EMAC 2010 – Helsinki
European Museums Advisors Conference
Museums Matter!
Call for papers - Draft issues
EMAC invites all participants to contribute to the program with brief speeches and
information about current projects and experiences. The deadline for submitting short
abstracts (500 - 800 characters) is March 19th, 2010. Language of the conference is English.
Session:
Impacts of museums to society – In the museum sector and museum work the cultural and
educational objectives are emphasized but in recent years also the economical and social
impacts have been raised into discussion. Even though assessing and verifying the impacts to
society is challenging, it has become increasingly important to be able to use the impacts as
arguments when explaining the relevance of the museum work.
- What kind of role museum advisors have or should have in the discussion concerning
impacts? What kind of experiences museum advisors have?
- Museums around Europe have implemented and carried through many projects with
significant impacts to society – please, present us examples.
Session:
Museum advisory and supporting work in Nordic countries – How the profession of a
museum advisor is defined in different countries has been one of the interests of EMACnetwork. Now the network is interested in learning more about museum advising and
support in the Nordic countries. In Helsinki the aim is to present good Nordic practices and
make contacts with Scandinavian actors in the field.
Session:
Small museums and collections management – In the centre of the European culture policy
is the digitalization of the cultural collections of museums, libraries and archives to make
them accessible for all citizens. To promote this objective EU has launched a European wide
project called Europeana along which many national projects have been implemented.
However these projects concentrate on the collections of the large and professional
organisations.
- What is the role of small museums within this framework?
-
How can museum advisors promote the conditions of all museums to participate in
digitalising projects?
Open forum / Workshops:
In this part of the program the participants are welcome to share experiences and ideas in
short presentations. Here are some suggested topics to be complemented and finalised
according to your proposals.
 Training, and sharing of information and knowledge
 Sustainable Development, climate change and adopting “green values” in museums.
 Co-operation models in collection storage
 Networks on safety and security
 How museum advisers can involve museums in major events
 Open forum to present interesting, innovative, special projects from different
countries – to raise open discussion.
Planned excursions:
Excursions in museums in Helsinki
Trip to the regional museums in Central Uusimaa province
Trip to Suomenlinna Sea fortress (UNESCO's World Heritage site) and Hvitträsk National
Romantic style cultural home