Reposted from Independant

MPs will question British Museum bosses about thefts from the institution’s collection.

The museum disclosed on August 16 that items – including gold jewellery, semi-precious stones and glass – were missing, stolen or damaged.

It was later revealed that this was an estimated 2,000 artefacts and the PA news agency understands they were taken over a “significant” period of time before 2023.

The Culture, Media and Sport Committee (CMS) said an upcoming one-off evidence session on Wednesday will “focus on the reputational and financial implications for the museum and the wider national collection”.

Former chancellor George Osborne, chairman of the museum’s trustees, and Sir Mark Jones, interim director of the body, are set to answer questions about what this means for the institution.

MPs could also ask about what is being done to recover the items, if there has been damage to the museum’s reputation and how future relations with other institutions may have been impacted.

On August 25, British Museum director Hartwig Fischer resigned and his deputy, Jonathan Williams, stepped back from his position.

In a statement at the time, German art historian Mr Fischer admitted the museum “did not respond as comprehensively as it should have in response to warnings in 2021” about the stolen artefacts.

The museum had been alerted by Ittai Gradel, an author, academic and antiquities dealer, to some of the stolen items, and he told PA that claims he had withheld information from the institution were an “outright lie”.

Mr Fischer – who had announced in July he would step down next year – also said in the statement that he “misjudged the remarks” made about Dr Gradel.

When former Victoria And Albert (V&A) Museum director Sir Mark was confirmed in his new role in early September, he vowed to “restore the reputation” of the British Museum.

On September 26, the institution said “60 items have now been returned, with a further 300 identified and due to be returned imminently”.

The body also released images of classical Greek and Roman gems and jewelry – which are similar to the missing artefacts but not pictures of the absent items – to the public which could lead to the recovery of more objects.

Another session on Wednesday by the CMS committee is set to see Maria Balshaw, chairwoman of the National Museums’ Directors Council (NMDC) and director of the Tate art museums and galleries, and Lord Parkinson, parliamentary under-secretary of state for arts and heritage, appear.

They are scheduled to be asked about the impact on the wider heritage sector.

MPs are also keen to look at what lessons can be learned and the impact on the reputation of other institutions across the UK.

A Metropolitan Police investigation is under way into the thefts at the British Museum.

A man was interviewed under caution on August 23.

No arrests have been made.

The British Museum said in August an unnamed member of staff has been sacked and it is taking legal action.

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Reposted from BBC News

A bronze version of Les Bourgeois de Calais is on display outside the
Houses of Parliament in London
 
*Museum bosses are unable to locate a sculpture by world famous artist
Auguste Rodin, said to be worth £3m.*
 
Officials at Glasgow Museums said a plaster version of Les Bourgeois de
Calais was purchased in 1901.

 
However, the sculpture is among almost 1,750 items currently listed as
missing or stolen.
 
The charity that runs the city's museums said it was known to have been
damaged after it was put on public display after World War Two.
 
Glasgow Life confirmed the sculpture is currently listed as "unlocated".
 
Rodin - who later became famous for his "Thinker" sculpture - was allowed
by French law to manufacture different versions of "Les Bourgeois" in
plaster and bronze.
 
A life-size bronze version of the sculpture takes pride of place in the
gardens of the Houses of Parliament in London.
 
The plaster version is known to have been displayed in Kelvingrove Park in
1949 for the Sculpture in the Open Air exhibition along with another Rodin
work, Saint jean de Baptiste.
 
Officials said Les Bourgeois is known to have been damaged during this
exhibition and its whereabouts are currently unknown. The other sculpture
is in storage at the Glasgow Museums Resource Centre.
 
The loss was described as '"utterly shameful" by the Paris-based Comite
Rodin, which publicises and catalogues Rodin's work.
 
Jerome Le Blay, the Comite's director, said: "We lose a bit of humanity
when we lose a work of art.
 
"Museums may have 100,000 items, so occasionally things get dropped or get
lost in shipping. Art is often destroyed in acts of war - that's life - but
when it goes missing as a result of mishandling or mismanagement by people
it is utterly shameful.
 
"It really is deeply disappointing to discover Glasgow has lost art of this
significance and importance."
 
Improved cataloguing
 
A spokesperson for Glasgow Life told BBC Scotland News it had spent 20
years "conducting an inventory" of items in its collection which has
included finding objects previously listed as lost.
 
