A draft outline is now available for those of you interested in our
upcoming course in curatorship. Please let us know if we can provide
more information, or assist with your planning!

"CURATORSHIP: CONTEMPORARY ISSUES AND PRACTICES"

March 1 - 6, 1999
Cultural Resource Management Program
University of Victoria
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Significant changes in the roles and functions of museums and other
cultural organizations are reshaping curatorial practice. As curator,
you must face these challenges with skills in partnership development,
teamwork, new technology, and management that complement your
expertise in research and exhibition development. This course explores
the foundations of curatorial practice, analyzes your role in the
changing cultural, economic, and political environment, and encourages
you to develop new perspectives and approaches to your work. You will
explore:
 *  changing roles of curators, collections, cultural organizations,
and communities
 *  balancing curatorial, institutional, and personal priorities
 *  new approaches to collecting
 *  research methods
 *  dissemination of research through exhibitions, publications, and
new media
 *  collections and information analysis and management
 *  ethical and legal concerns in curatorial practice

This course involves a preparatory assignment.

Instructor: Elizabeth Kidd is a curator, currently working as Arts
Progammer at the Roundhouse Community Centre in Vancouver

Dates: March 1 - 6
Please register by: February 5
Fee: $589 (credit or non-credit options, Canadian funds)
Travel: Victoria is easily accessible by air or ferry from both
Vancouver and Seattle
Accommodation: Program staff are pleased to provide you with
on-campus and off-campus alternatives

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
DRAFT OUTLINE SUMMARY

Monday, March 1: Change: the only constant

*  Introduction: Review of course, evaluation strategy, expectations
*  The Curatorial Legacy: The History of the Profession
*  Individual presentations:  Discussion of at-home project that will
raise the issue of the role of the curator in today's world.
Participants will be invited to present their essay and discuss the
issues arising from it in class.
*  From Scholar to Producer: Social and Institutional
Changes and the Curator. Where will the curator be in 2020?
*  Review Readings
*  Group exercise in communication/journal writing.
*  Optional social activity

Tuesday, March 2  The Exhibition and the Curator: Whose Voice Gets
Heard? The Curator, the Public or the Museum?

*  Group discussion
*  Managing meaning.  Deconstructing the exhibition and its process:
an Edmonton case study
*  Presentations and discussions:  Other curatorial voices:
Presentations from two curators from different institutions
*  Other curatorial voices - group discussion

Wednesday, March 3  Hoarders, Packrats, Connoisseurs: Curators and
Collecting

Guest presenter: Dr. Carol Mayer, Curator of Ethnology, Museum of
Anthropology, University of British Columbia
*  Collecting Methods: Institutional & Private?
*  The Curator and the Collector. Conversation or Argument?
*  Copyright: Whose Rights?
*  Collecting/Curator/Collector/Copyright and Public Representation

Thursday, March 4:  Who are we doing this for anyway?

*  Reports
*  Moments of Truth: How museums can shape the visitor's expectations
and experience
*  Field trip: Exhibition design and moments of truth
*  Optional Group Dinner

Friday, March 5  Driving with a rear view mirror while keeping up
with a changing world: Will it be better or just different?

*  Reports
*  Keeping up with the Gateses: The New Technologies; better or just
different?
*  Hands-on:  Check out and evaluate web sites, CD ROMS, other new
media, OR
*  Feet on: Walking in the shoes of the visitor; tours of local
institutions

Saturday, March 6:  Summing up and moving on

*  Presentations on findings of field trip or web sites and
discussion
*  Presentations and group discussions: Returning to your desk:
  -  What are the barriers for success?
  -  Whose voice gets heard and who gets credit?
  -  Job attitudes in the workplace.
  -  What about research and more professional development?
*  Review of journal process, group exercise
*  Course evaluation

Comments from past participants:
"Excellent course. Excellent instruction. Very application based."

"Excellent instruction-- thoughtful  organization of the course.
Well-integrated assignments …good contrast between theory and
practice. Excellent examples."

"I valued the varied views, visiting issues through readings and guest
lecturers, opportunity to network and learn from the experience of
others."

"The course focused on some very interesting ethical issues."

For more information on this course and others offered in 1999,
please contact:

Joy Davis, Program Director
Cultural Resource Management
Division of Continuing Studies
University of Victoria
PO Box 3030 STN CSC Victoria, BC V8W 3N6 CANADA
Telephone (250) 721-8462  Fax: (250) 721-8774
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Website: http://www.uvcs.uvic.ca/crmp
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