Schedule

Benefit from a powerful programme of innovation from 11 world-leading museum professionals sharing their latest ideas, experience and developments. From leadership to collections, storytelling to participatory culture, digital to social justice - what unites the programme is how to embed innovation and transformation in museums.

9:15 - 9:45

Registration

9:50

Welcome

Sharon Ament, Director, Museum of London

Sharon Ament is Director of the Museum of London and chair of Museum Ideas 2013. Sharon became Director of the Museum of London in Autumn 2012 after two decades of leadership experience in the management of UK cultural resources and is a powerful exponent of the potential museums have to change people’s lives. Prior to her her appointment at the Museum of London, Sharon was Director of Public Engagement at the Natural History Museum, London, chair of the Exhibition Road Cultural Group, which represents 17 major cultural organisations, and Vice President of Ecsite - the European Network for Science Centres and Museums.

10:00

Leadership in the Networked Museum

Patrick Greene, CEO, Museum Victoria, Australia

J. Patrick Greene OBE, PhD, is an archaeologist and a museum director. Greene was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Museum Victoria in Australia in August 2002. Under his leadership Museum Victoria has become the largest and most-visited museum organisation in Australia. Melbourne Museum was declared the best major tourist attraction in the 2012 Australian Tourism Awards and in 2011 Greene was named Australian CEO of the Year by the Australian Human Resources Institute. Patrick Greene is Chair of the Council of Australasian Museum Directors, Chair of the National Cultural Heritage Committee, and is a past President of the Museums Association (UK) and past Chairman of the European Museum Forum.

10:30

The Culture of Transformation

Mike Sarna, Director, Programming & Exhibitions

Mike has been with Royal Museums Greenwich for just over a year leading on the development of the public offer including learning, exhibitions, digital and design. He comes from the Natural History Museum where he was the Head of Interpretation and Design. Before coming to the UK he worked for years in Chicago in exhibition and curatorial roles for a range of science and history museums, notably the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago History Museum, and Nature Museum. Mike is a fellow of the RSA and the Clore Leadership Programme and founded the Sustainable Exhibitions Group.

11:00

Shared Stories and Contested Spaces:
A short history of M Shed

Tim Corum, Deputy Head, Strategy and Development, Bristol's Museums Galleries and Archives

Tim Corum is Deputy Head of Bristol Museums Galleries and Archives. He has worked in the museum sector for over 20 years, helping develop new city museums in Greater Manchester, Leeds and now Bristol. His current role at Bristol includes overseeing the development of learning, collections and the public programme for the city’s museums galleries and archives. Recently Tim led on content development for M Shed, Bristol’s new city history museum, which opened in June 2011. He is now responsible for the long-term development plans for Bristol’s Museum and Art Gallery, which to date has involved new Egypt galleries, innovative family learning spaces and new collections of international contemporary art.

11:30

Memory Palace

Ligaya Salazar, Curator, London College of Fashion
(past Curator of Contemporary Programmes, V&A)

Ligaya Salazar is the co-curator of Memory Palace. She has curated the V&A contemporary exhibition Yohji Yama­moto in 2011 and Fashion V Sport in 2008 for which she also edited the accompanying publications. She devised the V&A Friday Late Programme from 2008 to 2010 and a series of fashion-related V&A Friday Late events in Paris in 2012 and curated numerous Friday Late events including No Strings in 2011, British Fashion and Pen-Paper-Scissors in 2009 and Crafting Couture in 2007. She is now the Curator of the Fashion Space Gallery and continues to curate freelance graphic and illustration-based exhibitions and events.

12:00

Lunch

Buffet lunch and opportunity to network with Museum Ideas 2013 participants

13:00

New Models of Online Publication

Robin Dowden, Director of New Media, Walker Arts Center, Minneapolis

Robin Dowden is director of new media initiatives and chair of the audience engagement and communications team at the Walker Art Center. Together with her department, she is responsible for developing the Center’s use of interactive and emerging technologies including multimedia computer applications, telephony-based audio-information resources, the Walker’s Web site, and projects to create digital resources. Prior to joining the Walker, Dowden was the Collections Systems and Web Site Manager at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

13:30

Rijksstudio: New adventures in
participatory digital culture

Peter Gorgels, Digital Communication Manager
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Peter Gorgels works at the Rijksmuseum, Holland, as manager of digital communication, including the corporate website, the online collection and Rijksstudio. Since 2002 he has worked on a number of award-winning projects for the Rijksmuseum. He is involved as advisor or project manager in practically every digital project like the multimeda tour app and the museum’s social media present. In 2011 he wrote the E-strategy of the Rijksmuseum. He is always looking for innovative ways to improve the interaction of the audience with the masterpieces of the Rijksmuseum.