"The process of recording, cataloguing and caring for the Glasgow Museums
Collection has improved significantly since it was founded in the 1860s,"
the spokesperson said.
 
"For 30 years, the cataloguing of the collection has been increasingly
centralised using the Museum's Collection Management System.
 
"As part of the major museums capital projects in Glasgow over the last 20
years, the storage of the collection has also been improved."
 
Les Bourgeois de Calais depicts the plight of the French port's residents
during an 11-month siege by the English during the Hundred Years War in the
late Middle Ages.
 
The burghers (Les Bourgeois) offered up their lives if their town could be
spared.

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Reposted from The Art Newspaper

On Sunday, Art Basel’s chief executive Noah Horowitz sent an email to VIPs of its Paris + fair, which opens this week (20-22 October), with a message reflecting the gravity of the current international political situation.

“I wanted to take a moment to address the ongoing crisis in the Middle East, which began with the atrocious attacks perpetrated by Hamas in southern Israel,” he wrote. “The growing number of civilian casualties in Gaza, Israel and the West Bank is deeply distressing, as is the prospect of a prolonged humanitarian tragedy in the region. This new escalation of violence afflicts us not only as individuals, but also as members of a community whose core values are humanity, mutual respect and dialogue.”

In the wake of the tragic events in the Middle East, France was struck by a terrorist attack on 13 October, when a 57-year-old French teacher, Dominique Bernard, was stabbed to death in a secondary school in Arras by a former student known to be a radical. On the same day, the French prime minister Élisabeth Borne decided to raise the national security alert to the highest level of emergency.

The following day, the Louvre museum announced that it would close its doors “for security reasons” after receiving threats. A security perimeter was set up around the building and the Palais-Royal-Musée du Louvre metro station was closed. On the same day, the Château de Versailles was evacuated after a bomb threat was posted on a website. Both institutions reopened as normal on Sunday.

Against this backdrop, the organisers of Paris+ par Art Basel have decided to step up security checks, and remove the use of the cloakroom from the fair. “As fair organisers, the safety of our exhibitors, visitors and staff is of the utmost importance,” Horowitz said in his email.

Visitors to the show will be subject to extensive security screening protocols, including metal detectors and bag checks. Ram barriers will be installed around the Grand Palais Éphémère and additional security personnel will be deployed to patrol the perimeter of the fair, Horowitz said.

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Reposted from ICOM

In this article, I describe the swift response of the teams managing the collections in Congress, underscoring the importance of conducting an inventory and implementing a Risk Management Plan. I also highlight the initiative of the STF to publicly display fragments of the damaged items, thus re-signifying the attack. Lastly, I emphasize the importance of the senior management of public institutions such as these in recognizing the need to invest in the preservation of their collections, which themselves serve as powerful educational tools for democracy.

The images featured in the newspapers of January 8, 2023, displayed disturbing scenes: shattered windows, broken furniture and equipment, vandalised artistic and historical heritage, and flooded halls. On that Sunday, thousands of supporters of the far-right former president of Brazil invaded and vandalised the buildings of the National Congress, the Presidency, and the Federal Supreme Court. The attack inflicted severe damage upon the cultural assets of these institutions. However, more than that, it posed a threat to the very democracy of Brazil. What trigged these invasions? An outrage over the election results, which, just seven days prior, had inaugurated a leftist president. A disastrous coup attempt. 

Brasilia is inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List as an example of modernist urbanism and architecture since 1990. Designed by architect Oscar Niemeyer, public buildings such as the headquarters of the three republican branches are emblematic. The National Congress, which houses the Federal Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, along with the Federal Supreme Court and the Planalto Palace, collectively embody the independence and harmony among the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches, serving as symbols of Brazilian democracy. The geographic proximity between them facilitated the invasions.

The collections of these three Houses represent significant primary sources about national political life. They gather documents produced since the establishment of the Brazilian Parliament in 1823, including Constitutions, manuscripts, photographs, and audio-visual materials. The palaces also safeguard works by artists such as Alfredo Ceschiatti, Victor Brecheret, Di Cavalcanti, Athos Bulcão, and Marianne Peretti, in addition to furniture designed by Niemeyer, Ségio Rodrigues, and Jorge Zalszupin. Protocol gifts, offered by heads of state and diplomatic representatives visiting the country, further enrich these collections.

