Sustainable Dialogues 2021: call to young museum/heritage professionals (Russia & Netherlands)

DutchCulture announces an open call for young museum/heritage professionals in Russia and the Netherlands, to take part in the Dutch-Russian online conference Sustainable Dialogues 2021, on 4-6 October.

We are calling for applications from students of cultural disciplines and early-career museum, art and heritage professionals interested in creating international museum projects and participating in expertise-building workshops, specifically Dutch-Russian museum cooperation within the framework of the Sustainable Dialogues 2021 conference.

Sustainable Dialogues

Sustainable Dialogues 2021 is the latest edition of the series that started in Amsterdam in 2016 and Saint-Petersburg in 2018. The project brings together Dutch and Russian museum professionals in order to exchange ideas and best practices and to promote the continuity of cultural cooperation between the professionals of the two countries. Cultural cooperation is a staple of the dialogue between the two countries. 

New generations

The conference is designed to attract new generations of museum professionals and discuss local and international community building with a museum focus. It aims at reflecting on the cutting-edge museum practices and strategies in reference to the most relevant and urgent museum themes of our days. Therefore the representatives of leading Russian and Dutch museums will be joined by the younger, upcoming generation of museum professionals in order to share their knowledge of the best practices in the two countries and start up dialogues for future cooperation. 

Themes

The conference and workshops will develop around three main themes:

• Contested histories in museums
• The role of museums in community building in times of COVID and beyond
• Biodiversity, climate change and sustainability in museums and heritage sites

During the workshops, groups of participants will present their ideas and brainstorm together about Dutch-Russian projects around the three main themes of the conference. The process will be moderated by experienced cultural professionals who will share their expert knowledge and ideas with the participants. 

For whom

Successful candidates (18-35 years old) should be pursuing culture-related studies or have experience working in museums or cultural institutions. Proficiency in English, the working language of the conference, is a must, as well as the willingness to commit to the programme and spend several hours a day at the conference.

The most active and creative participants will be able to join a professional visitors programme funded and organised by DutchCulture in the Netherlands in 2022.

Deadline and application

Submit your proposal: your CV and a motivational letter (max. 500 words) with the description of your idea for a project (digital or site-specific) in one of the above-mentioned three topics. 

Deadline for application is 31 July. The results will be communicated before 1 September 2021.