[BCMA] Conference Speaking Opportunity - Canadian Museums and Syrian Refugees

Wed Apr 20 05:50:03 PDT 2016

Hello Jim and BCMA list members,

The Commonwealth Association of Museums is collaborating with ICOM CAMOC
(Collections and Activities of Museums of Cities) on a new international
project Migration: Cities - (Im)migration and Arrival Cities, a long-term
project that aims to ethically engage the theme of migration in
museum-making, on how to play a socially meaningful role through
participation and inclusion of migrant populations in the construction of
'Arrival Cities' narratives, and how to have a relevant role in connecting
people to foster dialogue between diverse people within ever transforming
urban environments. It entails creating a platform for continued sharing of
knowledge, experiences and learning tools between museum professionals to
support this aim. CAM will be meeting with CAMOC and ICR at ICOM in Milan in
July to discuss details. If your museum is working on a migration-related
initiative and would like to be included in the project, please contact me
at  <mailto:CatherineC.Cole at telus.net> CatherineC.Cole at telus.net. CAM's
interest is in Commonwealth nations, but the project itself is global.

Cheers,

Catherine

Catherine C. Cole

Secretary-General 

Commonwealth Association of Museums

10023 93 Street

Edmonton, Alberta

CANADA, T5H 1W6

phone/fax: 1-780-424-2229

CatherineC.Cole at telus.net 

http://www.maltwood.uvic.ca/cam/about/index.html 

Join the Commonwealth Association of Museums today!

A global community of museum professionals helping each other

From: bcma-bounces at lists.vifa.ca [mailto:bcma-bounces at lists.vifa.ca] On
Behalf Of Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv.
Sent: Monday, April 18, 2016 1:50 PM
To: Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv.
Subject: [BCMA] Conference Speaking Opportunity - Canadian Museums and
Syrian Refugees

Hi, gang.  I recently completed a term paper for my Master's Degree program
at the University of Leicester which focused on the role museums can play
with refugees, in the context of Canada and the Syrian Refugee crisis.  

As Canada's response to the Syrian refugee crisis was playing out in 2015, I
started to wonder how Canadian museums might respond to the crisis, how they
were responding, and if there was a theoretical basis for doing so.  In
short: 1) what does refugee theory tell us about the needs of refugees, 2)
what activity in museums (anywhere) appears well-matched to these needs, 3)
what Canadian museums are currently doing this sort of work; 4) what are the
opportunities for Canadian museums to be of service to Syrian refugees?  

For the paper, I interviewed a number of Canadian museum directors and
museums association directors.  It turns out there has been a lot of
interest in this research and all participants agreed the conversation
needed to continue.  After a couple of publication requests and discussions
about conference speaking opportunities, I have sought and received
permission from my University and those I interviewed to re-use this
material. 

I'm thinking about making a presentation with a panel discussion component
at BCMA's 2016 conference about this topic.  In it, I would briefly review
my research (i.e. where refugee needs theory and museum theory intersect)
and then turn it over to 3-4 BC museums to talk about their actual work with
refugees, how it's going, and what they have learned in terms of the
challenges and opportunities.  We would close with a Q&A session and look to
attendees to suggest even more ways in which BC museums are serving
refugees.

So this note is a "feeler" to the BCMA Listerv to see what museums in BC are
doing work with refugees and to see who might be interested in participating
in the panel described at the BCMA Conference this fall.

I'd welcome your thoughts!  

Best

Jim Cullen

Calgary, Alberta

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