Museum Ideas update: why we are making the 2020 event free, transferable tickets to the 2021 conference, and the need for solidarity, support, and the radical rethinking of museums

Due to coronavirus we are unable to run the 2020 conference in the usual way and have decided to make it a FREE online event.

With the current experiences of job losses, uncertainty, anxiety and grief, we feel this is not the right time for us to be putting the cost of a ticket in the way of taking part in the 2020 event.

Museum Ideas 2020 will take place online in October. Further details will be announced soon. There needs to be a radical rethinking of museums and if you are interested in sharing your thoughts and contributing to the online event, please get in touch.

Email info@museum-id.com for further information.

Tickets for Museum Ideas 2021: If you have already booked for the 2020 conference your ticket has been transferred to the 2021 conference. Museum Ideas 2021 will take place in the usual way in London in October next year. If you are unable to attend, tickets can be swapped between colleagues working at the same organisation or gifted to someone else to attend in your place.

In response to the financial problems the pandemic has caused to both individuals and organisations, all the remaining tickets for Museum Ideas 2021 – there are about 70 tickets left – will be available at our lower early-bird rate. There are also additional savings available for multiple tickets booked at the same time by the same organisation.

As with our previous conferences, 25% of tickets for Museum Ideas 2021 will be free or available at the reduced rate of £97 for professionals often underrepresented at museum conferences. A crucial part of being an inclusive and relevant event is trying to keep the cost of tickets down as much as possible. Having a higher ticket rate means excluding people who should be represented and who need to be there to move the conversation forward in a meaningful way.

As we move forward with both Museum Ideas 2020 and 2021 we continue to be inspired by the words of our 2019 keynote speaker Kayleigh Bryant-Greenwell — “As museum practitioners we can allow museums to be a tool of the establishment, the powered, the oppressor. But through a reflective practice and a reimagining of our purpose, we can instead exercise the power of the museum towards challenging the status quo.”

We would like to thank everyone – delegates, speakers, sponsors – for their continued support. As an independent conference with no direct funding and no income since mid-March this is obviously a challenging time. The kindness and encouragement we have received from so many means a huge amount. We know many in museums are going through a very difficult time and send them solidarity. We remain committed to continuing to share museum ideas and doing what we can to support the wider museum community.

Gregory Chamberlain

#MuseumIdeas

Published Tuesday 28 July 2020