Damage and contamination

Numerous objects were damaged in the attack. At the Planalto Palace, a 17th-century pendulum clock made by Balthazar Martinot, a gift from the Court of France to Portugal that was later brought to Brazil by King Dom João VI, was intentionally thrown to the ground and shattered.

Even more significant were the damages inflicted upon the national heritage. A painting by Di Cavalcanti endured seven knife strikes, and a Burle Marx tapestry was torn and contaminated with urine. Historic paintings and photographs were defaced or broken. Other artworks were discovered floating in the water that spread after vandals opened the hydrants.

It was necessary to rescue items amidst the debris and address scratches, dents, ruptures, stains, oxidation, and broken parts, as well as contamination from dry chemical fire extinguishers. Parts of destroyed objects were never recovered. The success of the salvage operation was only possible due to the swift action of the responsible departments, supported by cleaning and maintenance teams, as well as volunteers. However, it was also owed to the management and preservation measures previously implemented.

The importance of inventory  

The Senate Museum had just begun cataloguing its collection when the invasions occurred. One of the first areas targeted by the extremists was the exhibition hall, but the inventory of the pieces kept there had already been completed, which made it easier to identify and process the assets to be handled.

In the Chamber of Deputies, the Museum had already inventoried its entire collection. As a result, it had a precise understanding of the quantity, typology, and state of conservation of each item on the inventory list, along with their exact locations within the palace. This information was particularly important due to the frequent movement of artworks requested for the decoration of directorates and parliamentary offices.

Simultaneously, the Preservation Department, in collaboration with other departments responsible for historical and artistic collections, developed and implemented the Preservation Policy, the Risk Management Plan, and the Emergency Preparedness Guide for potential disasters. These efforts, in conjunction with regular training for cleaning and maintenance teams, proved to be indispensable. Within approximately four months, more than 80% of the vandalized items had been processed, cleaned, and/or restored.

In another line of action, the Supreme Federal Court chose not to restore the original physical integrity of certain assets. With the aim of documenting and re-signifying the events of January 8th, it set up exhibitions featuring damaged objects and other physical remnants from the attack, complemented by photographs of the invasion and the palace’s restoration.

A shared characteristic among some of the institutions previously mentioned is that, in each of them, the awareness of senior management regarding the importance of preserving collections was ignited by the very teams responsible for managing these collections. They often forge strategic external partnerships with authorities and universities, while also successfully engaging a pivotal figure: a project sponsor, a member of the senior administration of the institution, who possesses a substantial degree of influence and authority and can play a role in advocating the project to senior management, therefore enhancing its prospects for approval.

Lastly, it is important to emphasize that Houses such as the Chamber and the Senate, which stand as symbols of Brazilian democracy, must also channel investments into programs that view these collections as instruments for critical reflection and education. Such programs have the potential to bolster society’s historical consciousness and contribute to the establishment of a robust and democratic national identity. Moreover, they might play a role in preventing other acts of vandalism from occurring.

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Reposted from Artnet News

A German museum employee has confessed to an audacious scheme, after he was caught swapping out paintings with forgeries and selling the originals to fund a luxury lifestyle. He has received a suspended prison sentence of one year and nine months and must pay back more than €60,000 ($63,500) to the German museum, the Munich District Court ordered on September 11.

The man, now aged 30, stole three paintings while working at the Deutsches Museum in Munich as a technician between May 2016 and April 2018. He replaced the paintings with fakes while they were in storage, consigning the originals to a Munich auction house.

The defendant allegedly used the money to pay debts and fund a luxury lifestyle, the court heard. “Among other things, he bought a new apartment, expensive wristwatches, and bought a Rolls-Royce,” read the verdict, noting that the man now showed remorse. “He stated that he had acted without thinking. He could no longer explain his behavior today.”

After replacing Franz Stuck’s Das Märchen vom Froschkönig (The Fairy Tale of the Frog King) (1891) with a forgery, the man pretended the original was a family heirloom and it was sold at Ketterer Kunst auction house in May 2017 to a Swiss gallery for €70,000 ($74,000). After auction house fees, he received $49,127.40 ($52,000).

Two more paintings that were switched out for fakes, Franz von Defregger’s Zwei Mädchen beim Holzsammeln im Gebirge (Two Girls Gathering Wood in the Mountains) and Eduard von Grützner’s Die Weinprüfung (Tasting the Wine), brought in an additional €11,490.50 ($12,700). An attempt to sell a fourth painting, Franz von Defregger’s Dirndl, at another Munich auction house was unsuccessful. The man made €60,617 ($64,000) in total.

