Integrative museum

In addition to cooperation in practice the institution’s socialisation may result in the given community’s problems, plans, routines and conflicts appearing in the institution’s day-to-day operations. There is nothing new about this in the museum sector either.

• The need for radical changes in museums, as a social institution, and for their undertaking more profound social roles, were first voiced at the 9th conference of ICOM(International Council of Museums) in 1971.
• In a year’s time, work was under way at the Santiago Round Table on the concept of “integral museum”, primarily among representatives of museums in Latin-America, Canada, France and Portugal, with the aim of creating community museums.
• The participants met again in 1984 in Quebec, at the First New Museology Workshop, where they laid down the foundations of what they called MINOM (Mouvement international pour une nouvelle Muséologie), or New Museology Movement: focusing on possible answers to local problems and active participation in changing local social, political and cultural requirements.

They prescribed new steps for the renewal process, such as that museums should do more than just preserve objects and work towards improving the situation and position of communities. The above-mentioned integral museum concept was introduced to denote this intended broader role. Under this concept the museum should take the responsibility as a social manager reflecting the community’s interests.

This article based on the following document:

Socialized Operation of Cultural Institutions : A methodological guide to community-based operation