European Museum Awards – a Guide to Quality Work in Museums
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European Museum Awards – A guide to quality work in museums — EUROPEAN MUSEUM AWARDS Content ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 4 INTRODUCTION 5 AWARDS 7 CHILDREN IN MUSEUMS AWARD 8 EUROPEAN MUSEUM ACADEMY AWARDS 16 EUROPEAN MUSEUM OF THE YEAR AWARD - EMYA 28 EUROPEAN UNION PRIZE FOR CULTURAL HERITAGE / EUROPA NOSTRA AWARDS 40 HERITAGE IN MOTION AWARD 52 MUSEUMS AND HERITAGE AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE 60 MUSEUMS IN SHORT AWARD 68 ŽIVA AWARD 76 — EUROPEAN MUSEUM AWARDS Acknowledgments We would like to express our special Children in Museums; Onno Ephraim thanks to Margherita Sani, the project from Heritage in Motion; René Capovin supervisor, for her valuable support and from Museums in Short; Sara Bowen constructive recommendations during from Museums and Heritage for Excel- the planning and development of this lence; Andreja Rihter and Tina Hure- project. movič from the Živa Award; to the win- ners Tropenmuseum Junior, Children in We would also like to thank to the rep- Museums Award; Category 2-Research, resentatives of the following organisa- Europa Nostra Award; Designmuseum tions for their valuable contribution in Danmark, DASA Award; and to Muzei Ju- participating in the survey: Dr Jette San- goslavije, Museums in Short Award for dahl from the European Museum Fo- providing information with regard to rum; Dr Karl B. Murr from the European award schemes as well as to jurors. Museum Academy; Elena Bianchi from Europa Nostra; Margherita Sani from Hands On! International Association of 4 Introduction Europe counts an abundance of differ- to the collection or applying great con- ent museums: different kinds, differ- servation work to make collection items ent sizes, rooted in their community, or shine in a new light. being internationally well-known. All of them, however, no matter their size Assessing the quality of museum work and focus, have one aspect in common: also means assessing how the role of the need to constantly reflect, chal- museums and the meaning of the word lenge, compare and improve the qual- “museum” itself have changed over time. ity of their work. Working with and for Nowadays museums are valued also for children, creating engaging exhibitions, the social impact they have and for the increasing visibility to the largest pos- contribution they can make to integra- sible audience through communication tion, social cohesion and conflict pre- activities, attracting new visitors in a vention or resolution. As social agents, meaningful way, creating cutting-edge museums must be relevant for their exhibitions that allow new approaches communities and NEMO, the Network of — EUROPEAN MUSEUM AWARDS European Museum Organisations, aims ence, to be widely known and honoured. to support museum institutions to de- Winning an award surely contributes liver quality work for their communities to a museum’s visibility. But submitting and society at large. The NEMO network an application and competing is in it- has set itself four priorities - the four self a useful self-evaluation exercise values of museums - which it considers and a learning experience. In addition, as crucial values for society: the value it creates a networking environment in of the collections, the social value, the which valuable connections with oth- educational value and the economical er museums in Europe are established value. NEMO wants to support muse- contributing to a fruitful exchange of ums in developing these values each in knowledge, best-practices and potential accordance with its own priorities and co-operations with colleagues across mission and in its own context. borders. Our thanks go in the first place to the This overview of existing award representatives of the different muse- schemes for museums in Europe and um awards who kindly contributed with internationally is meant to give an in- their time and knowledge to the compi- sight into the criteria that nowadays are lation of this overview and in particular recognized as constituents of quality to: for museums. It also shows how these principles have changed over the years Jette Sandahl, EMYA to meet new, broader demands of a so- Karl B. Murr , EMA ciety in change. The aim of the publi- Elena Bianchi, Europa Nostra cation is to encourage museums to be- Margherita Sani, come acquainted with some of the most Children in Museums Award important award schemes and to con- Onno Ephraim, Heritage in Motion sider the idea of competing for one of René Capovin, Museums in Short them. We have also included some tips Sara Bowen, Museums + Heritage coming from former winners on how Andreja Rihter and Tina Huremovič, to apply successfully and how to best Živa Award benefit from an award. Museum work is manifold and rich - it deserves to be ex- perienced by the largest possible audi- Julia Pagel Secretary General NEMO 6 Awards — EUROPEAN MUSEUM AWARDS Children in Museums Award HANDS ON! INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CHILDREN IN MUSEUMS Website: www.hands-on-international.net Established: 2011. Organisers: Hands On! International Association of Children in Museums and the European Museum Academy. Objectives: Promoting excellence and innovation in programmes, activities and exhibits designed for children within the museum sector at an international level. Award categories: Children in Museums Award Application period: Announced and opened on the websites of organisers, as well as of partner organisations. November-March. Deadline: 1 March. Judging process: Short-listed candidate museums are visited by judges. Targeted potential candidates: Children’s museums, education children and youth departments in museums, museums emphasizing special programmes for children; long-established or recently opened museums; museums which display recent in- novation. Criteria for application: Candidates should display creativity and innovation; en- courage children’s curiosity and stimulate their imagination; have well-researched and conceived content that is appropriate for the targeted age group (read below) The Children in Museums (CIM) Award is an international contest open to all coun- tries. Entry fee: €250.00- for non-members, €200.00- for Hands On! International mem- bers paid by bank transfer. Average number of applicants per year: 30 – 35. Award ceremony/events: Held in either during the Hands On! Conference or at the NEMO annual conference, usually in November in alternate years. 8 Introduction The Children in Museums Award is a focused on the circularization of chil- joint venture between Hands On! and dren’s museums on an international the European Museum Academy. The level. Award was launched during the Chil- dren’s Book Fair in Bologna, Italy in Since then, the European children’s mu- 2011. The EMA cooperates with HO! seum scene has led to a large-scale re- supplying judges and offering expertise thinking in many traditional museums. as regard to content. The judges partic- An increasing number of high-quality ularly look for creative and innovative children’s programmes have started to exhibitions and programmes for the age pop up. Some institutions even created group up to 14 years old. their own in-house children’s museum, concentrating on offering children and Historical background of the Award their families outstanding educational programmes. Because of this process, Hands On! began its work as an infor- Hands On! decided to open up the or- mal network in 1994. It consisted of mu- ganization for all qualitatively valuable seum directors who wanted to promote programmes for children in children’s children’s museums in Europe. After an museums or other museums. This led to initial conference in The Netherlands in a new name for the organization and in 1996, an official organization, with an 2014, the Hands On! International As- orderly structure, statutes and a board sociation of Children in Museums was of directors, was born. In March 1998, born. Hands On! Europe Association of Chil- dren Museums was founded in Portugal The other partner organiser of the for the first time as an official non-profit award is the European Museum Acade- making organization. The organization my. EMA was established on the occa- CHILDREN IN MUSEUMS AWARD — EUROPEAN MUSEUM AWARDS 10 sion of the tenth anniversary of the loss • Children’s museums, of the distinguished museologist Ken- • Education and youth departments in neth Hudson (1916-1999) by a group museums, of museum and cultural heritage pro- • Specialist subject museums with a fessionals. EMA develops researches in particular emphasis on children’s pro- the field of museum innovation, stim- gramming, ulates new ideas and experiences. The • Museums may be long-established or Academy also offers its services as an recently opened. incubator for new talents and new pro- grammes to increase the quality of mu- Important: Priority is given to pro- seological discourse and services at the grammes which display recent innova- European level. tion. The project entered for the Award must be current and open for viewing in Objectives of the Award the judging year. The award is judged by a panel of ex- If your museum or programme fits one perts coming from different disciplines of these categories, you must demon- within the museum field and they all strate the following criteria for partic- contribute their time as volunteers. The ipation: judges are looking especially for muse- ums, exhibitions and programmes and • Display creativity and innovation. museum environments where: • Encourage children’s curiosity and stimulate their imagination. • Creativity and innovation are displayed • Have well-researched and conceived • Children’s curiosity is encouraged and content which is appropriately target- their imagination stimulated ed and meaningful to the relevant age- • Well-researched and conceived, group. meaningful content is exhibited for the • The jury will expect to see evidence of targeted age-group. innovation, practicality of design, social values and attention to fine aesthetic Criteria for Participation qualities. • Good management and adequate The Children in Museums (CMA) Award staffing is important to ensure that chil- accepts applications from: dren’s experiences are well facilitated.