“We have, of course, fulfilled our duty of care in full and have researched the works mentioned extensively,” a spokesperson for Ketterer Kunst told Artnet News. “We regret that the works were stolen from the museum with such high criminal energy. We cooperated closely with the LKA (Bavarian State Criminal Police Office) at an early stage and handed over all documents to solve this case.”

The Deutsches Museum is currently trying to arrange for the return of the pictures, according to Süddeutsche Zeitung. It apparently has many valuable German paintings languishing in storage thanks to a history of receiving bequests from local foundations and families.

“The defendant shamelessly exploited the opportunity to access the storage rooms in the employer’s buildings and sold valuable cultural assets in order to secure an exclusive standard of living for himself and to show off,” the verdict summarized.

The apparent vulnerability of the museum’s collection to theft while in storage recalls the recent scandal of a senior curator at the British Museum accused of stealing some 1,500 objects, several of which were sold for cheap on eBay. Most of these items had never been catalogued, revealing the complex challenges faced by museums tasked with keeping track of vast holdings.

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Reposted from Artnet News

Two suspects accused of digging a hole to create a shortcut over the Great Wall of China have been arrested for causing damage to the world famous heritage site.

Last month, police received an alert reporting that the hole had been dug in the Great Wall in Yang Qianhe Township, about 215 miles west of Beijing, the Youyuxian County Public Security Bureau said in a statement. Investigators called the historic site “severely damaged.”

When investigators arrived at the UNESCO World Heritage site, they spotted tire treads in the dirt, leading them to determine that the ancient wall was damaged by large machinery, but were initially unable to find the culprit.

The suspects were identified earlier this month as a 38-year-old man named Zheng and a 55-year-old woman named Wang, both from the Chinese autonomous region of Inner Mongolia.

The suspects dug the hole “to facilitate the passage of the excavator through the gap, causing irreversible damage to the integrity of the Ming Great Wall and the safety of cultural relics,” officials said.

Officials noted that the specific section of the wall that was damaged is known as the 32nd Great Wall, named after the 32nd beacon tower where the Great Wall enters Youyuxian County.

“There are relatively complete side walls and beacon towers in existence. It is a provincial cultural relic protection unit. It is famous for its majestic and vast ancient frontier fortress style and has important protection and research value,” officials said.

China Daily, a media outlet owned by the Chinese government, reported that the pair has been charged with destroying a cultural relic. Further details about the suspects, such as any court appearances or penalties, could not be found.

Meanwhile, China has been seeking to boost tourism to the UNESCO World Heritage site in recent months with the continuation of the Great Wall Tourism Highway No. 1.

Workers have completed 1,542 miles of roadway and secured about $1.8 million in special funding to protect cultural relics in the Shanxi province.

As of the end of July, officials have invested more than $1.9 billion in the scenic roadway.

“Relying on the ancient Great Wall and its surrounding tourism resources … our province has created a Great Wall culture and tourism integrated development model,” officials said in a statement.

“In conjunction with the scenic spots along the Great Wall, we have launched themed tourism routes such as food tasting, leisure vacations, parent-child study, and Great Wall countryside, and continued to launch Great Wall-themed cultural and creative products.”

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Reposted from AAM

What can be even better than a museum making a successful hire? Keeping the experienced, well-trained staff it already has. The Alliance’s soon-to-be-released latest snapshot survey of our sector documents that half of museums are still experiencing problems filling open positions three years after the pandemic began. To keep these problems from getting worse, many museums are working to improve retention by improving pay and equity, including raising the hourly rate of the lowest-paid employees, shrinking the ratio between highest and lowest salaries, and implementing new initiatives to improve staff wellness. Research has shown that organizations can also improve retention of existing staff by providing clear pathways to better roles. Today on the blog, Scarlett McCahill and Erica Simonitis share how the Barnes Foundation has worked to do this, creating career exposure internships and career ladders for its frontline staff.

