News

Nominations open

2019 is an election year for the following officer positions of the Executive Board of ICOM Australia:

Chair
National Secretary
Treasurer
Membership Secretary.

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Students studying tertiary degrees in museum studies, cultural heritage and related disciplines are invited to write an essay for the 2019 International Museum Day competition. More information

Apply now - bursaries

Applications are open for the 2019 ICOM Australia Bursary Program. In this round, bursaries are available as follows:

two of up to $1500 to assist attendance at ICOM International Committee meetings in 2019
two of up to $1000 to assist attendance at the Australian Museums and Galleries Association national conference in Alice Springs (Mparntwe)

Applications close: Thursday 28 February 2019

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Nominate - 2019 ICOM Australia Awards

ICOM Australia Awards recognise and celebrate outstanding work undertaken by Australian individuals and institutions that has strengthened international relations and contributed to the cultural richness of museums and galleries.

Australian museums and galleries enrich the cultural, social and intellectual lives of all Australians and contribute to well-informed, tolerant, cohesive communities. The exchange of ideas and expertise internationally is an important part of expanding these opportunities.

ICOM Australia encourages nominations for the 2019 ICOM Australia Awards.

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Join an international committee

ICOM membership entitles you to join an ICOM International Committee. These committees represent different types of museum collections and professions and are global think tanks. Each International Committee organises annual meetings and workshops around the world, giving to its members the opportunity to broaden their horizons and build a strong and international professional network. There are 30 International Committees. Did you sign up when you paid for your membership?

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Digital Strategy - new CIDOC working group

ICOM’s International Committee for Documentation (CICDOC) provides the museum community with advice on good practice and developments in museum documentation.

The Digital Strategy Development Working Group was founded at the CIDOC 2018 conference in Heraklion, Greece. It will present a first package of material on the ICOM Triennial Conference 2019 in Kyoto, Japan.

The Digital Strategy Development Working Group will produce a package of material to help museums with the process of digital strategy development. This material will include a sample digital strategy, checklists and information sheets, designed to help museums identify the key issues and find appropriate solutions. The material will also help to draw the attention of museum planners to the work of other CIDOC Working Groups (Digital Preservation, Museum Process Implementation, CRM, or LIDO, etc.).

Congratulations to ICOM Australia members

Generating and tracing the ‘Provenance of Knowledge’ is a core element of good practice in documentation and was chosen as the theme of the ICOM CIDOC (International Committee for Documentation) conference held in Heraklion, Crete, Greece from 29 September to 5 October 2018.

This year’s Best Paper Award (sponsored by the open access journal Heritage) was awarded to Mike Jones for his paper entitled Collections in the expanded field: relationality and the provenance of artefacts and archives. Nancy Ladas also presented a highly-lauded paper (and was runner up to Mike), Ethical and legal considerations for collection development, exhibition and research at Museums Victoria.

Conference papers will be made available online early 2019 and select papers will be published in the Special Issue of the journal Heritage (ISSN 2571-9408) entitled On provenance of knowledge and documentation: select Papers from CIDOC 2018. Dr. George Bruseker, Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas, Greece, is serving as Guest Editor for this issue.

CIDOC conference

25th ICOM Triennial General Conference

1-7 September 2019, Kyoto, Japan

ICOM and the Organising Committee of Kyoto 2019 are grateful for the Getty Foundation’s support to bring participants from countries with emerging economies to attend the 25th ICOM Triennial General Conference to be held in Kyoto, Japan from 1-7 September.

By means of the ICOM Getty International Programme approximately 25 young and active ICOM members from countries with emerging economies will be enabled to benefit from this enriching international event under the theme 'Museums as Cultural Hubs: the Future of Tradition'. For more information on the call for application, log in to your ICOM member dashboard then go to the section 'Apply for a grant'.

Kyoto conference

Hello Australian Museums and Galleries Association (AMaGA)

On Monday 26 November 2018, 50 members from around Australia gathered at the Special General Meeting held at the Canberra Museum and Gallery to vote on the motion for a new name. Dr Robin Hirst PSM, National President, was very pleased to announce that 82% of the votes cast (both those present at the meeting and from the 105 members who sent proxies) approved the change to the name in the constitution.

The name will be launched officially in January 2019.

Using technology to enhance professional development for museum workers in regional areas

Do you work in a regional museum? Or do you feel like you work in a regional museum because you have to do everything with little support and few training opportunities?

Regional museums are often run on donations, good will, and the enthusiasm of volunteers. Sometimes there is a paid staff member(s) who may work part time. How do you find the time and budget for professional development for both paid staff and volunteers? Many professional development events are held in capital cities, which can be a significant distance from the regional museum, which adds substantially to the costs of attending and the time commitment required to get there. Further, it is not uncommon for people working in regional museums to be responsible for everything; from security to climate control to acquisitions, public programs and interpretation.

Alison Wishart (Archivist – Curator, Australian Society of Anaesthetists) recently presented a paper about this at the ICOM International Committee for the training of personnel (ICTOP) and the International Committee for Regional Museums (ICR) in Auckland. Alison was unable to attend in person but the video can be viewed on YouTube .

Conference website

Blue Shield Australia (BSA)

2018 was another successful year for BSA. Members within the pillar bodies continued work to further enhance and strengthen BSA initiatives and contributions. The centralised knowledge and specialisations of the four strong pillar bodies make BSA successful and plans for 2019 are shaping up with renewed enthusiasm for MayDay campaigns and events and the launch of a new Australian MayDay logo.

One of main activities was the Cultural Heritage, Climate Change and Natural Disasterssymposium held at the National Library of Australia, 29-30 January. Delegates from all pillar bodies and sectors attended the event. The BSA sponsored Dr Peter Stone OBE, UNESCO Chair for Cultural Property Protection and Peace, University of Newcastle, United Kingdom, as the conference keynote speaker.

Dr Stone also attended the first Cultural Property Protection Expert Group Roundtable held in January 2018. A second roundtable took place recently in July 2018 to further advance discourse pertaining tocultural property protection, the Hague Convention and possible ratification of Protocols I and II by the Australian government. The development of a practical and realistic plan insupport of the adoption would align Australia’s legal framework for cultural property protection with international best practice. Current Australian protection legislation is under theProtection of Movable Cultural Heritage Act 1986 which does not consider armed conflict. There are extensive inventories in place, alongside disaster plans and tangible property is generally protected at a state level rather than Federal level. Addressing risk preparedness assists with the management of cultural property and addresses risks associated with protection, such as armed conflict or environmental disaster.

Blue Shield Australia

Holiday closure

The ICOM Secretariat will be closed from Thursday 20 December 2018 until Thursday 3 January 2019 inclusive.

At the centre: our people, our places, our practices
Museums Galleries Australia National Conference
(Alice Springs [Mparntwe], 13-17 May 2019)

Combining elements of recent conferences that focused on Museums and galleries in their cultural landscapes (Brisbane 2017) and Museums and galleries as agents of change (Melbourne 2018), in 2019 Museums Galleries Australia travels to the geographical centre of the nation to tackle some of the biggest thematic areas that occupy much of the national conversation. More information