This year's Communicating the Museum conference is being held from 6th to 8th July in the elegant, creative and historic German city of Düsseldorf. Our theme this year is the Visitor Experience and the vital role it plays in building and retaining audiences. Leading international speakers and practitioners will present important and ground-breaking thoughts and ideas on:

* creating the very best experience for all visitors

* cutting edge visitor research from around the world

* generating income from visitors

* the dynamic and creative relationship between marketing and the visitor

experience - the unified tone of voice and customer service

* brand and the visitor experience

* interpretation and learning

* the future of the visitor experience - on-line and beyond

Following the tradition of engaging each year in a major policy debate, ENCATC, in close partnership with the Universiteit Antwerpen/Antwerp Management School, Master Cultuurmanagement will be organising this year in Brussels on the 7th of July 2011 the European debate Opportunities of crisis: Managing the impact of the financial crisis in Europe, designing innovative strategies and forecasting possible futures.

The purpose of this event is to debate what the crisis ultimately means for policy-makers, leaders and managers in the cultural sector. This policy debate is implemented in close partnership with the Universiteit Antwerpen/Antwerp Management School, Master Cultuurmanagement. It follows the ENCATC tradition of engaging each year in a major policy debate. The event is expected to gather about 50 participants, from Europe and beyond (AIMAC participants). It is meant for policy-makers, leaders and managers in the cultural sector, artists, academic, researchers and anyone interested in this topic.

Berlin. From the Bolshoi Theatre to stage technicians from Melbourne, from the Norwegian National Theatre to Korea to the USA: for three days, SHOWTECH became the international stage for the stages of the world, thus impressively emphasising its role as the worlds most important forum for the stage. Significant growth in the number of international trade visitors, a noticeable increase in the willingness to invest and the qualified dialogue between experts and colleagues from all over the world were the characteristics of this years SHOWTECH. SHOWTECH has further consolidated its position as the leading international meeting place for the industries it serves, said Hans-Joachim Erbel, Managing Director of SHOWTECH organiser Reed Exhibitions Deutschland GmbH.

With a total of 7,520 visitors, SHOWTECH remained only just below its previous record (7, 813 in 2009). The trade show recorded a noticeable increase in visitors from abroad, with the share of international trade show visitors going up five percent to currently 32 percent. Here, the biggest growth was in the number of visitors from Scandinavia and Eastern Europe. A total of 322 exhibitors presented the latest trends and innovations in stage and event technology at this years SHOWTECH. This years trade show demonstrated that the industry has left the crisis behind for good and is looking forward with realistic optimism, said SHOWTECH Event Director Markus Jessberger at the close of the trade show.

In the past fourteen years Musa Heritage Gallery shortened Mus'Art has been active in propagating the Nso' cultural heritage. The museum named in memory of Nso' carvers Daniel Kanjo Musa and his elder son John Yuniwo Musa has been at the forefront of promoting Nso traditional artistry and craftsmanship. This art and cultural institution by the Musa family opened her doors to the public on the 18th December, 1996. MusArt Gallery has a collection of over 400 objects most of which were created between 1970 and 2000. These varied and diverse objects range from bamboo work to wood carvings, basketry to pottery.

The museum continues to acquire contemporary Cameroonian arts and crafts while maintaining a major focus on the Western Grass-fields region. This region is internationally renowned for having produced masterpieces of African art. Unfortunately these objects were appropriated by colonial missionaries and officers and removed from their place of origin to museums in Europe or the United States of America. Masterpieces of Grass-fields art are today in foreign museums and it is most likely they will never be returned. The statue of Ngonnso founder the Nso kingdom is presently kept in a museum in Germany. In Nso there is an outcry for this statue to be returned to its people.

We are happy to inform you that the program schedule for the upcoming AIMAC Conference on the Management of Arts and Culture is online. From 3 to 6 July we will welcome about 200 academic researchers and professionals, specialists in the management of cultural organizations and creative industries. You can still participate, but inscriptions will close on June 20th!