To sustain a workplace culture rooted in equity, transparency, and inclusion, it’s critical to invest in frontline staff. Frontline staff activate our educational missions. The impression they leave on guests has a substantial impact on our institution, influencing everything from our reputation to our revenue streams. While they hold this significant responsibility, they are often afforded limited avenues for professional development and growth, despite having strong desires to experience those workplace milestones. At the Barnes Foundation, we recognize this problem and want to counter the trend of low investment in frontline staff. For that reason, in 2021 we launched our Pathways Program, to:

• Create accessible, transparent development opportunities through career exposure internships.
• Offer opportunities for skill development beyond daily job duties.
• Structure specialized career ladders within frontline departments.

Program Structure

The Pathways Program has two branches: Career Ladder (which creates structures for job promotion) and Career Exposure (which creates opportunities for internal internships). For this piece, we’ll focus on the internal internship branch and the initial impact it’s had on our organization.

The Career Exposure branch of Pathways offers paid, internal internships, which provide opportunities for career exploration and skill development. In addition, they can prepare staff for internal promotion and career growth, both within and outside of their home department.

Our sixth quarterly internship cohort began this year. In 2022, eleven interns, chosen from a frontline staff census of fifty-two, worked one day a week for eight to ten weeks—roughly eighty internship contact hours each—in a career exposure internship. For the balance of their regularly scheduled weekly work hours, they continued to work in their primary job roles.

Offering the internships relies on strong planning and budgeting practices, scheduling internships around busy operational peaks. Pathways is reflected in our operational budget through:

1. A cost formula: Number of internships multiplied by the number of intern hours multiplied by the median frontline staff payrate. Institutions of any size can create their own internal internship program using this elastic formula. At the Barnes, we use it to look ahead to plan the next year’s internship costs.
2. An operational strategy: Internship activities are part of frontline scheduling assumptions, just like job duties at our box office or in our galleries. We ensure staffing levels in frontline departments are sufficient and we do not authorize overtime to absorb internship hours.

These practices will allow us to expand offerings in the future in a sustainable way for the institution.

Here’s how our internships work:

Intern Eligibility

Staff are not required to have work experience directly related to an internship to qualify. Eligibility is based on high-quality job performance in the applicant’s primary role. We explicitly communicate that the internship is a low-risk, high-support opportunity to gain new professional experience, and typically will not result in an immediate promotion. We are cautious not to overpromise on internal promotion because we are a mid-sized institution with approximately two hundred positions. Despite this, we still see excellent program engagement, as measured by applications and post-internship program evaluations. Staff share how much they value the opportunity for resume-building experiences.

Application

Non-supervisory staff from frontline departments—including Guest and Protection Services, Box Office, Call Center, Barnes Shop, and Facilities—can apply to the Pathways Program if they have been employed by the Barnes for at least four months, have no documented disciplinary infractions related to their job performance within the prior six months, and receive their supervisor’s referral. The program is open to both part-time and full-time employees. Interested staff complete a web application and are interviewed by a Pathways Mentor from the internship host department.

Mentor Expectations

Interns work with a dedicated supervisor, called a Pathways Mentor, in a Barnes department outside their home department. Thus far, we’ve had enthusiastic mentors from many departments, including Archives, Conservation, Communications, Family Programs, Business Development, Education, Information Technology, and Marketing. The most sought-after internship has been in preventative conservation, exposing staff to strategies to care for our gallery spaces. Great peer-to-peer buzz has also come after Brand Engagement & Marketing and Archives internships, thanks to dynamic staff mentors.

Preparing mentors is key, as they may have varying degrees of experience in structuring workplace learning plans for others. In the Pathways Program, this preparation is a three -hour commitment before the start of the internship. Our Human Resources Director onboards our mentors into the program and provides continued support to help create a holistic internship experience that focuses on understanding the core functions of the host department. This is accomplished through a combination of on-the-job work tasks, observation of others, and theoretical reading and discussion about strategies employed in the focus area. Mentors are not job supervisors; in the event of work performance, attendance, or conduct lapses, they report observations to frontline supervisors.

Feedback

Staff who apply but are not selected to participate receive constructive feedback about their application and interview performance from the Pathways Mentor, followed by coaching from their supervisor or Human Resources staff. For many staff, this low-stakes interview and feedback experience is a professional development opportunity in itself. Early-career applicants share being nervous to apply, and some applicants interview several times before being selected for an internship. A supportive peer culture has organically developed as staff encourage each other to navigate these program processes.

Post-internship, interns and mentors evaluate themselves, one another, and the Pathways Program. Many interns elect to take advantage of an optional resume review and coaching offered as part of an exit interview.

