The Power of Museums: Relevancy, Advocacy, Transformation

During the Covid-19 pandemic, museum and cultural heritage sites faced numerous challenges in relation to how to sustain themselves and how to support their local communities. Museums Association of the Caribbean (MAC) recognizes once more the power we hold to bring people together, promote healing, and advocate for change in difficult times. As a post-pandemic era is approached, the time seems ripe to assess how museums and their roles have evolved alongside the surrounding world. For the 2023 conference, MAC asks museum and other cultural heritage workers to look at the past, their present or the future and consider:

• How have museums used or can they use their power for good?
• How can they remain relevant and at the forefront of discussions around identity, culture, sustainability, and more as the field evolves?
• How have or can museums advocate for change through projects and programs, with their directors, governments, funders, and communities?
• What roles have museums and cultural heritage sites played in transforming how individuals think, learn, and act in an ever-evolving world?

MAC invites the submission of proposals exploring these questions and the larger theme of The Power of Museums: Relevancy, Advocacy, Transformation. The submission of proposals in a variety of different formats are encourages.

•  Individual projects and programs around these areas
• Interdepartmental collectives working to address how your museum can stay relevant, advocate, or transform
• A facilitated conversation with your own colleagues or representatives from other institutions
• Work and ideas as demonstrated through a hands-on workshop
• Any other ideas

MAC is proividing the opportunity to experiment with how applicants presents, shares, and learns, so applicants are invited to be creative with their proposals.

Please submit proposals by: September 23, 2022.
Decisions will be made and announced by: October 15, 2022.

Please see the full open call here.