Annual Report July 2014-June 2015
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The 2014-2018 Strategic Plan approved in Glasgow in May 2014, identifies four Strategic Directions:
1. Ensure the long-term sustainability of CAM
2. Strengthen CAM’s global leadership in the heritage sector
3. Develop museum and heritage expertise
4. Increase CAM membership and membership value
This year’s Annual Report will provide an update progress in each of these areas:
1. Ensure the long-term sustainability of CAM
Revised Bylaws and Confirmed Status
CAM held a special meeting in September 2014 to approve bylaw changes that had been discussed at the AGM in Glasgow and were necessary in order to apply for Continuance under Canada’s Not-for-Profit Corporations Act by mid-October to retain our legal status.
Funding
CAM took small steps towards diversifying our funding base, receiving support from new funders, collaborating with other organisations to apply for funding from organisations to which CAM is not eligible to apply, and receiving a number of relatively small, but significant, donations.
2. Strengthen CAM’s global leadership in the heritage sector
CAM’s 40th Anniversary
CAM celebrated our 40th Anniversary in 2014 and published a history of the association in the CAM Bulletin as well as contributing information to other museums association in the Commonwealth.
ICOM
At last year’s ICOM Advisory Committee meeting CAM proposed ways of engaging Affiliated Organisations more effectively in ICOM. A first step was to present a brief overview of our objectives, programs and current activities at ICOM’s Advisory Committee meeting in June 2015.
Commonwealth
Following months of neglect by the Commonwealth and dissatisfaction on the part of Commonwealth Organisations, the Commonwealth Secretariat has introduced a Partnerships Team to coordinate input from Commonwealth Organisations. Communication has improved and we are hopeful that the Commonwealth remains committed to its family of recognized Commonwealth Organisations.
19th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (CCEM), The Bahamas, June 22-26, 2015
CAM participated in the CCEM
- Display booth with other educational Commonwealth Organisations
- Secretary-General Catherine C. Cole spoke about Education for Empathy: Education for Local and Global Citizenship in the Commonwealth
UNESCO
CAM has been invited to participate in Canadian Commission for UNESCO meetings, and in particular to have input into the Post-2015 Development Goals and the Recommendation on the Protection and Promotion of Museums and Collections .The latter report will be presented to the UNESCO General Assembly in the fall. The documents are available at: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/culture/themes/museums/recommendation-on-the-protection-and-promotion-of-museums-and-collections/
Participatory Governance Study
CAM completed a study of Participatory Governance and Museums in collaboration with the Galt Museum and Archives in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada and the Musée Héritage Museum in St. Albert, Alberta, Canada. The study now available on the CAM website at: http://www.maltwood.uvic.ca/cam/publications/new_releases.html
The concept of participatory governance may not be familiar to many museologists as it resides primarily in the development literature. Participatory governance is the democratic process in which citizens are active in determining the formation and implementation of policies and programmes affecting their daily lives, a form of engagement which is a viable option for museums in both the developed and the developing world. The question is: How can museums use their resources – their collections, exhibitions, programs and expertise – to motivate citizens to action on contemporary issues?
As the model below illustrates, participatory governance may be defined as the convergence of community engagement and social responsibility. The content axis (top) includes: object centred, issue-based, relevance, social responsibility, and public debate while the process axis (bottom) includes: audience development, participatory museums, community consultation, working together, and shared authority. The two axes meet at participatory governance. We chose the image of Canada Geese flying in V-formation to illustrate the model. Like Canada Geese museums may sometimes take the lead in participatory governance and at other times drop back and develop an object-centred exhibition or a project focused on audience development.
Begun in 2013, the initiative was prompted by a decision of the Commonwealth Foundation, CAM’s traditional funder, to limits its grants to projects on participatory governance. To be in a position to continue applying for support, it was necessary to explore the potential for participatory governance initiatives in museums. The report suggests directions CAM members may choose to take.
Funding was provided by the Alberta Museums Association.
Cultural Property Law Project
CAM has initiated a collaboration with Cambridge University Press, the Commonwealth Lawyers Association (CLA), the University of Cambridge: Lauterpacht Centre for International Law, McGill University: Centre for International Sustainable Development Law (CISDL), University of Victoria: Centre for Global Studies, and the International Council of Museums to produce a book about International Cultural Property Protection Law as a Tool for Sustainable Development.
3. Develop museum and heritage expertise
Workshop: Museum Education and Professional Development in the Caribbean, Barbados, June 17-19, 2015
CAM, ICOM Barbados, the Museums Association of the Caribbean (MAC), and ICOM ICTOP (the International Committee for the Training of Personnel) collaborated to organise a workshop on Museum Education and Professional Development in the Caribbean June 17-19, 2015.
