News – Newsletters
Newsletter March 2022
President’s Update March 2022 Dear Colleagues and Members of ICOM Canada, Much has happened over the past 3 months. In this newsletter I am reporting on the many things that ICOM Canada has completed and will undertake over the coming months. The most important thing for our members is the news that our next AGM will take place in June 2022. We will be sending out more information on social media and via email about the date and time of this important meeting shortly. ICOM Canada’s Activities Four Strategic Planning workshops ICOM Canada conducted workshops around the Family Day weekend in February with both members and non-members in English and French to inform ICOM Canada’s strategic plan and build on a member survey. ICOM Canada will use the rich discussions and valuable feedback of our members to finalize the strategic plan which will be presented to membership at the [...]
President’s Update January 2022
Dear Colleagues and Members of ICOM Canada, On behalf of ICOM Canada I am hopeful that 2022 will be a better year than 2021, both for ICOM and for the world. Much has happened during the past two years, and I am happy to report on some business that ICOM Canada has completed and will undertake over the next year or so. In 2022 ICOM Canada plans to hold consultation sessions with members on our new Strategic Plan, and we are proceeding with a much-needed update of our Bylaws. We are also looking forward to meeting with old and new colleagues at ICOM Prague at the end of August. Starting in January 2022, as part of ICOM Canada’s effort to be as inclusive as possible, we will offer complimentary membership to anyone who identifies as Indigenous (First Nations, Métis, or Inuit). ICOM Canada feels that our organization should be building [...]
Announcement: Memberships for Indigenous peoples with ICOM Canada
Starting in January 2022 ICOM Canada will offer complimentary memberships to people who identify as Indigenous (First Nations, Métis, or Inuit). As part of ICOM Canada’s effort to be as inclusive as possible, ICOM Canada will offer complimentary membership to anyone who identifies as Indigenous (First Nations, Métis, or Inuit). If you identify as Indigenous, please go to the membership portal on our website and fill out the form. Your card and annual sticker will be sent to you in due course. ICOM Canada feels that our organization should be building and fostering relationships with Indigenous people. We wish to create a respectful environment to explore, learn, and communicate with communities that have been underrepresented in Canadian Museums Fully including Indigenous voices in Canada’s museums is long overdue. We believe that respect, reciprocity, and listening to those voices is the most important thing we can do to advance mutual understanding. [...]
ICOM Canada launches Digital Disaster Preparedness Review Project
Project participants Project Lead: Ben Fast, Digital Content & Outreach Coordinator, ICOM Canada Project Sponsor: Dr. Elka Weinstein, Vice President, ICOM Canada If you have any questions or wish to contribute to this project, please continue reading below and/or email icomcanada@gmail.com. Project Background With Canadian museum closures caused by COVID-19, museums have had to adapt to long-term digital work environments with little notice. This digital work includes turning primary services to digital offerings, providing increased digital access to collections, managing remote staff, and more. While many museums have embraced this challenge with creativity and innovation, many also quickly laid off non-digital employees, suffered from a lack of digital or staff capacity in adapting to remote work or providing digital services, or were significantly impacted by revenue loss that could impact future digital capacity building initiatives. Could museums have transitioned more easily to digital work environments, offering digital services and experiences [...]
Call for Abstracts – Perspectives on Sustainability in Cultural Heritage Conservation
Co-editors: Shabnam Inanloo Dailoo, PhD, Associate Professor / Director, Heritage Resources Management Program, Athabasca University, inanloo@athabascau.ca. Caitlin Southwick, PD, Founder / Executive Director, Ki Culture, Sustainability in Conservation, info@kiculture.com. What is sustainability in cultural heritage? Most people would probably agree that we, as human beings, must learn to live more sustainably. Yet figuring out just what this means and how to make such a transition is not a simple task. With the goal of contributing to a shared understanding of what it means to live sustainably and how the field is approaching the issue, we are planning a collection of essays devoted to perspectives on sustainability in the field of cultural heritage conservation. Cultural heritage is the material expression of what it means to be human—to be creatures endowed with the power not only to remember the past but also to imagine the future. Yet the cultural heritage sector, [...]
2020 Call for Nominations to the ICOM Canada Board
Additional information about the 2020 AGM can be found here. Dear Members, As the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic evolves, ICOM Canada has made the decision to postpone our Annual General Meeting, originally scheduled for Wednesday, April 15, 2020 at the Le Centre Sheraton Montreal Hotel. Information about the rescheduled meeting will be available soon. ICOM Canada does, however, wish to move forward with the call for nominations in preparation for our AGM and next year of business. We are actively seeking members to serve on the ICOM Canada Board of Directors to further the Board’s mission, mandate, and strategic priorities. These include advancing the primary aims and objectives of ICOM, increasing public awareness of Canadian museums and cultural heritage institutions within Canada and to the international museum and cultural heritage community, and making ICOM Canada more vital in the professional life of its members. If this opportunity [...]