COVID-19 became a challenge for all spheres and the global crisis has made and will make an unprecedented impact on museums around the world.
In the past, museums have remained open during other crises and made their spaces available for communities to meet and exchange views and dialogue. However, during the Coronavirus outbreak, museums across the world and are now gradually reopening.
It may seem paradoxical, but even when museums closed their doors to the public, they have never been more accessible. The demonstration of virtual tours, video-lectures, discussions or other activities were immense and was growing almost every day. COVID-19 started a digital trend that supported the community resilience. Even smaller museums including museums in regions and areas without new technologies could demonstrate outstanding resilience by finding other ways to reach the public with something as simple as stories via hashtags, using Facebook live and more. The museum field had to accept the challenge and acted in accelerated pace. Museums have realized what the audience means for them and that they are able to make the end of this crisis better than it can otherwise be.
NEMO and ICOM have carried out global research on COVID-19’s impact on museums. According to the results released in April/ May, 80% of museums planned to reduce their programs, 30% was going to reduce staff number, while 20% of museum staff has already lost their jobs, 7,3% of staff were working remotely during pandemic. 13% of museums is not able to reopen an 19% is not sure how to proceed with museum functioning. Painful impact is in terms of economic part, museums like Stedjelik or Rijksmuseum have lost 2.5mln during the closure.
Register to join the online and free conference from 6-7 July 20202 to learn more about:
- Museum lives during pandemia and post-pandemia;
- What museums learnt from this pandemic? Chance to rethink what is really essential for human society and the future of the planet?
- Museums and trusts: How Can Museums Rebuild Public Trust?
- Sustainability and Resilience for Museums; How to bridge wellness and museums in post-pandemia lives?
- Do museums have to re-imagine the exhibition concepts after a pandemic?
- Museums and SDG
- What "successful museum" means during and after pandemic?
- Crisis as an opportunity to remind everyone else that museums are part of economics
- Best practices on museums Digital engagement during COVID 19.
Speakers: Julia Pagel (NEMO Secretary General), Peter Keller (ICOM Director General), Levan Kharatishvili (Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of Georgia), Inga Karaia (Georgian Museum Association, director), Diana Pardue (ICOM DRTF chair), Corine Wegener (Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative, director), Maria Cristina Vannini (Europa Nostra expert, SoluzioniMuseali, director), Sandro Debono (Museum Thinker - University of Malta), Bjorn Stenvers (Dutch Cultural Management Academy), David Lordkipanidze (Georgian National Museum, Director General) and few more speakers from UK, Iran, Azerbaijan and Armenia.
Presentation time: 15 min. + 2-3 min. Q/A
One of the sessions will be devoted to the beneficiaries of the project BE MUSEUMER (Georgian, Armenian and Azeri participants) and 2 presentations to the Museology MA students of Tbilisi State Academy of Art (each of 10 minutes).
- Register
- The conference sessions will be translated simultaneously in English-Georgian languages and recorded via Zoom.
- The conference will be live streamed on the Facebook page of BE MUSEUMER.
- The project action is co-funded by EU Creative Europe Culture Programme grant and LEPL Creative Georgia – Georgian Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport.
