The matter of whether museums can adapt well to the challenges they are facing and adopt a model of participatory management, is one that stimulates much debate in itself. When it is the focal point of a conference featuring experts from across the globe, it takes on a new dimension as the discussion becomes an accumulation of views that collectively give a much more well-informed view of the status quo and which direction the industry would like to go in.
MUŻÉ.X – Shaping Museum Futures had to be postponed to October 2021 due to COVID-19 restrictions, but a series of pre-conference webinars, moderated by Prof. Carmel Borg and Dr Sandro Debono from the Department of Arts, Open Communities and Adult Education, are managing to attract a worldwide audience.
The first of six webinars, featuring Nina Simon, the CEO of a global non-profit organisation that creates digital tools to help civic and cultural organisations become more inclusive and sustainable, gathered researchers and other participants from Colombia, Portland (Oregon), the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Brazil, Italy, Canada and Sweden and Argentina among others.
Newspoint caught up with Dr Debono on how these webinars are progressing and what their projected outcome is.
Q. How has COVID-19 accelerated the process of museums becoming more participatory and how is this conference sustaining this worldwide discussion?
All the thinking, all the tools and innovation that museums need to move out of the dire circumstances that the COVID-19 has placed them in, have been in discussion, showcased or promoted over the past years.
We're now at a stage where the forces of change hold potential to come through the cracks brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and it is precisely this particular ambition that this conference seeks to address.
Participatory thinking has been in the works ever since Nina Simon, the CEO of the international OF/By/ FOR ALL Movement and one of the speakers in this webinar series, published her book 'The Participatory Museum' in 2010.
COVID-19 has accelerated this need simply because museums are seeking relevance much more due to the fact that the vast majority have witnessed drastically reduced visitor numbers which has an impact on revenue streams, particularly in the case of the European Museums.
Q. With three webinars down, and three to go, are the webinars drawing as much attention as you had initially hoped?
The webinars have registered an exceptional response. Our first in the series had close to 1,000 participants in between those active on Zoom and those following on Facebook.
Thanks to our partners in Italy, Soluzioni Museali and Invisible Studio, we also had Italian academics, researchers and museum employees actively participating online.
By having these six world-class thinkers from California to Melbourne sharing their thoughts about the now, the ambition to inform new thinking and its practical application can be spearheaded by the conference in meaningful ways.
Webinar participants are also exposed to this new thinking well ahead so as to experiment and consider when presenting at the physical conference now happening in October 2021.
Q. For those who haven’t followed the webinars so far, will they be able to catch up on them or read a transcription of them somewhere?
Certainly, the plan is to publish the transcripts of the presentations in an academic book to be edited by Prof. Carmel Borg, Mike Murawski former Director of Learning & community Partnerships at the Portland Art Museum in Oregon and myself. Besides, the recordings of all webinars will be available on the conference Youtube channel MUZE.X - Shaping Museum Futures.
Q. Can you tell us a little bit more about the upcoming guests and what we might expect from them?
All six speakers have been chosen to collectively cover a broad range of themes and topics. The next three complement the ones presenting so far and include top speakers from Australia and the U.S.A. Kristin Alford is the Director of Australia’s leading future-focused museum MOD and shall be speaking about the application of futures thinking at MOD during 2020 and the lessons currently being applied to shape impact in a different context. Seb Chan, currently Chief Experience Officer at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (Melbourne) shall be speaking about how museums can better deliver their public value online also presenting practical examples of what the Australian Centre of the Moving Image is doing to become a multi-platform museum. Last but not least, Kayleigh Bryant-Greenwell, Head of Public Programs with Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Renwick Gallery shall discuss discusses some of the ways racism manifests in museums and how to dismantle it.
Q. Because the discussion on the future of museums is never complete, is there going to be another conference of the sort after this one is over?
Yes, the idea is for this conference is to become an internationally-established biennial with different themes and topics explored every edition which shall hopefully attract thinkers, change-makers and museum innovators to Malta to discuss the ever changing future of museums.
We encourage everyone to register for the next webinar to be held this Saturday, 28 November 2020. Register through this link.