The workshop focussed on:
1. Curriculum-based formal education for students;
2. Informal education/programming for adults and children;
3. Professional development for museum workers in the Caribbean.
In preparation for the workshop, CAM conducted a survey of museum education in the Caribbean.
CAM Internship Programme
For the first time since the CAM internship programme began in 1997, CAM did not receive funding from the Young Canada Works at Building Careers in Heritage programme for an intern for the October 2014-March 2015 period. In the past up to four positions were allocated for international internships. CAM followed up with the Canadian Museums Association which administers the programme, and with the Department of Canadian Heritage which funds the programme to ensure support for international internships in future. These opportunities are invaluable for Canadian museologists interested in international work as well as for host museums throughout the Commonwealth.
In June 2015, CAM received word that funding to support an Outreach Intern at the Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum, City Palace, Jaipur, India who will assist assist n the development of outreach programmes for the museum and assist CAM in the planning, fundraising and delivery of a regional workshop on Improving Accessibility in Indian Museums to be held in March 2016.
Fish and Fishing in Fishing-dependent Communities
The Commonwealth Association of Museums (CAM) and the Commonwealth Human Ecology Council (CHEC) made an announcement on Oceans Day that we are currently exploring the feasibility of creating an international travelling exhibition with Commonwealth Small Island/Developing States (SIDS) about Fish and Fishing in Fishing Dependent Communities. Travelling by sea in a shipping container, the exhibition would be developed collaboratively with museums and other partners throughout the Commonwealth and combine approaches from the arts and sciences to explore culture and policy affecting the sustainability of both fisherfolk livelihoods and identities, and of the marine environment on which these depend. We received a number of positive responses from people interested in participating in the project.
Destination: City A Perspective of (Im)migration on Arrival Cities
CAM is collaborating with ICOM CAMOC (Collections and Activities of Museums of Cities) to develop a project exploring cities and (im)migration from the perspective of destination cities. The majority of the world’s population now lives in cities and this project will collect and record (im)migration experiences from the last 25 years, whether rural to urban, from one part of a country to another, or from one country to another. Individual museum projects that contribute to the discussion of our changing cityscapes will be linked to those in other museums globally looking at migration experiences through ongoing research, database generation and interpretation shared through a digital/web portal.
Distance Learning Programme in Basic Museum Studies
A group of museum workers in South Africa completed the Distance Learning Programme. Congratulations to: Vivienne Garside, Nola Cynthia Ladwig, Zanoxolo Mnqobi Mkhize, and Ms. Susan Zama Mbatha of the Eshowe -Vukani Museum and Zululand Historical Museum; Jongukuthula Shabalala and Thobeka Nkosi of Ladysmith; Barbara Gwenyth Bruynse, Mrs. Elizabeth Mackay, and Charles Robert Hicken of Himeville Museum, and Robert Luyt of the Local History Museums, Durban.
Congratulations too to Ashley Clarkson of Canada.
Inset: photo of Namibia cohort graduation – Jeremy/Rooksana
4. Increase CAM membership and membership value
We have received positive response to the efforts being made to improve communications and make it easier for CAM members to retain their membership and participate in the association in various ways.
There are ___ subscribers to the CAM list-serve, __ paid members in __ countries, and many more who consider themselves members but who have not been able to renew their membership because PayPal does not work in their country and the cost of banking transfers is prohibitive relative to the cost of the membership itself.
CAM Executive Council, 2014-2017
President: Rooksana Omar, Chief Executive Officer, Iziko Museums of South Africa
Vice-President: Amareswar Galla, Founding Executive Director, International Institute for the Inclusive Museum, India, Denmark & Australia
Treasurer: Ericka Chemko, Program and Operations Manager, Edmonton Heritage Council, Canada
Past-President: Martin Segger, Research Associate, Centre for Global Studies, University of Victoria, Canada
Members
Lumepa Apelu, Principal Officer, Museum of Samoa
Richard Benjamin, Head, International Slavery Museum, National Museums Liverpool , UK
Claude Faubert, Director-General , Canada Science and Technology Museum
David Mbuthia, Head, National Museums of Kenya (NMK) Central Region
Kim Outten Stubbs, Chief Curator, National Museum of The Bahamas
Huism Tan, Head, Curation and Exhibitions, National Library Singapore
Mrinalini Venkateswaran, Projects Manager, Eka Archiving Services, New Delhi, India
The Commonwealth Association of Museums is an Affiliated Organisation of ICOM and a recognised Commonwealth Organisation.
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