In 2018, the International Council of Museums (ICOM) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) worked on a guide to help museums, communities and local governments increa...
The adherence of the museum's missions to the ICOM definition of museums as institutions "in the service of society and its development" implies a continuous dialogue with contemporary challenges, not only in translating this commitment into cultural programs, but also in growing a productive dialogue with the society. This might translate in a thoughtful contribution to the achievement of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the UN. Their analysis, framed in the context of local economic development led to the development of five actions. Among them, 'economic development' is not only interpreted by museums as being key actors of education and dissemination projects, but as boosters of employment, income, and satellite activities for a region and more generally as generators of opportunities.The interaction with the business world, not limited to a mere sponsorship perspective, takes therefore on a cultural significance by raising awareness in new audiences and by translating positive contamination with companies in the development of exhibitions, research projects, and the development of new events and education activities.
Through this informal and friendly letter to the Editor of the latest issue of the review, the Author dialogues with Vincenzo Vomero about the two cultures topic. With reference to C.P, Snow's paradigm, he suggests a new paradigm to include the new functions of the scientific museums. There, special relevance has to be assigned to the issues linked to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, along with the desirable active participation of museums to the actions for the local sustainable development.
It is probably impossible to describe the many ways the idea of a new museum is born or the multitude of reasons for a radical museum reorganization. Nevertheless, it is useful to create organizational procedures of museum planning from which to draw inspirational principles or working hypotheses to be used in single projects. The ideas proposed here illustrate a valid methodology recently followed by the Tridentino Museum of Natural Sciences to plan the MUSE - Science Museum of Trentino.
In the past 20 years museum management has established a specific rhetoric, a phenomenon brought on by a change in the expectations that have been focused on these institutions and by the organizational constraints that are still within them.In the battle between principles of heritage conservation and an increasingly market-oriented tendency, a method - not merely theoretical - should be established, to define a process that links goals to results, taking into account the available resources and the possible actions that can be allocated to. Consequently, factors tied to cultural production and internal logistics (back office), results and their indicators (demand side) and the resources deployed to reach a goal (supply side) should be considered separately. Furthermore, this establishes a necessary link between administration management, human resource management and the interpretation - promotion - public program process that is targeted towards society. This requires a profound reorganization of the museum institution and an increase in operators expertise.
For the purpose of this article, Science & Society (S&S) is referred to as that current of thoughts and those cultural initiatives aimed at fostering dialogue between research, scientific and technical output on the one hand and society on the other, so as to allow people to make conscious decisions about science and the sustainability of its developments. This concept underlies the elaboration of the MUSE cultural concept, the new Science Museum in Trent, Northern Italy.
For the purpose of this article, Science & Society (S&S) is referred to as that current of thoughts and those cultural initiatives aimed at fostering dialogue between research, scientific and technical output on the one hand and society on the other, so as to allow people to make conscious decisions about science and the sustainability of its developments. This concept underlies the elaboration of the MUSE cultural concept, the new Science Museum in Trent, Northern Italy.
The scientific research sector of Museo Tridentino di Scienze Naturali underwent a radical organizational change in the nineties. A growing number of co-workers have been involved in research activity, passing from 3 units to the current 50 co-workers (FTE) dedicated to scientific research. These quantitative results are the product of three independent factors: the strategic decision, taken in those years, to direct fundamental naturalistic research towards topics linked to local environmental management - and the research contracts that were granted by the environmental welfare and management agencies, who acknowledged and supported this strategy; the museum's independence in fund administration, which allowed the institution to act upon a strategic goal- and project-based logic; the intellectual independence and proactivity of the whole scientific department of the museum, with its consequent broadening of research topics and partnerships.
No organization, of any kind, can avoid change. "Why" one changes can be ascribed to the external forces acting on the organization, making it respond by adaptation. "How" this occurs depends o the interplay between the strength of the institution's tradition and its drive towards innovation.The energies involved in the change process depend on characteristic elements that reflect the organization's values, starting from its history, and which can be linked to conduct inspired by dependence, independence and interdependence. This last attitude is most desirable, as it generates a continuous feedback within the organization. In practical terms, change should be goal-oriented, and goals should be pursued by establishing projects structured in a set of steps: goal _ resources _action _results. To use a slogan that is easy to remember, a goal should be: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely (SMART).
