National Underground Railroad Freedom Center Hosts International Inclusive Museum Conference
MEDIA CONTACT:
Jamie Glavic
(513) 333-7511
(513) 802-7355
jglavic@nurfc.org
Assia Johnson
(513) 333-7555
(513) 787-2110
asjohnson@nurfc.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CINCINNATI, OH (August 19, 2016) The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center announced today that they will host the international Inclusive Museum Conference September 16-18, 2016. Museum professionals, scholars and civil rights activists from around the globe, will convene at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center to discuss vital themes including social justice, education, cultural heritage, human rights and representation.
“We are honored to host this year's Inclusive Museum Conference at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center,” says Dr. Michael Battle, executive vice president and provost. “The conference will provide international attendees with an open forum for discussion on the role of a museum in preserving history and culture in an educational setting.This conference will also provide an opportunity for our international guests to witness the beauty of one of the nation’s most beautiful cities, Cincinnati.”
The program brings together a distinguished body of international scholars and activists from Egypt, Nigeria, India, New Zealand, Switzerland, Australia, Denmark, United States and Canada. The conference features discussions offering numerous examples of how museums might be used to not only inform the public but also discuss challenging subject matter including, how to discuss race and the preservation of cultural heritages.
Panel discussions and breakout sessions include:
- The Digital Museum: A Tool for Inclusion, Empowerment, and Foregrounding Allegories of Race, Place, and Museums
- Educators on Education: An Activist Study on Facilitating Race Talk in Museums
- Contemporary Understanding of "Harlem on My Mind": What Can We Learn from an Art Museum’s Early Attempt toward Culturally Inclusive Practice?
- The Signs of the Times: Understanding the Inclusive Museum That We Inhabit
- Video Modeling in the Art Museum: Enhancing the Museum Experience for Visitors with Autism Spectrum Disorder
- Social Justice and Museum Accessibility: Working to Become More Inclusive
- Museums as "Connective Structures": The Politics of (Re)presenting the History and Memory of Political Pasts within Eastern Europe
- What Culture Do We Belong To? Creating Cultural Learning in a Museum and many more.
“The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, an enabling and empowering civic space across a diversity of cultural borders, is an apt place for an intercultural dialogue through the Museum as a vehicle for promoting cultural inclusion and peace among and between communities,” says Dr. Amareswar Galla, founding chairperson of the international Inclusive Museum Knowledge Community. “In recent years we have witnessed a global increase in violence and growing racial and cultural divide that is manifest through the lack of cross cultural understanding and respect. Museums are not just about objects, they are also about people and multiple voices and narratives. The Conference will debate and discuss ways that the Inclusive Museum, as a global Knowledge Community and a strategic partner with the world’s largest heritage agency - the International Council of Museums, can promote peace and cultural understanding”
The international Inclusive Museum Conference begins September 16, 2016 at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. For more information and to register for the conference visit freedomcenter.org.
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ABOUT THE NATIONAL UNDERGROUND RAILROAD FREEDOM CENTER
The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center opened in August 2004 on the banks of the Ohio River in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio. Since then, more than 1.3 million people have visited its permanent and changing exhibits and public programs, inspiring everyone to take courageous steps for freedom. Two million people have utilized educational resources online at freedomcenter.org, working to connect the lessons of the Underground Railroad to inform and inspire today’s global and local fight for freedom. Partnerships include Historians Against Slavery, Polaris Project, Free the Slaves, US Department of State and International Justice Mission. In 2014, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center launched a new online resource in the fight against modern slavery, endslaverynow.org.