2010-02-17
Museums, Cultural Diversity and Management
From 1 to 7 July the Management Department of the University of Antwerp is organising a Summer School on Cultural Management. This year the Summer School will focus on Museums and Cultural Diversity. It will be open for students and professionals. The Summer School on Cultural Management is a new initiative of the Management Department of the University of Antwerp (UA).
Since the 19th century museums have played an important role in the nation building process of modern states. However, the last fifteen years a shift in paradigm has taken place. Heritage is not any longer seen as an element of nation identity alone. Today, under the influence of globalization, identity is experienced on more than one level (regional, national, trans-border, etc.). Identity is a layered concept that is placed in a culturally divers perspective. This is reflected in national as well as in international heritage policy. For that reason, the Framework Convention of the Council of Europe on the Value of Heritage for Society (the so-called Faro-Convention) introduced the new concept of heritage communities. On the national level we move into the same direction. Flanders, for instance, integrated the concept of heritage communities in its new Decree on Cultural Heritage which also deals with interculturality and cultural diversity.
Cultural diversity is becoming increasingly important for museums, usually operating in an urban context. From this point of view, a museum is seen as a meeting place for different cultures and population segments in which debate and discussion can take place. Therefore, the summer school questions how these new insights can be implemented in the museum management. An old museology, in which objects were preserved for their intrinsic historic and aesthetic values, must make room for a new museology, which puts forward the dissemination of values and meanings of heritage for society. Museums evolve into places of experience. How can we pinpoint this evolution, and how is it being translated into the museum management and management functions as marketing, HRM, education and collection management? The question how to deal with cultural diversity is a responsibility of the museum sector as a whole. Therefore, this summer school is of interest to all students in cultural management, museology, cultural policies, conservation as well as to professionals.
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