For three consecutive days from October 9 -12, 2016 The National Gallery of the Cayman Islands (NGCI) was host to the 27th Annual Conference and Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Museums Association of the Caribbean (MAC), welcoming delegates from across the Caribbean, UK, Canada, and USA. Over 80 persons participated including leading museum and heritage sector specialists, academics, curators, educators, cultural consultants, in addition to emerging museum professionals, interns and students. Established in 1987, MAC serves as a key forum for the interchange of information and ideas for the cultural sector through meetings, publications and museum exchanges.
The conference theme, The Essential Museum – Redefining the role of the cultural and heritage sector for 21st century audiences, addressed the evolving role that cultural entities can play within their communities. Presentations explored and questioned how museums, galleries and heritage sites can define and demonstrate public value in the modern age; how institutions can play integral roles in civic engagement, education, research, stewardship, and social change; how they can best serve their diverse audiences; and how the digital realm can help open up access for hard-to-reach communities.
MAC delegates gather at the National Gallery of the Cayman Islands.
The new National Gallery facility – the first purpose-built national art museum in the anglophone Caribbean – offered a unique site from which local cultural professionals could engage in the latest sector developments, and network with regional colleagues.
A special keynote panel consisting of three Caribbean museum directors; Dr. Veerle Poupeye, Director of the National Gallery of Jamaica, Amanda Coulson, Director of the National Art Gallery of the Bahamas and Natalie Urquhart, Director of the National Gallery of the Cayman Islands was held to address some of the critical questions outlined in the conference’s theme and discuss special projects happening at these institutions.
NGCI also welcomed delegates from the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) who recently opened their doors in Washington, D.C. to some 103,000 people in the museum’s first ten days. Presenters, Joanne Hyppolite, NMAAHC Curator, Michele Gates Moresi, NMAAHC Supervisory Museum Curator of Collections and Mary Elliott, NMAAHC Museum Specialist, spoke about the strategies the museum had employed to engage communities across the country, as well as internationally, in its collections building and care initiatives. It also examined how the museum defined its ongoing collecting role in the response to activism and unfolding social justice issues surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement.
“With over twenty thought-provoking presentations and a series of visits to leading cultural and heritage sites, it has been an inspiring and informative few days for all participants,” said NGCI Director Natalie Urquhart. “Importantly it has helped to expand opportunities for continued inter-regional dialogue, to create new synergies between participating organisations, as well as to provide professional development for all of us working in the cultural, arts and heritage sector in the Caribbean.”
MAC President, Dr. Sherene James-Williamson remarked, “On behalf of the Board of Directors of MAC we wish to thank the National Gallery of the Cayman Islands for hosting this year’s conference and AGM. The melting pot of ideas, age groups and cultural and heritage practitioners speaks to the diversity of our region and the direction in which MAC would like to go. It made for a truly energising conference.”
The next iteration of the conference is scheduled to be jointly hosted by the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture, and the Association of African American Museums in Miami from 21-25 October, 2017. Says Dr James- Williamson. “We are excited and energised by the conversations started in Cayman and by our newest partners, SMAAHC and AAAM, hosts of the 2017 MAC conference and AGM. The multicultural event that is being generated and the potential opportunities that are afforded us due to our shared heritage are tremendous.”
The MAC conference has been made possible via sponsorship from the Cayman Islands Ministry of Health & Culture, Susan A. Olde, OBE, International Financial Planning (Cayman) Ltd., the Cayman Islands National Museum and Cayman Airways, with support from Kirk Market, Better Angle Photography, Casanovas, Massive, Island Supply, Holiday Inn Resort Grand Cayman and Webster Tours, and local cultural organisations Cayman Turtle Centre, Mind’s Eye, Pedro St James and Mission House.
About MAC (Museums Association of the Caribbean)
Established in 1987, MAC works to strengthen links among Caribbean museums, their staff and associates, so that they may foster and promote an appreciation and understanding of their common heritage through education and the development of professional standards of practice. The association serves as a forum for the exchange of information and ideas through meetings, publications and museum exchanges. MAC’s main objectives are to develop common policies relative to the role of museums and duties of curatorial staff, to act as an advisory board for governments and institutions regarding museum development and to develop relationships with international and other regional museum-related organisations. It also supports the cultural policy and programmes of the Regional Cultural Committee of CARICOM (Caribbean Community). Recent past conferences have been held in St Lucia (2015), Jamaica (2014) and Belize (2013).