International Museum Theatre Alliance-Europe Conference in Sweden
September 2012
Follow-up announcement & call for papers
This year’s IMTAL-Europe Conference and AGM will be a unique and exciting event.
IMTAL-Europe and the European Union-funded project, Open ARCH (a project on open-air
archaeological museums) have joined forces to offer a unique conference event in southern Sweden
in September.
Please note revised dates: Monday 24th – Wednesday 26th September 2012.
Place: Fotevikens Viking Museum, near Malmo in SW Sweden.
The 2012 IMTAL-Europe conference will take place in Fotevikens, at a reconstructed Viking village
alongside a museum and educational centre. It will coincide with a larger project meeting on the
management of open-air archaeological museums, involving EXARC and the EU-funded project
Open ARCH. Delegates from both organisations will gain from the extraordinary range of expertise,
events, discussions and excursions on offer.
The Open Arch project is run by the ICOM affiliated organizations for Archaeological Open Air
Museums: EXARC whose purpose is to exchange knowledge between museums and similar
organizations in order to strengthen quality and improve the running of the museums. The following
associations will also take part as joint organisations in this conference: Swedish Heritage (Svenskt
Kulturarv) is an association for museums and heritage sites of great national interest. They have 260
institutional members and their aim is to increase public engagement in member museums. NOOAM
is the Scandinavian network for Archaeological Open Air museums.
For further information on organisations and sites, see list of websites below.
The provisional timetable is:
Sun. 23 Sept. arrivals
Mon. 24 Conference day 1: papers/presentations mainly organised by "OpenARCH" (open to all
participants).
Tue. 25 Conference day 2: workshops/papers/presentations organised by IMTAL (open to all
participants). Day concludes with a Viking Feast in the Long Hall.
Wed. 26 Conference day 3: AGM (am) (IMTAL members only); Optional excursion (to nearby
historic & cultural landscapes) – to be confirmed.
Thurs. 27 Departures
Please put the dates in your diary!
Conference Themes
The over-arching theme will be: the challenges of interpreting and engaging public interest in
open air museums and archaeological/historic sites.
The linked themes across the two main days will be:
 “management & communication strategies at open air/archaeological museums” and “working
with volunteers” (Open Arch focus); and
 how can performance of various kinds (incl 1st and 3rd person interpretation, theatre
presentations & events and drama workshops) contribute to and extend the work of such
museums and sites? (IMTAL focus).
We are therefore inviting proposals for papers, presentations, workshops and ‘round tables’ on a
range of topics directly or indirectly related to the theme of the conference.
Full advantage will be taken of the remarkable outdoor setting of the reconstructed Viking village
(set in c. 1130) as well as the variety of indoor spaces available at the museum centre.
Day one of the conference will include:
Welcome & introductions from: Björn M Buttler Jakobsen, Director of the Museum of Foteviken,
Pia Kinhult Head of the Scania Region, Dr Roeland PardeKooper, General Secretary of EXARC
and manager of the Open ARCH project, and Lars Amréus, Executive Director of the Swedish
National Heritage Board.
Presentations from: Per Karsten (‘From traditional museum to the museum for the future’); Dr Sven
Rosborn (‘From traditional museums to Archaeological Open Air museums’); Henrik Zipsane
(‘Cooperation all levels from a management point of view - working with Staff and Volunteers’);
Peter Lindbom (‘The Fullero Park project in Sweden.’ The planned large theme park about Vikings
covers an area of a total of 145 000 square meters.); and Catharina Oksen, Middelaldercentret (‘The
opportunities that volunteers provide for the Archaeological Open Air museum’). Plus some possible
IMTAL ‘interventions’.
Transport to evening dinner on board The Cog (boat).
Planned structure of Day Two (IMTAL day):
Morning:
1. Welcome & introductions to IMTAL, live interpretation & museum theatre.
Speakers & ‘provocateurs’: Björn Jakobsen (Director, Fotevikens Viking Museum), Dr Anna
Farthing (IMTAL-Europe Chair), Prof. Tony Jackson (Manchester University, editor of
Performing Heritage, 2011) & Mark Wallis (Director, Past Pleasures @ the Historic Royal
Palaces, UK). Subject: What is live interpretation, where did it come from and why does it
matter? (Presentation and performance.)
2. Divide into three groups for participation in pre-selected workshops & panel presentations.
3. Lunch
Afternoon
4. Guest speaker: Chris Gidlow (Manager of Live Interpretation, Historic Royal Palaces, UK):
‘Emotional engagement through live interpretation, with the accent on intangible cultural
heritage’
5. Divide into three groups for participation in pre-selected workshops & panel presentations.
6. Final round-table: summaries & questions arising from day’s events
7. Evening: Grand Viking Feast in the Long Hall
Who is it for?
