Organised by the Indira Ghandi National Center for the Arts - IGNCA and the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property - ICCROM, the workshop "Becoming a RE-ORG Coach!" will be held in Vadodara (Baroda), Gujarat, India, between 5 and 17 August 2019. Registration is now open. This international workshop is part of the RE-ORG programme on museum storage reorganisation, originally established by ICCROM and UNESCO.

Background

There are more than 55000 museums in the world.  Since the 1980s, collections and museums have been increasing exponentially. However, an ICCROM survey (2010) indicated that 60% of these collections worldwide are at risk because of overcrowding and poor storage conditions. In this situation, museums cannot ensure the protection of their assets, one of their fundamental functions, especially in emergency situations. With up to 90% of their collections hidden in the storage and unaccessible, museums are deprived of an essential resource for connecting with their communities. One solution is to provide museum teams with the means to address this issue. In this context, RE-ORG’s focus is on making improvements to existing storage areas using available resources. Since 2011, the method has been applied in more than 140 museums and 30 countries around the world, via hands-on workshops and mentor sessions. Many museums have also used the method independently. However, there is a need to scale up these results and empower professionals to teach the method and coach future learners. In order to meet this need, IGNCA and ICCROM are joining efforts to propose an advanced training workshop.  This workshop will empower those already familiar with the method to teach it and coach multiple museum teams in their RE-ORG implementation.

Workshop aims and contents

Through the implementation of a practical re-organisation exercise, participants will develop the necessary skills to coach other institutions through the implementation of a RE-ORG project. These skills include communication, leadership and team building skills, along with the capacity to carry out a short and focused preliminary study, and develop options for planning the reorganization, along with creative and cost effective solutions to address recurring issues in diverse contexts. These typically include lack of space, poor location systems, insufficient furniture or the ability to find practical solutions for highly diverse collections. During the workshop, participants will have opportunity to share and compare their experiences and learn from each other’s challenges and successes. One third of the workshop consists of presentations, discussions and exercises; the rest of the time is dedicated to the practical implementation of the method in a museum. Evening sessions will review successes and challenges of the practical implementation. Built on teamwork, the workshop will encourage participative processes, knowledge sharing and attention to community involvement. Three months after the workshop, participants can send their RE-ORG projects proposals to ICCROM for feedback. The working language will be English.

Beneficiaries

Are you a director, conservator, collections manager or technician, curator, registrar, archivist, or an external professional working for museums and collections? Have you been involved in a storage reorganisation project, as a leader or a team member? Are you familiar with the RE-ORG method? Do you have any training experience? Do you plan to coach a team for a museum that is in need of a storage reorganization project, or to train a group of professionals through a hands-on workshop in a museum? If you answered “YES” to all the above questions, you can apply!

Applications and further information

Application forms, alongside a short text describing a store reorganisation project in which the candidate participated, should be sent by 15 May. The tuition fee is EUR 500 for international participants, and EUR 100 for local participants. Accommodation for international participants and meals for local participants will be covered by IGNCA. Some travel grants for international participants are available. For additional information about "Becoming a RE-ORG Coach!", please visit https://www.iccrom.org/courses/re-org-india-international-workshop-becoming-re-org-coach