This course introduces students to a wide range of cultural and collecting institutions and to the historical, political, institutional and cultural frameworks for contemporary museum practice in Australia and internationally. It also gives students the opportunity to gain a variety of hands-on experiences and skills required for working in the cultural and collecting sector. The first half of the course focuses on the social role of the museum. We investigate the idea of the museum as contested ground and examine the complex and shifting relationships between museums and the diverse communities they serve. The second half of the course is focused on interpretation and communication in the museum context. We explore how objects and collections acquire meaning and how those meanings are conveyed to museum visitors, ask why some objects become iconic, and debate the elements of a successful exhibition. In investigating various approaches to these questions, the course links key concepts in museum studies to specific case studies.

Key course topics:

• The new museology and national museums
• Community collaboration and the representation of diversity
• Collections assessment and significance
• Audience development
• Interpretation strategies, exhibition and public program design.

Course aims:

On completing this course, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

1. Demonstrate ongoing engagement with the contemporary cultural and collecting sector in Canberra and overseas through critical appraisal of actual and virtual sites, exhibitions, collecting policies and audience engagement.

2. Synthesise key concepts from Museum Studies, and demonstrate effective communication and independent conceptual thinking relevant to museum-focused research.

3. Explain the varying purposes and structures of different kinds of museums, understand their approaches toward representation, and evaluate their changing relationships with the audiences and communities they serve.

4. Assess and report on the significance of heritage objects, collections or sites, and demonstrate critical conceptual and practical understanding in developing appropriate approaches to presentation and interpretation;

5. Source local, state and national funding for exhibitions or similar displays.

6. Model best practice and a commitment to ethical, reflective practice in museum communications with audiences and communities.

Learning outcomes:

1.     To gain skills in written and verbal expression for a variety of relevant professional and academic purposes that include essays, collections assessments, funding applications, proposals for exhibitions and public programs, and interpretive text.

2.     To develop skills in interdisciplinary thinking and the ability to apply theoretical ideas to case studies developed from personal observation.

3.     To gain skills required for humanities research and museum work. This includes data-collection, analysis, and verbal and written presentation at the standard of a postgraduate degree.

4.     To gain understanding and a basic set of skills required for working in the cultural and collecting sector, including a functioning knowledge of current industry standards and protocols, policy frameworks, and funding regimes.

Exhibition review (10% / 800 wds); Comparative essay and in-class presentation (30% / 2000 wds); Significance Assessment (20% / 1200 wds); Travelling exhibition proposal, including a public program or education kit, and in-class presentation (40% / 3000 wds).

Elaine Heumann Gurian (2006) Civilizing the Museum: the collected writings of Elaine Heumann Gurian. London: Routledge.

Bettina Messias Carbonell (ed) (2004) Museum Studies: An Anthology of Contexts. Malden MA: Blackwell Publishing.