ICMM - International Congress of Maritime Museums

Invitation

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Additional Information

Updated list of Speakers

PAST CONGRESSES

The Academic Programme

Four conference days, four sessions, four keynote speakers and four ‘master classes’; that’s the format of the Esbjerg 2009 academic programme and that’s the way we will try to tackle today’s reality: fast change and growing uncertainty for many of us.

During these four days we intend to go back to the ‘basics’ of our trade: Collections, Audience, Research and Funding. In this time of great economic turmoil world-wide, how could we not talk about money? Recognising the seriousness of the financial situation facing us, and maybe for the first time in its history, ICMM is going to look at funding. Friday morning’s session will feature an introduction by a renowned international cultural economist.

Each day each major theme will be introduced by a key-note speaker. On Friday afternoon there will be four ‘master classes’ on the same four themes, given by senior, experienced ICMM colleagues. They will give us all the opportunity to benefit from their experience by discussing best practices, their successes, and their failures.

‘Getting the maritime message across’-issue to changing audiences is the central theme on Tuesday October 6 - the first full conference day. Isn’t it the main task for all of us to stimulate maritime awareness? Tinna Damgaard Sørensen, director of the Viking Ship Museum at Roskilde Denmark, and in charge of the highly successful Viking ship trip to Dublin in 2007-8, is the key-note speaker.

Collections, the backbone of all museums, will be discussed within the framework of change. Do changing audiences influence our collections? What are possible collecting policy models? Who is leading in making them? How can we incorporate change in collecting policy without losing continuity? At this stage the Programme Committee is talking with a potential key-note speaker from the USA.

Research is back on the agenda of a growing number of ICMM members, but how do we organize and finance it? Key-note speaker Poul Holm, Academic Director and Professor of Trinity College, Dublin, combines his trans-Atlantic academic experience as a researcher and manager with his museum background as a curator. Professor Lars Scholl from Bremerhaven, Director of probably the only formal ‘maritime research museum’ in the world, will provide his insights into the role of research and describe his experiences in Bremerhaven.

Official programme and venues for the Congress (all in and around Esbjerg)

Monday 5 October

16.00-20.00: Registration/Reception – Fisheries and Maritime Museum

Tuesday 6 October

08.30-09.45: Registration – Performing Arts Centre
09.45-17.00: First day of Congress – Performing Arts Centre

Theme: Audiences

At the Malta Congress in 2007 it was agreed our museum audiences were changing and that we should be concentrating on ‘getting the maritime message across’. What is that message? And is anyone listening? Our message is a vitally important one and deserves to be better understood – that the sea has had, and continues to have, a fundamental influence on all our lives. But how do we get that message across? Do we look for partnerships and if so, with whom? Theatres, film festivals, concert organizers, leisure entrepreneurs…?

Wednesday 7 October

09.30-15.30: Second day of Congress – Performing Arts Centre

Theme: Collections

Maritime Museums are a combination of words, images and, most importantly, objects – the ‘real thing’. Do we adapt our collecting to reflect the interests of our new visitors? Ideally, the museum’s collecting policy should be developed by the whole organisation so that everyone understands it and, better still, ‘owns it’. Are there some fundamental ‘do’s and ‘don’ts’ about collecting policies? How can we continue to develop our collections without losing their continuity or devaluing what we’ve already got?

15.30-17.00: ICMM General Assembly – Performing Arts Centre

Thursday 8 October

09.30-12.30: Excursion to Fanø
12.30-17.00: Third day of Congress – Performing Arts Centre
18.00-19.00: Reception – Town Hall

Theme: Research

Research is back on the agenda of a growing number of ICMM members. In places, all around the world, initiatives are getting developed to reconnect maritime museums and basic maritime historical research. But how to organize and how to finance it since most museums are focussed on the translation of research results for a general audience? Is there an opportunity for creating new partnerships between maritime museums and other organisations – universities and colleges, research institutes and schools?

Friday 9 October

09.30-17.00: Fourth day of Congress – Hotel Britannia

Theme: Funding

In this time of great economic turmoil world-wide, how could we not talk about money? Recognising the seriousness of the financial situation facing us, the funding session explores the variety of funding models, its consequences and the growing risk of conflicting interests of public and private financiers. Do museums have strategies for developing stakeholder’s value and if so, is curatorial integrity part of it?

Master Class-sessions

Conference fees:

Early Birds/Members only – deadline 1 June 2009 ...450 Euros
Non Members & ICMM Late Comers – deadline 1 August 2009 ... 500 Euros
1 Day Participants (price per day) – deadline 1 August 2009 ...125 Euros

Please note: All charges for the congress will be made in Danish Kroner (DKK).
7.5 DKK = 1 Euro approx
Link to currency converter (opens in new window)

Fano China Dogs in window at Fanø

Accompanying Partners Programme

The programme includes Congress receptions, lunch every day, and the opportunity of participating in the following guided tours

6 October, 10.00-14.00 – Guided city walk, museums & galleries in Esbjerg + lunch at Sand’s

7 October. 10.00-15.30 – Blaavand, Denmark’s westernmost point, includes lunch at Blaavand Kro

8 October: 09.00-12.30 – The Island of Fanø – A visit to the 19th Century

9 October: A day on your own to go shopping or visit the Fisheries and Maritime Museum

We kindly ask delegate’s partners to register for the tours on 6, 7 and 8 October.

Partner registration fee:

300 euro (Early Birds/Members only – deadline 1 June 2009)
350 euro (Non Members and Member Late Comers – deadline 1 August 2009)

PARTNERS' PROGRAMME - FULL DETAILS

Please note: All charges for the congress will be made in Danish Kroner (DKK). 7.5 DKK = 1 Euro
Link to currency converter (opens in new window)

esjberg - statue of Chr IX Torvet
Esbjerg

Blaavand

Heather at Fanø

Old houses in Sønderho Fanø

Optional events of the ICMM 2009 Congress in Esbjerg

Conference Dinner
9 October 2009, 19.00-23.00

Price:
90 euro (Early Birds/Members only – deadline 1 June 2009)
100 euro (Non Members and Member Late Comers – deadline 1 August 2009)

Post Conference Tour to Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg (max. 40 persons)

10-11 October

The tour will examine the links between the North Sea and the Baltic 700AD-2000AD via an exciting tour that will take you to Ribe, Haitabu, Schleswig, across the Kiel Canal and to Hamburg. In Hamburg we will visit the new “Internationales Maritimes Museum Hamburg”, have a harbour tour in the Port of Hamburg, and finally visit the “Stiftung Hamburg Maritim.” The price of the Post Conference Tour includes hotel accommodation in Schleswig, all entrance fees, harbour tour and meals.

Price:
350 euro (Early Birds/Members only – deadline 1 June 2009)
380 euro (Non Members and Member Late Comers – deadline 1 August 2009)

FULL DETAILS

Please note: All charges for the congress will be made in Danish Kroner (DKK). 7.5 DKK = 1 Euro
Link to currency converter (opens in new window)

Historic House in Schleswig-Holstein