This one-day symposium aims to bring together people working in and on museums who are dedicated to opening up their institutions and engaging meaningfully with communities. We will revisit the concept of the museum, broadening it to explore what the museum is and can be and the role it can play in contemporary society. The symposium is grounded in the Caribbean but reaches out beyond, identifying the various forms in which people engage with heritage through grassroots and other types of museums.

Mandatory for museum studies students, free attendance.
Organized by NEXUS1492.

Program

14:00-14:15 Opening by Mariana Françozo (Leiden University)

14:15-15:00 Keynote by Alissandra Cummins (director Barbados Museum & Historical Society) on the topic of the history of museums in the Caribbean

15:00-15:30 Coffee break

15:30-15:50 Presentation by Martin Berger (curator Middle- and South American collections, National Museum of World Cultures) on the topic of collections from the circum-Caribbean and working with their stakeholders

15:50-16:10 Presentation by Csilla Ariese-Vandemeulebroucke (Leiden University) on the topic of grassroots museums in the Caribbean

16:10-17:00 Discussion moderated by Maria Patricia Ordoñez (Leiden University/ USFQ, Ecuador)