Taken all together, we are investing in shared mindsets, vocabulary, and feedback structures to make sure we’re building each other up through an iterative cycle of feedback and improvement.

Program Highlights

While it’s still in early days, there are encouraging initial signs our Pathways Program is serving both the individual staff who participate and the institution as a whole:

1. High rates of internship completion in each quarter offered.

2. Interns learning a new skill or assessing a career track.

3. Sustained program interest, measured through strong applicant and mentor pools

4. Continued or first exposure to coaching and management practices for mentors.

5. An increase in frontline staff promotions.

Implementation at Your Museum

The Barnes’s workplace culture, values, and program goals may differ from other institutions, but our advice to others who may be interested in beginning a program like Pathways would be not to wait until your culture and operations are perfect—there’s no such thing—but to create your program as part of broader cultural investments and give it resources to sustain a consistent, fair, high-quality program structure. Here are the elements that have made our program a success:

1. Board and Executive Champions

Our board and executive leaders are deeply supportive of this program as a natural extension of our institution’s founding commitments to equity, inclusion, and empowerment through learning.

2. Commitment to an Empowering Workplace

The Barnes has invested in its employees in many important ways: conducting periodic cultural assessments; empowering interdepartmental working groups to implement enhancements to our workplace culture; offering competitive pay and fringe benefits; investing in management skills; and centering cultural competency and inclusion in our exhibitions, public programs, and internal investments. While our organizational operations and work culture are not perfect, the Pathways Program contributes to our broader investments into positive culture, empowerment, and equity. These programs have brought us together with greater appreciation and understanding of one another’s work.

3. Intentional Program Administration

The Pathways Program was initially designed by an interdepartmental group which included frontline staff. Frontline department supervisors and HR team members implement the program in collaboration with mentor host departments. Pathways is managed by our Director of Human Resources and frontline supervisors, with support from the HR, Finance, and IT departments. Through this structure, we ensure internships remain focused on education and professional development (not on filling an unexpected operational need, replicating favoritism, or perpetuating racial exclusion). The HR department tracks demographics of staff who are or aren’t applying and accepted for internships, and we communicate program goals on an ongoing basis during staff recruitment, onboarding, performance reviews, and everyday coaching. This attention ensures Pathways continues to strengthen our operations and advance our commitment to equity.

The organization celebrates mentors and treats their service as an accomplishment that raises internal visibility for the mentor and their department. The HR department provides mentors with tools to keep administrative burdens to a minimum and incentivizes program participation for mentors and interns in our performance review process.

The Pathways Program is championed internally as an important expression of our mission and a smart business decision by giving our largest and most visible group of staff a program that adds to a stimulating and supportive work environment where they can flourish.

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Reposted from AAM

Have you registered for the Future of Museums Summit? Taking place from 1-5 pm ET November 1 and 2, this virtual conference will explore four themes from the current edition of TrendsWatch: the evolution of digital practice, workplace trends, the growing partisan divide, and recent developments in repatriation, restitution, and reparations. Early Bird Registration rates end September 15—I encourage you to take advantage of this special rate and hope to see you at the Summit.

The Summit’s origin story

When I write AAM’s annual trends report, my job is to summarize important forces shaping society and highlight what that may mean for our sector. Each year I recruit people who are experts to help educate me on these topics, guide my thinking, and provide feedback on the draft text. This year we also invited these advisors to draft their fantasy lineup of sessions to explore their corresponding topic in more depth—and that list became the program for the Summit. I look forward joining you in the audience to learn from these incredible folks from inside and outside our field.

What will be on the program?

You, readers, are the first to hear about two of our four “big idea” speakers for the Summit:

How can preserving and drawing attention to the remaining slave dwellings in the US help repair the narrative we tell of American history? Learn from Joseph McGill, Jr., Founder and Executive Director of the Slave Dwellings Project and history consultant at Magnolia Plantation.

When robots learn to get creative, what will happen to informal learning? Hear four proposals about generative AI for museums from William-Hart Davidson, Professor of Writing, Rhetoric, and American Cultures and Associate Dean for Research & Graduate Education at Michigan State University.

The final two big idea speakers, and our keynote speaker, will be announced in the coming weeks. 

What is the Metaverse and Should Museums Care? Nik Honeysett, Director and CEO at Balboa Park Online Collaborative has organized this session as a debate, inviting speakers to make their case for or against museums expanding into 3D virtual space. As an audience member, you will be invited to cast your vote to determine the victor. See if the speakers can sway your opinion on metaversity!

