Who Takes Care of our Cultural Heritage of the Future?
A network meeting for new cultural heritage professionals will take place on 11 February, 2021, organized by the Mondriaan Fund and the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE). It will be an afternoon for meetings and the exchange of knowledge between a new generation of cultural heritage professionals and key figures from the working field. Current themes will be discussed, always focussed on specific cases or situations from one of the four disciplines of the cultural heritage sector: landscape, archaeology, monuments and museums.
The meeting will be hosted by Christian Pfeiffer. He is a policy officer for the Bond Heemschut Heritage Association in Amsterdam and Monument Talent 2019.
The programme begins with a keynote speech by Léontine Meijer-van Mensch, deputy director of Grassi Museum für Völkerkunde Dresden. Participants can then take part in one or more break-out sessions on relevant cases within the cultural heritage sector, put forward by diverse heritage institutions.
The programme for the break-out sessions is as follows:
1. Sustainability in Collection Management: How to Make History Accessible in a Sustainable Way
Session 1:
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen: with Sandra Kisters, head of collection and research, and Christel van Hees, head of conservation and restoration
The Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum is home to old painting and sculpture, modern, contemporary and applied art, pre-industrial and industrial utensils.
Session 2:
Erfgoedhuis Zuid-Holland: with director Marielle Hendriks and coordinator of business development, Evelien Masselink
Erfgoedhuis Zuid-Holland supports, connects, and inspires heritage stakeholders in the preservation and accessibility of cultural heritage in South Holland. This results in projects and publications commissioned by the Province of South Holland, ‘heritage table’ organizations of South Holland, municipalities, museums, heritage institutions and foundations.
2. Dealing with Colonial Heritage in 2021: How to Make Colonial Collections Visible and Accessible and Increase Historical Awareness
Session 1:
Beyond Walls: with co-founder Suzanne Rastovac and event producer Glenda Pattipeilohy
Beyond the Collection: How can colonial collections contribute to critical historical awareness while also being accessible to a broader public? How do institutions relate to the various diaspora communities connected to colonial collections? And, to what extent do these worlds converge? In this session, Beyond Walls explores issues about how we handle colonial heritage, as well as looking beyond the walls of our institutions.
Session 2:
National Museum of World Cultures: with Henrietta Lidchi, head of research
The National Museum of World Cultures is a national museum created in 2014 by the merger of the Africa Museum in Berg en Dal (NL), the Rijksmuseum Volkenkunde in Leiden and the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam. This is about museums that are about people, museums that want to inspire an open view of the world and contribute to world citizenship. In May of 2017, the World Museum Rotterdam joined the NMVW, the Society for National Museums of World Culture, as a cooperation partner, sharing both their collection and the mission.
3. Young Cultural Heritage Professionals in Organizations: How to Learn from One Another and What Role Does the Young Heritage Professional Have?
Session 1:
Villa Mondriaan in Winterswijk: with director Charlotte Rixten
Villa Mondriaan is a museum about the early years of Piet Mondriaan. Mondriaan acquired world fame in Paris and New York. What is less known is that his painting career began in Winterswijk, where he lived from the age of eight until he was 20.
Session 2:
Cultural Heritage Agency: with Iris Volkers, coordinator of Sharing Stories Training, and project assistant Yulia Dolinina
The Dutch National Cultural Heritage Agency (RCE) works under the direct responsibility of the Minister of Education, Culture and Science (OCW), and implements legislation, regulations and heritage policy that is made jointly by the Ministry and the Agency. The RCE also develops practically applicable knowledge resources and provides advice on national monuments, landscape and living environments, archaeology and movable heritage.
Session 3:
Landschap Erfgoed Utrecht: with Alexander Bunt, archaeology consultant
Landscape Heritage Utrecht’s mission is to protect, manage and enrich the landscape and cultural heritage in the Province of Utrecht.
Session 4:
Erfgoed Jong: with historian Martine van der Veer
Erfgoed Jong is an independent national network of young people aged between 16 and 30 with an interest in and opinions about (intangible) heritage. With ambition, knowledge and surprising perspectives, they want to give the world of cultural heritage a new impulse.
4. Digitization: Archiving, Managing and Preserving for the Future
Session 1:
DEN: with general director Maaike Verberk
DEN is the Knowledge Institute for Digitization in the Cultural Sector. The rise of digital transformation in society raises new questions and offers new opportunities for cultural organizations. DEN enables cultural institutions to take advantage of those opportunities and possibilities.
Session 2:
LIMA: with director Gaby Wijers
LIMA is the platform in the Netherlands for media art where new technologies, science, digital culture and art are shown, where the discipline is actively questioned and where the field and its position in society are reflected upon.
Session 3:
Black Archives: with co-founder Mitchell Esajas.
Black Archives is an historical archive and cultural centre where people can go for inspiring conversations, substantive activities and books from black and other perspectives that are often under-researched elsewhere. Black Archives is supported by the New Urban Collective.