We warmly invite all members of IMTAL-Europe and also members of IMTAL-Americas and
IMTAL- Asia Pacific to join us; other interested individuals (from GEM, Labyrintheme, SCUDD,
etc) will also be very welcome. (NB: reduced rates for IMTAL members.)
Useful websites:
IMTAL-Europe www.imtal-europe.org/
Open Arch www.openarch.eu
EXARC www.exarc.eu
Fotevikens Viking Museum http://www.fotevikensmuseum.se/engelsk/index_e.htm).
Swedish Heritage (Svenskt Kulturarv) http://www.svensktkulturarv.se
NOOAM (Scandinavian Network for Archeological Open Air Museums) www.Nooam.se.
How much will it cost?
 For IMTAL members: Delegate fee, incl all meals from Monday to Wednesday breakfast, a
remarkable €80 (c.£70.00) (‘Early Bird’ rate)
 For non-IMTAL members: Delegate fee, incl all meals from Monday to Wednesday breakfast,
€95 (c.£85.00) (‘Early Bird’ rate)
 If you are a member of IMTAL and have had a proposal for a full workshop accepted, the cost of
delegate fee incl. meals will be €70 (c. £62).
Note that these costs are the “early bird rates”. Early bird registration must be made by 14th May
2012. Registration after that date will be: IMTAL members: €90 (c.£80); non-IMTAL members:
€105 (c.£95).
Cost of accommodation is extra:
At recommended hotels 
Fotevikens Stugby next to the museum: http://www.fotevikensstugby.se , or
Falsterbo Kursgård, 1 km from the museum: http://www.falsterbokursgard.com.
Or, if these are full, 6km away there is
Norregård: http://www.norregard.com/index.asp/lang/1033.
You must book and pay (online) for accommodation direct with the hotel (places have already been
reserved).
Low cost option: if you are willing to share a cabin on site with up to three others of same sex or as a
family room  € 18 per person per night. (Cabins have 2 sets of bunk beds + WC/shower +
kitchenette.)
Arrangements are being made for a minibus to make frequent trips between hotels and conference
venue throughout each of the conference days.
Flights from the UK. EasyJet flies to Copenhagen from London and Manchester at reasonable rates.
The train to Malmo departs frequently from the airport station (via the Øresund Bridge) and takes
just 12 minutes to Hyllie, the closest stop to Foteviken. Train fare: appx. £18 return. We are looking
into the possibility of a minibus to transport delegates from Hyllie station to Foteviken.
Booking your place
You can register via the dedicated OpenArch conference website (details to follow). To qualify for
early bird rates, you must register by Monday 14th May and pay the full delegate fee (to IMTALEurope) by Monday 4th June 2012. (Payment details to be announced shortly. Watch this space.)
PLEASE NOTE: if for any reason the conference has to be cancelled (extremely unlikely), we
cannot reimburse accommodation or flight costs, so we strongly advise that you take out appropriate
travel insurance at the time of booking.
If you have questions, please contact one of the following: Björn M Buttler Jakobsen
bmj@foteviken.se +46 707620612 or Tony Jackson tony.jackson@manchester.ac.uk.
CALL FOR PAPERS & WORKSHOPS
We invite proposals for papers, presentations, workshops and ‘round tables’ on a range of topics
directly or indirectly related to the theme of the conference. Note that, as time on Wednesday is
limited, it is possible there will be more proposals than we can accommodate. Contributions will
therefore be selected on merit by the organising committee (a sub-group of the IMTAL Board).
Deadline for proposals: Monday 19th March 2012.
Delegates will be notified by email whether or not their proposal has been accepted by 30th April
2012.
Please provide the following information:
1. SESSION TYPE:
a. PANEL DISCUSSION (55 minutes, 2-3 speakers, with appx. 15 minutes presentation
per speaker + time for Q&A) (You may either submit a joint proposal or allow us to
assign you to the most appropriate panel.)
b. WORKSHOP (90-110 minutes, numbers between 15-30)
2. SESSION TITLE:
3. NAME/S OF PRESENTER/S or WORKSHOP LEADER/S:
4. BRIEF SESSION DESCRIPTION:
(More detailed description will be needed by July)
5. A/V NEEDS:
6. CONTACT INFORMATION:
Please email your proposal to Tony Jackson no later than MONDAY 19th MARCH 2012, at
tony.jackson@manchester.ac.uk.