Annual Conference of the International Committee for Collecting of the International Council of Museums (COMCOL). Theme: Collecting Diversity: Divergence as Dialogue
The annual COMCOL conference includes discussions and presentations on the theory, practice, and ethics of growing and developing museum collections. Representatives of leading museums, scientific and cultural organizations of the world will take part in the conference to exchange professional experience and views in the field of collecting. The conference aims to provide a forum for the toughest questions to be addressed, for best practices to be shared, for debates around possible answers and solutions.
The main topics are: «Democratic collecting: collecting from an inclusive perspective», «The ethics of collecting», «Collecting as dialogue».
Call for papers: https://forum.tatmuseum.ru/comcol-2020/?lang=en
Russian Committee of the International Council of Museums Board meeting
ICOM Russia conducts extensive work with individual and collective members of the Committee: regularly informs about all international events conducted by ICOM and various museum organizations, holds international symposiums, conferences, sessions of the ICOM National Committee, seminars on museum work for its members, sends representative delegations to participate in general conferences of ICOM, museum and tourism fairs, provides advisory and methodological assistance.
Within the framework of the Board Meeting, ICOM Russia’s project activities will be discussed, ICOM Russia’s events plan for 2021 will be approved, and initiatives to develop cooperation with international partners will be discussed. In addition, problems and prospects for the development of museums in the Russian Federation will be considered.
VI International Forum of Association of Literary Museums
VI International Forum of Association of Literary Museums will be devoted to the prospects of international cooperation of literary museums. The Forum will be organized by museums – members of the Association of Literary Museums of the Union of Museums of Russia. Foreign guests of the Forum will share the experience of museum cooperation within the country and abroad. The heads of museums will tell about their successful and highly demanded events, including exhibition, scientific, educational and tourism projects.
XV International Forum of Pushkin Museums
The Community of Pushkin Museums is an association of museums (literary, memorial, and local history), which tell about the life and work of A. Pushkin, places where the poet lived, places he has been to, ancestors and descendants, as well as the literary heroes of his works.
At a meeting of the working group, the results of the Community’s work in 2020 will be summed up.
The event will be held at the E. Boratynsky Museum, a branch of the National Museum of the republic. The meeting participants will get acquainted with the work of the E. Boratynsky Museum – the only museum of great Russian poet Evgeny Boratynsky (1800-1844), a master of elegy and philosophical lyrics, in Russia.
Annual Meeting of the International Committee of the Victory Museum
The International Committee of the Victory Museum was established in 2018 and operates voluntarily.
One of the main activities of the Victory Museum is to preserve the memory of the events of the Second World War to enhance international cooperation in countering the falsification of history and uniting the international community around the ideas of countering the glorification of Nazism.
Museums that pay special attention to the preservation and popularization of the memory of the Second World War, as well as the patriotic education of the younger generation will take part in the expanded meeting of the International Committee of the Victory Museum.
Meeting of the Association of the Music Museums and Collectors
«New Approaches to the Work of Museums» Museum Workshop is a panel for professionals who will try to find new ways to solve the pressing issues facing museums and cultural institutions.
The workshop will include the following formats and events: round table, discussions, and practical classes with leading museum experts and cultural figures. Official program participants will be able to present their most successful projects and cases at the museum “fair of ideas”.
Participants will discuss the following issues: new competencies of museum employees in modern conditions, new tasks, expansion of functionality and boundaries, collaborations and cross-cultural projects.
Meeting of the Council of Museums of Volga Federal District
The Council of Museums of Volga Federal District is a voluntary, self-governing, non-profit interregional public organization. The organization’s activities are aimed at coordinating the activities of museums on the improvement and development of museums in the Volga Federal District, the formation and development of legal space for the effective functioning of museums. Council of Museums of the Volga Federal District goals are to coordinate the activities of the museum community of the Volga Federal District and to organize their interaction with municipal and state authorities, public associations.
The results of the work of the Council of Museums of the Volga Federal District in 2020 will be summarized; a discussion of the plan for next year will take place at the general meeting. Particular attention will be paid to the development of socially significant inter-museum projects. A solemn rewarding of the winners of the professional skill contest will take place.
