The Museum of the Future

17 Dec, 2019 • Inspiration • 1778

Claiming space for stories that make a difference

In a small museum in England, a group of volunteers carefully maintains a Victorian garden. Once, the vegetables they grow would have fed the ‘guests’ of the workhouse to which the gardens belong. Now, they use these vegetables in community events where people meet to learn about and discuss social justice, law and order, and the effects of poverty on people’s lives. The museum’s staff and volunteers believe that by understanding how we treated the poor in the past, we may learn to end poverty soon.

Recently I was invited to an enjoyable tour of the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg. The tour guide told her story, while we fell in awe with the museum’s unbelievable collection. When we reached the galleries of the war of 1812 (Napoleon’s famous march to Moscow and consequent defeat), an off-handed remark caught my attention. It allowed me to chat with my Russian peers about different views on our shared history and different perspectives on our shared future. The tour guide’s story allowed me to understand the ideas and values of other people better.

At the first global #MuseumsForFuture late November, Mozart went on strike. More specifically, I should say a bust of Mozart went on #ArtStrike. Unbeknownst to the great composer, who never knew of a climate emergency, his face became a local (and thanks to Instagram, global) image of one of the great struggles of our time. With this act, the Viennese Mozart House tried to raise awareness for climate change and encourage people to take action.

In the cultural sector, we tell stories that make a difference. Our stories are not a distraction from a busy job, they are not mere entertainment for the weekends, they are not shallow. Instead, our best stories are timeless, urgent, relevant for future generations.

And yet our best stories are often told in a whisper.
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8 Nov, 2019 • Inspiration, People • 3191

#MuseumsForFuture

I always say I ended up in museums by accident. My background is in sustainable development. When a job in that area fell through, and I needed something to pay the rent, I thought a museum would be a fun place to learn some new skills. Ten years later, here we are.

Increasingly, fortunately, the dual worlds of culture and sustainable development are converging. Evermore people see culture, the arts, and heritage as a force for good in our societies. Following that trend, today, I am happy to announce and support #MuseumsForFuture, the global movement of museums that support climate action and the #FridaysForFuture campaign.

#MuseumsForFuture started in Austria during the last global climate strike in September, when a group of museums came together to support the strikes. They weren’t the only ones taking action, with many museums contributing to the parallel #ArtStrike movement and other initiatives as well.

Now, for the upcoming global climate strike on 29 November 2019, these initiatives and many others have joined forces in an international #MuseumsForFuture movement. The objective: to get thousands of museums contributing to the #FridaysForFuture movement and taking climate action. There are many ways to get involved. For this first time, we hope that as many museums as possible take decisive action on the 29 November.

To help you take action, #MuseumsForFuture suggests 10 simple actions. Copy-pasted straight from their website:
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10 Oct, 2019 • Strategy, Thoughts about museums • 2928

Three approaches for museums to work with the Sustainable Development Goals

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a set of challenges to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all that the world has set for itself for the year 2030. The 17 goals, which include zero hunger, reduced inequality, and climate action, can only be achieved if the world comes together, and everyone takes action.

Museums – and other cultural partners – have been taking up the challenge and are starting to act. With 17 goals and a total of 169 targets, it may be a tough choice where to start, though. This week, in a webinar organized by Nemo, the Network of European Museum Organisations, I proposed three approaches towards the SDGs for museums (and others) and illustrated them with examples both from our own practice as from others around the world.

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30 Aug, 2019 • Inspiration • 5392

A How-to Guide for Museums and the Sustainable Development Goals

In what is no doubt a case of professional distortion, it seems the pace to achieve the 17 ambitious Sustainable Development Goals is picking up. When climate action champion Greta Thunberg arrived in New York this week after a carbon-neutral crossing of the Atlantic, 17 brightly colored SDG boats welcomed her. Influential business leaders are trying to redefine the role of business in society — and make it a force for more good. Municipalities are looking into their past to take forward-looking action. This week, I learned the tap water I drink is en route to being 100% green in 2020, making Amsterdam tap water even better than it already was.

For museums — and other heritage institutions — wanting to contribute to this global movement towards a fairer, greener, and more sustainable world, museum activist Henry McGhie published a free how-to guide which I highly recommend you download.

The guide helps museum professionals “put the world on a path to a sustainable future, through working to support the Sustainable Development Goals.” Helpfully, Henry places the Sustainable Development Goals in a broader framework of human and environmental rights and the dimensions of sustainability. The combined agenda of 17 SDGs, 169 underlying targets, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and a full set of environmental rights give museums more than enough opportunities to act in a way that fits their current practice.

The importance of museum and culture in achieving the sustainability agenda is ever more widely acknowledged. As UNESCO states in its pivotal 2015 Recommendation concerning the Protection and Promotion of Museums and Collections, their Diversity and their Role in Society, “The protection and promotion of cultural and natural diversity are major challenges of the twenty-first century. In this respect, museums and collections constitute primary means by which tangible and intangible testimonies of nature and human cultures are safeguarded.”
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17 Jun, 2019 • Strategy • 4130

A non-judgemental assessment of your organization

Anyone who has ever traveled knows that what is true in one city, may be unheard of in the next. When and how much you tip, for instance, or the definition of a black coffee. The diversity of approaches to everything from the length of a lunch break to the way decisions are made becomes even more evident when you work in an international context. For me, this is one of the great joys of working in a global, multi-cultural context.

This diversity demands a certain humility when it comes to offering solutions. What works in one context may not work in the next. This also — and maybe especially — applies to the organization of culture. The ubiquitous black box and white cube notwithstanding, how people organize culture (in museums, libraries, theatres) is shaped by geographical location, natural resources, technology, politics, and by trends and developments in society.

Equally, this diversity implies that when you start mapping the future of your organization, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. The future of your organization depends on its specific situation and needs.

With this in mind, we developed the Quantum Culture method. The workbook starts with a self-assessment of your organization. In line with the values of the method, this self-assessment is non-judgemental. It does not rate your performance on some absolute scale but instead helps you discover the specific mix of approaches that currently exist in your organization and where this mix is different from what it should be given your particular context.
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