The parallel sessions of the conference are devided in several thematic clusters: consumer behavior, strategic marketing, strategic management, organization and management, human resource management and cultural policies. The topics cover a broad array of subjects (creative city, product and brand management, governance and organizational behavior, leadership, heritage, performing arts, audiovisual media, social media, festivals,...).

This newsletter issue includes a report about the new ways churches are being used culturally. We believe that in numerous regions, where churches are being forced to close their doors due to shrinking congregations, smart and careful concepts are needed to transform them. The article by the Kansas-based writer Wayne Hilburn offers several solutions. You will also be able to read an interview with Ancuta Vamesco, a project manager from Romania.

This timely and thought-provoking book explains how museums can help shape public opinion towards a more sustainable future. The book also examines the practical steps museums and cultural organisations can take to reduce their carbon footprint.

With high levels of public trust and often playing a central role in communities, museums are the perfect organisations to engage the public and society at large in environmental issues. In an authoritative and influential publication highly-respected leading voices in the global greener museums movement explore how museums can rise to the challenge and make a difference by contributing to learning, raising awareness and greening their communities.

The world's premier international art show for Modern and contemporary works, Art Basel features nearly 300 leading galleries from North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa. More than 2,500 artists, ranging from the great masters of Modern art to the latest generation of emerging stars, are represented in the show's multiple sections. The exhibition includes the highest-quality paintings, sculptures, drawings, installations, photographs, video and editioned works.

62,500 people attended Art 41 Basel, the last edition of this favorite rendezvous for the global artworld, including art collectors, art dealers, artists, curators and other art enthusiasts.

The former director of Vienna State Opera, Ioan Holender, one of the most famous Romanians in the world, Honorary Citizen of Timisoara, the city of his birth where he lived until the age of 24, was more then welcome by the municipality and all the citizens.

On the 20th of April, the mayor Gheorghe Ciuhandu offered a diploma of "honorary ambassador for the support and promotion of Timisoara application for the title of European Cultural Capital."

Last year in Vienna thousands of people, including Austria's president and other key political leaders, gathered at the farewell concert organized in honor of Ioan Holender, who led the Vienna State Opera for 19 years, between 1st April 1992 and 30th August 2010 and was the longest in the history of the institution's directorate.

Back in the city of his birth, in the evening of 27th May, former director of the Vienna Opera was in the Opera Square both the film character and the spectator.

The two hundred seats brought to the center by the municipality were not enough for those who wanted to see the film "Holi", projected on a large screen, film which was made years ago by TVR Timisoara and Brândua Armanca, the director of Romanian Cultural Insitute from Budapesta. People were standing to hear the stories about the capital of Banat, about ... "the life and the miracles" of a legendary character, Ioan Holender itself. At the end of the film, he brought his wife and two children, Alan and Alina, in front of the people applausing. The evening continued with sequences from the maestro's farewell concert, organized in Vienna in June last year. "I invite you all tomorrow night at the Philharmonic concert. All tickets were sold, but we will handle it, said "Holi" to the spectators.

In a historical perspective, the relationship between digital media and the museum environment is marked by the role of museums as example use cases for the application of digital media. Today, this exceptional use as an often technology oriented application has changed and instead digital media have turned into an integral part of mediation strategies in the museum environment. Alongside with this shift not only an increasing professionalization of application development but also a growing demand for new content can be observed.

IFACCA has compiled a range of good practice guides to assist arts councils and arts funding agencies to review, inform and improve their key functions.

The good practice guides section of the website provides links to over 100 resources published by a wide variety of organisations including arts funding agencies, private foundations, commercial publishers and by IFACCA.

This toolkit has been made possible by the generous contribution of the European Commission, through the Structuring the Cultural Sector in the Pacific for Improved Human Development project. The toolkit was drafted following the Cultural Policy Workshop held at the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) headquarters in Nouméa, New Caledonia from 2528 March 2010, and is designed to provide guidance to countries and territories carrying out the cultural mapping, planning and policy process.

