Starting in 2020, the CoMuseum International Conference has re-established itself as both a physical as well as a digital platform for museums and cultural professionals.
Its goal is to share the best ideas and practices from around the world, highlight contemporary challenges and create a global network of professionals that will co-design a ‘culture-edge’ future for our societies.
This year’s CoMuseum conference – focusing on justice and representation – is taking place from 6 to 8 December 2023 in a hybrid format: face-to-face in Athens and Thessaloniki, and through live streaming for those of you who prefer to participate online.
We will discuss the degree to which DEIA (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Accessibility) principles are being considered or applied internally in cultural organisations in terms of employment, governance and programming, and how in turn this process, or lack of, affects cultural action around the world.
As always, the conference will feature top international experts from museums and cultural institutions in Greece, the UK, the US and beyond, who will share insights and ideas on the present and future of museums.
The CoMuseum International Conference is the core activity of the of British Council’s Museums Revisited capacity building programme for the museum sector in Europe.
13th CoMuseum International Conference
Being fair and pursuing equity are attributes that can ensure social cohesion and social stability. What should museums and cultural organisations do to play such a key role in society? In recent years, we see new titles emerge on museum organisational charts, like ‘Curator of Discomfort’, ‘Director of Belonging and Inclusion’ or ‘Diversity and Inclusion Advisor’.
What do these titles mean and how do they make a difference? How do these changes affect the workings of a museum internally and do they bring about organisational change? Do they make governance and leadership more inclusive? And how do these changes affect the mission, strategy and behaviour of museums and cultural organisations?
The 2023 CoMuseum will also explore the application of the DEIA principles at the level of strategy and policymaking of cultural organisations, with the aim of making museums safe spaces for underserved communities – spaces that promote the active participation of groups that are not usually represented in museums and therefore do not visit them.
Cultural professionals will share how their organisations use methods of co-creation and co-curation in an effort to understand the needs of their audiences but also to function democratically as amplifiers of diverse voices.
Speakers
Among this year’s speakers, don’t miss our invited guests from the UK, the US and partner organisations across Europe, including:
- Michael Afolayan, Actor, Musician, Activist, Founder of the Anasa Cultural Center (GR)
- Hanouf Al-Alawi, National Outreach Manager, The British Museum (UK)
- Anders Bettum, Associate Professor, Cultural History and Museology, University of Oslo, Head of Network Minorities and Diversity, Museum of Oslo (Norway)
- Giovanna Brambilla, Art Historian, Consultant in Pedagogies for Cultural Heritage, Member of the Knowledge Community of CCW (Cultural Welfare Center, Turin) (IT)
- Anastasiia Cherednychenko, Historian, Museologist, Chair of the ICOM Ukraine (UA)
- Epaminondas Christophilopoulos, Head, UNESCO Chair on Futures Research–FORTH | President, MOMus (GR)
- Oana Drăgulinescu, Founder of Museum of Abandonment (RO)
- Annie Fletcher, Director, Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) (IE)
- Andromache Gazi, Professor in Museology, Department of Communication, Media and Culture, Panteion University (GR)
- Dr Sophia Handaka, CoMuseum Host, Curator of World Cultures, Benaki Museum (GR)
- Skinder Hundal MBE, Global Director of Arts, British Council (UK)
- Iro Katsaridou, Director, MOMus-Thessaloniki Museum of Photography (GR)
- Maria Kotti, Dancer, Exis Inclusive Dance Company (GR)
- Eva Michailidou, Dance therapist, Dance teacher, Dancer, Exis Inclusive Dance Company (GR)
- Karalyn Monteil, Head of Programmes & Stakeholders Outreach, UNESCO
- Lizzy Moriarty, Independent Museum Consultant – Museum Expert, Museums Revisited, British Council (UK)
- Elvira Dyangani Ose, Director, Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art, MACBA (ES)
- Afroditi Panagiotakou, Director of Culture at the Onassis Foundation (GR)
- Christos Papamichael, Artist – Director liminal (GR)
- Micah Parzen, Chief Executive Officer, Museum of Us (U.S.A.)
- Theo Prodromidis, Artist (GR)
- Professor Dr Barbara Plankensteiner, Co-founder of the Benin Dialogue Group, Director of the MARKK Museum (DE)
- Paraskevi Salavgia, Creator of self-help Documentary 'Two sides of the same world’, Disability Counsellor (GR)
- Sarah Schleuning, The Margot B. Perot Senior Curator of Decorative Arts and Design, Dallas Museum of Art (U.S.A.)
- Natalia Sielewicz, Curator, Head of Programming, Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw (PL)
- Angelos N. Vassos, Director ‘Now’ Creativity Platform (GR)
- Katerina Vrana, Stand-up Comedian (GR)
- Esme Ward, Director, Manchester Museum, University of Manchester (UK)
Programme
- 6 December 2023: The conference will take place at the Benaki Museum (138 Pireos Street, Athens) from 12.00 to 18.00.
- 7 December 2023: A series of workshops and masterclasses will be held at the Benaki Museum (138 Pireos Street, Athens) from 10.00 to 15.00.
- 8 December 2023: The conference will be held at the Thessaloniki Concert Hall in Thessaloniki from 11.30 to 15.00.
- 8 December 2023: A series of masterclasses will be held at the Thessaloniki Concert Hall in Thessaloniki from 15.00 to 16.30.
The full programme of the three-day conference – including the full line-up of speakers – is available on the CoMuseum website.
Registration
Registration for the CoMuseum Conference is now open – secure your place today!
Participation is free following registration.
Further information
For further information, please contact Maria Papaioannou:
| Maria.Papaioannou@britishcouncil.gr | |
| Telephone | 210 369 2336 |
Past and future events
Previous editions of the International Conference for Museums are available on the CoMuseum website.
If you’d like to stay up to date with all our museum events, join our Museum Professionals Network, and register for our Arts newsletter and/or CoMuseum newsletter.
The 13th International CoMuseum Conference is being organised in partnership with the Benaki Museum and the Embassy of the United States. In collaboration with the Norwegian Embassy in Greece and Thessaloniki Concert Hall.