Human-centered Work Practices. Micah Parzen, CEO, Museum of Us will moderate this panel exploring human-centered HR as the future of work and the key to long-term sustainability for any museum. I look forward to hearing panelists’ recommendations on how museums can ensure staff are seen, heard, valued, and appreciated, and that their voices are embedded into operational decisions that have a profound impact on their lives.

Navigating Partisan Tensions in Museums. The tense national political climate is putting stress on museums, their staff, and their communities. In this session, Devon Akmon, Director of the Michigan State University Museum will be joined by Christy Coleman, Executive Director of the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation and Jorge Zamanillo, Director of the National Museum of the American Latino to explore how museums can steer a steady course through partisan storms.

Sharing Authority with Indigenous Peoples. Museums are in the early stages of repairing their relationships with Indigenous communities, learning how to undo some of the harm resulting from traditional museum practices. In this session, Brandie Macdonald (Chickasaw Nation), Executive Director of the Indiana University Museum of Archeology and Anthropology, will be joined by Nicole Armstrong-Best, Museum Administrator of the S’edav Va’aki Museum (formerly Pueblo Grande Museum) and Dawn DiPrince, President/CEO & State Historic Preservation Officer of History Colorado to discuss how these two museums have “flipped the script,” ceding power, authority, and voice to the Indigenous peoples whose stories they tell.

Each day will end with the opportunity to join some of our speakers in breakout rooms where there will be ample time to ask questions, contribute your views, and debate the issues raised in their conversations.

Now, if you will excuse me, I’ll return to researching topics for next year’s trends report! Members will have the first opportunity to read TrendsWatch in the January/February 2024 issue of Museum magazine—I look forward to engaging with you on a new set of topics in 2024.

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Reposted from NBC News

A man who was charged Monday with a felony hate crime after allegedly smashing the windows of an Asian American art and history museum in Seattle and issuing a racial slur was arrested for a hate crime a decade ago, new charging documents show. 

Craig Day Milne, accused of smashing the windows at the Wing Luke Museum in Seattle’s Chinatown-International district, was arrested in 2013 on charges of physically attacking an Asian man in a locker room, repeatedly punching him at a Shoreline, Washington, recreation center, according to the charging documents. 

Deputies who responded at the time heard Milne yell that his only regret was not hitting the “Or---tal harder”  before fighting them and calling an Asian officer racial slurs. This earlier hate crime was dismissed, “under unknown circumstances” in 2015, according to the charging documents.

Asian American leaders, residents and others have been fearful for the community’s safety since the  incident at the museum last Thursday. The suspect yelled racial slurs while smashing windows with a sledgehammer, according to the Seattle Police Department. 

Milne, who was also charged with malicious mischief in the first degree, allegedly continued rambling anti-Chinese statements following the attack, which took place as a retreat for the Japanese American organization Tsuru For Solidarity was being held inside, said Stanley Shikuma, a member of the group’s leadership council who was present during the attack. Museum staff disarmed the man themselves, before police arrived. The King County Department of Public Defense, declined to comment. An attorney from that office represented Milne on the day of his hearing.  Efforts to find Milne’s current representation were not immediately successful Tuesday. “He was saying, ‘The Chinese have ruined my life. It’s all because of the Chinese,’” Shikuma, who’s also co-president of the Seattle chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League, said. “He was also saying: ‘I’ve lost two houses. My car was stolen. I’ve been tortured. And that’s all because of the Chinese. Something has to be done, and that’s why I came to Chinatown.’” 

While police were called about the window smashing at 5:22 pm on Thursday, they were not dispatched until roughly 45 minutes later because of “staffing constraints and call volume,” according to a police press release. Officers arrived almost an hour after the incident, prompting criticisms over police response and concerns over the Asian American community’s safety. 

And given footage released last week of a Seattle police officer saying the life of a 23-year-old college student from India, Jaahnavi Kandula, “had limited value” after she was struck and killed by a police cruiser as she was crossing the street, Shikuma said that many in the Asian American community feel that the museum incident serves as a further example of the police department’s failure to value Asian lives. 

The Seattle Police Department declined to comment on the museum attack  beyond its press release.

“I think we need a radical rethinking of how we guarantee safety and security to everybody,” Shikuma said, adding that he feels greater police presence doesn’t ensure safety. 