14:00

Games and Museums: The potential,
the proof and the challenges

Martha Henson, Producer: Interactive Media, Tate
(past Multimedia Producer, Wellcome Trust)

Martha Henson was Multimedia Producer at The Wellcome Trust where, over the course of three years, she jointly developed their strategy for commissioning games. During that time she successfully produced a range of games, including the hugely popular High Tea and Axon, each with over 4 million plays. Martha conducted extensive games evaluation and research and developed multimedia capabilities from scratch and created over 100 short films. Matha holds a degree in Archaeology and Anthropology from Oxford University. She is currently working part-time as Producer: Interactive Media at Tate on a variety of online and mobile projects as well as working for clients such as the Natural History Museum of Utah.

14:30

Augmented Reality: Beyond the hype

Shelley Mannion, Digital Learning Programmes Manager, The British Museum

Shelley Mannion is Digital Learning Programmes Manager at the British Museum. She manages the Samsung Digital Discovery Centre and its digital learning programs aimed at families and young audiences. Before joining the British Museum, she led a Steve-based community tagging project with young Tibetans for the Rubin Museum of Art. Among the first graduates of the TEC-CH program in technology and communication for cultural institutions at the University of Lugano. Shelley has worked as a Web designer, software developer, multimedia producer and project manager for corporate and non-profit clients in 11 countries. She holds a B.A in Art History and Computer Science and an M.S. in Communication for Cultural Heritage.

15:00

Afternoon Break

Tea and coffee in the Clore Learning Centre

15:30

Occupy London and Collecting
the Contemporary

Cathy Ross, Honorary Research Fellow, Museum of London (past Director of Collections and Learning)

Cathy Ross has been Director of Collections and Learning at the Museum of London since 2009. She comes from a curatorial background, having worked for many years as Head of Later London History at the Museum of London. Previous to that she worked in museums in South Yorkshire and Newcastle, where she was Head of History at Tyne & Wear Museums. Whilst at Newcastle, she completed her PhD. Cathy was chief curator for the Museum of London’s new ‘Galleries of Modern London’, opened in 2010. Cathy is active within the UK museums profession and has taught on a number of museum studies programmes, including MA courses at the University of Newcastle, University of Manchester and University College London.

16:00

Inviting Institutions: Transforming communities
through participation

Michelle López, Manager of ArtAccess Programs & Autism Initiatives, Queens Museum, NYC

Michelle López is Manager of ArtAccess & Autism Initiatives at the Queens Museum of Art in New York where she heads up multiple programs; including the new Autism Initiatives - a multi-year partnership with the Queens Library. The autism project reaches out to families affected by autism and provides them with access to bilingual studio art classes held at various Queens Library branches. The grant that helps make this program possible also contributes to the professional development of Queens Library and Queens Museum of Art staff on autism and the needs of visitors with autism and their families. Michelle also works on creating accessible museum programming. Michelle holds a degree in Communication Arts and an MA in Creative Arts Therapy.

16:30

The Museum Vortex: Contesting pasts,
constructing futures

Richard Benjamin, Head, International Slavery Museum

Richard Benjamin, PhD, heads the International Slavery Museum team at National Museums Liverpool. He is responsible for the strategic development of the Museum, including the forthcoming state-of-the-art ISM education and resource centre; partnership work and research. Richard supervises the day-to-day running of the world class display galleries including the acquisition of museum objects and collections. Richard completed an MA and PhD in Archaeology at the University of Liverpool and was a Visiting Research scholar at Harvard University. He was appointed as the head of the International Slavery Museum in 2006.

17:00

Closing remarks