This past week I had the opportunity to participate in a two-day meeting at the Smithsonian to discuss and examine a new project called the Americans All: The Immigration/Migration Initiative. This is a new Smithsonian-wide project that brings together museums and research centers to document and interpret the history and culture of immigration and migration [...]
Looking for something fun to do this weekend? Come check out the annual Arab Film Festival at the Arab American National Museum. This year’s festival, Before The Spring: Alternative Arab Cinema from 2005 to Today, explores films that were produced leading up to the “Arab Spring.” The festival was curated by our friends at ArteEast. [...]
Greetings to those visiting from the Registrars Committee of the American Association of Museums’ (RC-AAM) fourth International Registrars Symposium (IRS 2011). I’ve uploaded my presentation below. If you wish to continue the discussion from the conference, please contact me at dakmon[at]accesscommunity[dot]org. Thanks for visiting. Cultural Sensitivity in Museum Stewardship View more presentations from Devon Akmon
Welcome to those I met earlier today at the Cultural Alliance of Southeastern Michigan’s annual meeting. It was a pleasure meeting many new people and I enjoyed discussing new ideas, initiatives and potential collaborations. Here’s a copy of the presentation I delivered early today. If you have comments or questions, please feel free to leave [...]
This weekend, the Arab American National Museum is hosting its fourth installation of DIWAN: A Forum for the Arts. We’re excited to be taking this biennial arts convening out of Michigan for the first time. This year we’re partnering with Alwan for the Arts, the Middle East and Middle East American Center (MEMEAC) at the [...]
This quote captures my feelings on museums and their role within the community: For museums to succeed and continue to be valued by their community and supported, they have to extend value in turn and go way beyond hanging objects on the wall or putting object in display cases to… serving as conduits to build [...]
Earlier today, the Arab American National Museum participated in the National Youth Summit held at the National Museum of American History to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1961 Freedom Rides. The AANM was one of five Smithsonian Affiliate sites that hosted a regional town hall discussion in conjunction with the event. The other sites [...]
At first glance, Google’s new Art Project looks really impressive. Thanks to Google’s Street View technology, the project allows online visitors the opportunity to virtually move around museum galleries. Users can explore high-resolution images of artwork, which are between 7-14 billion pixels in depth. Select works of art are supported with expandable info panels and [...]
If dissension arises over the presentation of a piece, then rather than remove it, that is the very moment to initiate conversation so that all perceptions may be heard in an effort to create greater awareness and understanding. Well said. I’m pleased to read that the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden has broken ranks within [...]
Gregory Chamberlain and Museum Identity are publishing a promising collection of books that will explore timely issues and trends from within the global museum community. This nine volume collection includes chapters written by over one hundred museum professionals from seventeen countries. That’s pretty impressive! The nine books that comprise the collection are: The Radical Museum: [...]