Hill College’s Texas Heritage Museum Dean attends, presides over national conference

  Hill College
  Monday, July 30, 2018 10:16 AM
  Texas Heritage Museum

Hillsboro, TX

John Versluis, dean of Hill College’s Texas Heritage Museum, and president of the Association of Academic Museums and Galleries (AAMG) recently attended the AAMG and the International Council of Museums’ Committee (ICOM) for University Museums and Collections (UMAC) 2018 Joint Conference, Audacious Ideas: University Museums and Collections as Change-Agents for a Better World. The conference took place June 21-24 at the University of Miami, Fla. 

The conference hosted 380 participants from 23 countries and created a platform for museum professionals to engage in intercultural dialogue, exchange views between individuals and groups belonging to different cultures and led to a deeper understanding of how museums and galleries affect global perceptions and views. 

The official opening started with a keynote delivered by Franklin Kelly, deputy director and chief curator of the National Gallery of Art in D.C., followed by a plenary session from senior members of the academic museum community including; John Wetenhall, director of George Washington University Museum; Bill Eiland, director of the Georgia Museum of Art; Lyndel King, director and chief curator of the Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota; and Andrew Simpson, honorary fellow in the Department of Ancient History at Macquarie University in Australia. The keynote was presented by Paula Gangopadhyay, deputy director, Museum Services, Institute of Museum and Library Services. 

Throughout the conference, members from academic museums and galleries of all sizes and types provided insights into managing controversial subjects and campus politics, medical training and museum resources, decolonizing collections and fostering diversity and inclusion, among other themes. 

Evening events at the Lowe Art Museum at University of Miami, the Wolfsonian Museum and the Jewish Museum of Florida, both located at Florida International University allowed conference attendees to experience other academic museums in the area.

The Conference ended with four workshops hosted by Florida International University, Frost Art Museum.

“I was ecstatic in inviting colleagues from across the United States and around the world to participate in the joint AAMG-UMAC conference in Miami,” said Versluis. “Having the opportunity for museum professionals to participate in intercultural dialogue, exchanging views between individuals and groups belonging to different cultures, led to a deeper understanding on how museums and galleries affect global perception and views.”

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Photo cutline: Marta Lourenco, chair of UMAC, and John Versluis, president of AAMG, gave the formal welcoming at the 2018 joint international academic museum conference on Audacious Ideas: University Museums and Collections as Change-agents for a better World at the University of Miami. Over 380 museum professionals, faculty, students were in attendance.