Since its start in 2009 the initiative IncrediblEurope has developed into a pan-European movement, which empowers innovative, creative and entrepreneurial changemakers to a bottom up change.

Due to the great succes of the previous years, this years IncrediblEurope Summit from the 9th to the 10th of June in Vienna focuses on The Influence of ONE. It refers to the influence of ONE Europe as one global player as well as the influence of ONE individual to inspire a bottom-up change.

While the creation of software under the FLOSS paradigm is a well-established and recognized mode of production, the peer collaborative production of Open Content Film is a fairly new phenomenon. The two approaches share several common features: both are characterized by the massive collaboration of actors in a shared creative space and both are enabled by Information and Communication technologies, in particular the Internet. But technology itself is not sufficient to create and maintain a shared creative space. A governance structure resting on a legal framework and a set of control and incentive mechanisms regulates the transactions between the collaborators and is designed to ensure coordination.

In this paper we will outline the legal and organizational challenges faced by the first major Open Content Film production "A Swarm of Angels" (ASOA) in creating and maintaining a shared space for collaborative film production and contrast the findings with the practices of the FLOSS community. The study will be based on a series of interviews with ASOA founder Matt Hanson and the major contributors to his project, the analysis of the discussion threads about the appropriate organizational and legal structure for this Open Film project taken from the community's online discussion forum, and the available legal documents governing membership in the Swarm.

The Government of Uganda has decided that the Uganda National Museum - the countrys only national museum - will be demolished to make way for a 60-storey East Africa Trade Centre. The proposed ultramodern building which politicians suggest will take 3-5 years to complete but which will take closer to 30 years according to civil society activists and commentators familiar with such Ugandan projects - will house the Ministry of Tourism, Trade and Industry, commercial retail outlets and office space. Oh, and two floors will be allocated to a new national museum.

Established in 1908, the Museum is more than one-hundred years old and is thus itself a heritage site.

This is a classic case of development versus culture, in much the same way as development has often destroyed the natural environment in the name of economic growth and social progress. For those who advocate culture as a vector of development, this particular case presents a major challenge, both philosophically and strategically.

Cultural Policy Update (CPU) is an international e-journal reflecting on recent development in cultural policies. CPU aims to stir up the worldwide debate about changes in art support systems due to globalization, economic crises, new market opportunities et cetera. It serves as a platform for new points of view and arguments. CPU contains essential reading for cultural policy makers, researchers, students, art lovers, cultural workers and professionals with an interest in arts and culture. It is published by the Boekman Foundation in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

In January 2011, Technology in the Arts launched the second iteration of a survey of arts and cultural organizations to learn about their ticketing needs and to gauge how well current ticketing tools are meeting those needs.

Over 950 arts and cultural professionals completed the survey to evaluate their satisfaction with over 50 ticketing software tools.

A new NEA study finds the group of people who regularly attend arts events is both shrinking and getting less active.

The Emerging Arts Leaders Symposium at American University is an annual meeting for young professionals who work in the arts. It is an opportunity to discuss the issues, unique or universal, that affect arts organizations with students, peers, and experienced professionals.

Organized and run by a team of graduate students in the AU Arts Management Program, the Emerging Arts Leaders Symposium features a keynote address, a networking reception, and multiple professional development sessions held throughout the day.

Spanning 18 theatre companies in 6 cities across the country, this work will ultimately, as always, come back to the Bay Area, providing our companies and individual artists with a new set of tools, developed over the next 18 months, to measure and understand the intellectual, spiritual, emotional, and social impact of your work on the people who watch it.

The real challenge to the American theatre, and all the arts, is not a financial emergency but a crisis of relevance. As a field, we have become very good at measuring "things financial;" any theatre knows how to count heads in the house and dollars in the box office till. Studies are regularly conducted by major funders and service organizations to assess the aggregate financial well-being of the sector. Advocacy groups commission research to extrapolate the mega-economic impact of the arts on communities and the nation as a whole.