Workshop on Museum Standards & Best Practices Held in Beijing

A 3-day workshop (August 9 to 11) on Museum Standards & Best Practices was held in Beijing last week. More than 50 representatives from over 40 museums and relevant institutions all over the country attended the workshop.

This workshop, co-hosted by American Association of Museums and Chinese Museum Association and organized by Regional Museum Committee of Chinese Society of Museums and Hunan Provincial Museum, is a grand event in the museum field of China this year.

Song Xinchao, deputy director-general of State Administration of Cultural Heritage and president of Chinese Museum Association, attended and addressed the opening ceremony.

Chen Jianming, director of Hunan Provincial Museum, is addressing the opening ceremony.

Delivered by Ms. Julie Hart, senior director of Museum Standards & Excellence, AAM, and Ms. Terrie Rouse, AAM Accreditation Commissioner and Independent Museum Professional, this workshop highlighted the standards and best practices in such fields as public trust & accountability, mission & planning, leadership and organizational structure, collections stewardship, education & interpretation, financial stability and facilities and risk management.

In such diverse ways as theory introduction, case study and themed discussion, the focus topics, museum standards and ethics, strategic planning and museum accreditation and assessment, were studied in depth.

This workshop, interactively and informatively, harvested a great success.

Ms. Julie Hart, expert of AAM, is lecturing on museum standards.

This workshop, in accordance with the Chinese government’s 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) for Cultural Relic and Museum Development, is a critical constituent of the long-term strategic collaboration between Chinese Museum Association and American Association of Museums, in the hope of further promoting the free-admission policy in museums in China, providing innovative ideas for establishing museum accreditation and assessment mechanism and enhancing the operation level of Chinese museums.

Lively on-site group discussion