Congress of the School Museums
School museums occupy an important place in the museum network of our country. This is quite natural, since school museums contribute to the educational process, to the deepening of knowledge in a certain area – in history, literature, biology, geography, etc.
When it comes to creating a museum in a school, several questions arise. What is a museum of educational institutions? How necessary is this museum? What will be its possibilities? Is enough material collected? And most importantly – what to show and with what audience will such a museum work?
School museums are also very important as repositories of monuments of material and spiritual culture.
At the present stage, school museums are acquiring an important role as centers of cultural and educational activity. The greater the responsibility lies with them, the greater demands are made on museums in a meaningful, scientific, aesthetic plan.
Particular attention will be paid to the problems of acquisition, study and representation of collections of school museums.
Thematic sessions
Digital Transformation of Museums
At the present stage, all museums in Russia are faced with the task of ensuring digital literacy of the professional community and development of appropriate methodological support necessary for the sustainable evolution of memory institutions.
The scientific and practical conference will be devoted to modern methods and capabilities of museums in the information space, as well as the optimal use of technology in museums.
As part of the panel, a working meeting between the Non-Commercial Partnership ADIT (Automation Development in Museums and Information Technology) and the ADIT Club Kazan will be held.
Museum as a Place for Education
The main goal of the scientific-practical conference “Museum as a Place for Education” is to promote the development of effective interaction between museums and schools due to the need to improve the quality of education of the younger generation. Humanistic ideas, which have become widespread thanks to the activities of institutions of the educational system and cultural industries, form the basis of the security of our society; they are the foundation of the development of society.
Within the framework of the conference, the following topics will be discussed: experience and prospects of interaction between museum and school in the educational process; methodology for conducting lessons in museum space; problems of patriotic education in museum and school; as well as many other actual issues of museum pedagogy.
Museums of Archaeology and Archaeology in Museums
Archeology is closely linked to museums. Often, archaeological finds are the basis of the museum’s exhibition, and museum collections are the basis for the archaeologist’s research work. The function of the museum is the preservation of the cultural and historical heritage; it also includes preservation of materials during archaeological research, ensuring safe storage and legal protection of archaeological collections, their inclusion in the museum collection and ensuring their accessibility for further study.
The actual problems of archeology in the museum and museums of archeology and modern solutions will be considered at the events of this site.
Museum Interpretation of History: Challenges of the Time
Within the framework of the thematic session, a discussion on the museum’s role as an institution of memory in the formation of scientific knowledge and mass historical consciousness will be held.
Particular attention will be paid to issues of museumification and interpretation of the “difficult” heritage, museum documentation of modern history, reflection of history in exhibitions, representation and popularization of historical and cultural heritage, as well as the purposes, methods, and content of research work on the material of museum collections.
Museum and Tourism
In the XXI century, there is a massive spread of cultural tourism. Acquaintance with other cultures, immersion in a different lifestyle allows people to better understand the complexity and interconnectedness of the modern world, expand their views about it, get a unique experience.
Historical and cultural heritage turned out to be a rather demanded resource in tourism. This has a beneficial effect on the activities of museums: the number of visitors is increasing, incomes are growing. However, this poses a threat to the historical and cultural heritage. The growth of visitors’ flow threatens the physical integrity of heritage objects. On the other hand, museums striving to create comfortable conditions for visitors risk losing the status of a scientific institution.
These and many other issues will be discussed by specialists at the events of the «Museum and Tourism» panel.
Corporate Museums and Society: Accessibility Issues and Points of Interest
On the one hand, the concept of a corporate museum is new, because Russian companies recently began to pay attention to corporate style and branding issues; on the other hand, this is a quite traditional phenomenon that has existed in many enterprises since Soviet times.
We can consider it indisputable that the formation and strengthening of the audience of a corporate museum is a stimulus for the development of the industry.
Within the framework of the panel, special attention will be paid to discussing the problems of exhibition construction and successful practices of interaction between corporate museums and visitors.