5. The Future of Cultural Heritage Care and Experience: Interdisciplinary Collaborations, Regional Offerings and Startup Initiatives
Session 1:
STIPO: with Sienna Veelders, consultant and urban heritage professional
STIPO works as a public developer and contractor on better cities and more beautiful regions. It is a multidisciplinary urban development team driven by sustainable quality and human scale.
Session 2:
StadmakersCoöperatie: with Floor Ziegler and Marianne Visser
Stadmakers inspire and catalyze collaboration between different actors, as residents, civil servants, project developers, (professional) initiators and sometimes also as administrators. The Stadmakers Coöperation belongs to its members and supports the movement by bringing together, doing projects, learning and joining forces.
Session 3:
KITLV, Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land-, en Volkenkunde: with PhD Researcher and Community engagement coordinator Tibisay Sankatsing Nava
KITLV aims to be a research institute for the study of Southeast Asia and the Caribbean in an interdisciplinary and comparative perspective.
6. Never Waste a Good Crisis: Cultural Heritage after Corona
Session 1:
Nederland Monumentenland: with director Marlo Reeders
Netherlands Monuments Land organizes and offers events and interaction, in order to make a relevant contribution to sharing knowledge and experience of monuments.
Session 2:
Netwerk Digitaal Erfgoed: with Marcel Ras, domain manager for Digital Heritage Houdbaar, and Mirjam Schaap, advisor for acquisitions and access, digital private archives for the Amsterdam City Archives
The Digital Heritage Network was set up with the mission of developing, together with all the cultural heritage institutions in the Netherlands, a national system of facilities and services for improving the visibility, usability and sustainability of digital heritage. In this way, we jointly create greater added social value from our digital heritage.
The Stadsarchief Amsterdam is the historical documentation centre of the City of Amsterdam, with 50 kilometres of archives, an historical and topographical collection with millions of maps, drawings and prints, a library, and extensive sound, film, and photographic archives.
7. The Public and Cultural Heritage Volunteers: On Strengthening Engagement and Community Building
Session 1:
Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed/ RCE, Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands: with Henk Alkemade, lead/enterprise architect
Session 2:
Verhalenhuis Belvedere: with initiator Linda Malherbe and visual artist Fenmei Hu
Verhalenhuis Belvédère aims to connect as many people as possible with each other and with the city, through art, culture and (personal) stories. We allow people, communities and the changing city to become visible to each other and to a wide audience, thus contributing to the cultural and social development of cities.
Session 3:
Van Gogh Museum: with Dutch Funds relationship manager Emma Swaan and human resources advisor Susan Aukema
The Van Gogh Museum has the world’s largest collection of works by Vincent van Gogh, with over 200 paintings and 500 drawings.
Session 4:
Tong Tong Fair: with programmers Leslie Boon and Arnoud Kokosky Deforchaux
The Tong Tong Fair is rooted in The Hague, the ‘Indonesian capital of the world’, and stems from the Pasar Malam Tong-Tong/Besar. It is a an up-to-date mix of East and West, always in motion. Through togetherness and creativity, we continue to develop Indonesian culture.
Session 5:
Erfgoedparticipatie FARO (RCE): with specialist in participation Margriet Nguyen and research assistant Wilma Simons Richard
The European FARO Treaty emphasizes the social and connecting value of cultural heritage and the importance of participation by society. In close cooperation with heritage organizations, the Cultural Heritage Agency will be investigating how best to stimulate and facilitate civic initiative and participation.
8. Codes and Guidelines: How to Deal with the Fair Practice Code, the Diversity & Inclusion Code, and the Governance in Culture Code?
Session 1:
Kunsten ’92: with Anne Breure, theatre maker and board member
Kunsten ’92 is the interest group for the entire Dutch cultural and creative sector, with 380 members from all disciplines, from the arts to new media, design, museums and monuments, and from producers to organizations. With a united voice, we aim to strengthen the social and political climate for culture in the Netherlands.
Session 2:
Musea Bekennen Kleur: with project leader Aspha Bijnaar
Musea Bekennen Kleur is a platform where museums can enter into in-depth discussions about how we can jointly make diversity and inclusion a reality. The goal is to sustainably unite museums in their efforts to truly embed diversity and inclusion into the DNA of the various organizations. This will be focused on Programme, Audience, Staff and Partners, with space to exchange knowledge and (self) reflection.
During the breaks, speed dates will take place between the professionals and institutions.
When: Thursday, February 11, 2021, from 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Where: online
Language: Dutch
How to register: Register here to participate, free of charge. After registering, you will receive additional information about the programme and the break-out sessions in which you can participate.
HERE: Heritage Reflections is organized by the Netherlands Cultural Heritage Agency (RCE) and the Mondriaan Fund. HERE is a platform for the exchange of knowledge between new heritage professionals and institutions, for new cultural heritage professionals to get to know one another and the heritage institutions. It offers the institutions the chance to tap into a new network. This ensures new perspectives and the expansion of the networks of both the institutions and the heritage professionals.