Shikuma said that he and other members of Tsuru For Solidarity had just begun their retreat Thursday with a viewing of the museum’s “Resisters” exhibit, dedicated to Japanese American resistance movements, when their seats began to tremble. 

“We were all seated in the theater, which is right above the glass windows that this guy was hammering on and breaking,” Shikuma said. “Five minutes into the welcoming program, all of a sudden we heard this breaking glass, and it kept getting louder and it was hard enough that seats in the theater were literally shaking.” 

The organization’s members and museum staff were able to surround the suspect, who was still holding the sledgehammer, Shikuma said. A museum security guard was able to disarm the suspect before authorities arrived. 

According to court documents, Milne told police that his briefcase had been stolen for the third time and “he had to do something.” When asked by police if an Asian individual had taken the briefcase, Milne said he didn’t know, adding that the “Chinese ruined his life.” 

“We are grateful to those members, Wing Luke staff, and community neighbors who immediately addressed the situation,” Tsuru for Solidarity said in a statement. “We are grateful to our members, experts in community trauma, who created space, in the moment and over the weekend, for vulnerability, processing, and healing. We were the first responders.” 

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell’s office is reviewing how the initial call to police was prioritized and dispatched, the city’s director of communications, Jamie Housen, said in an email. Harrell said in a statement Friday that he was “appalled” by the incident.

“The targeting of our AAPI community is unacceptable, and I condemn the attack — and the hate-fueled motivations of the suspect who was arrested — in the strongest possible terms,” Harrell said. 

Greg Wong, deputy mayor, said in a statement that the incident “underscores the importance of recruiting and retaining officers.” 

Shikuma said that he feels the attack is “symptomatic of a larger malady within American society,” adding that there’s a fear that the undercurrent of anti-Asian sentiment will only continue to materialize as violence. 

“I don’t think this is one crazy individual who just went nuts. I think it’s a reflection of the political climate, targeting and anger and hate that’s being spread,” he said, adding that politicians, particularly former President Donald Trump, “talking about things like ‘Kung Flu’ and the China virus set the tone of all social ills to be traced to China and Chinese people.” 

While the attack has left many Asian Americans in the area rattled, Shikuma said that his organization had received an influx of messages, emails and texts from those across Seattle, showing their unity with the community. Major League Soccer’s Seattle Sounders and the Pacific Northwest chapter of the Anti-Defamation League, among others, expressed their solidarity on social media. 

And a coalition serving those across the Asian American diaspora, including Chinese, Japanese, Filipino and Korean groups, are drafting a letter to the city expressing safety concerns and demanding support, Shikuma said. 

“The community response has been pretty immediate as soon as people learn about what happened,” Shikuma said. “The positive thing is that there is this pulling together and feeling of community.”

Steve McLean, strategic communications officer at the Wing Luke Museum, said in a statement that the organization is “grateful” for the overwhelming support from the community. 

“As the museum works to support its staff and the community we serve, it is heartening to know we are surrounded by those who believe in our work,” McLean said. “Despite the clear racial motivation of the attack, and the delayed 911 response, we will not be deterred in our mission’s work, and holding space for our staff and our community to make sense of the attack on the Museum.”

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Reposted from Reuters

The British Museum launched a public hotline on Tuesday asking for help to locate some 2,000 missing artefacts, revealing they were mostly ancient Greek and Roman gems and jewellery.

The museum said last month it had sacked a staff member over stolen, missing or damaged items in a crisis that highlighted internal failings and led to its director quitting days later.

Home to treasures such as the Rosetta Stone and the Parthenon marbles, the British Museum houses one of the world's most visited collections and has since tightened its security.

Sixty items had now been returned, with a further 300 identified and due to be handed back imminently, the museum said in a statement.

"If you are concerned that you may be, or have been, in possession of items from the British Museum, or if you have any other information that may help us, please contact us," said a page on its website advertising a dedicated email address.

The page said it was only disclosing the types of artefacts stolen and heeding expert advice not to share full details.

It said the stolen items included gold rings, ear-rings and other pieces of jewellery dating back to ancient Greek and Roman periods as well as small objects such as gems that were often set in rings.

The museum, which is facing demands from several governments for the repatriation of historical treasures to their home countries, said it was working with London's police, "actively monitoring" the art market, and had registered the missing items on the Art Loss Register database.

The museum is also consulting an international panel of experts.

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