For the last seven years MuseumNext conferences have focused on the future of museums and how the sector is forging ahead, showcasing innovative ideas and delivering thought-provoking insight. With a view to the next conference, which will take place in Dublin in April 2016, organisers are now looking for speakers to deliver energetic and inspiring 20-minute presentations around the categories listed below:

Digital Innovation and Creativity

How is your organization leading the way within the sector? Subjects could include (but are not limited to): using different platforms to engage with visitors and the community; approaching programming from new perspectives; engaging new technology or embarking on collaborations with other organisations. Speakers could share how their organization has developed creative, boundary-pushing projects and what the impact and outcomes of this work have been.

People Within Museums

How are you engaging with and encouraging your staff, do you have a talent strategy and are you cultivating leaders of the future from within. Are your museum workers encouraged to be brave, innovative and share their ideas? Are they valued as one of the institution’s greatest assets and encouraged to become sector leaders. Recent studies have demonstrated inequalities across ethnicity, gender and class in jobs within the cultural and creative industries. How are you addressing this? Cultural education in schools is under threat; do you have lines of progression working in collaboration with schools, students and universities? Speakers are invited to describe how they cultivate a supportive working environment and value your staff, offering ethical working practices and fair pay across the workforce.

Participation and Audiences

Speakers could share the innovative ways they are connecting with audiences, encouraging new visitors to their venues and developing different methods of engagement. Are you collaborating with other arts organisations, commercial companies or engaging with external programmes to increase audiences and extend your reach? Have you developed a new visitor experience or membership programme, are you using new technology or different channels of engagement to connect with specific groups?

The Business of Museums

In this tumultuous time of changing funding landscapes, museums need to be more resilient and business-led to ensure the sustainability of their organizations. How are you ensuring your relevance, what are your measures of success? Are you charging your visitors or is entry to your venue free, how are you using your spaces and expertise to generate income? Have you been particularly successful in cultivating philanthropic relationships or developing tailored membership schemes?   Proposals should be sent by 27 November 2015. For additional information, please visit http://www.museumnext.com/conference/museumnext-dublin-open-call-for-papers/