Museum Matters is the topic of a roundtable discussion May 3, 2004, at California State University, Monterey Bay. The event is free and open to the public.
The gathering will bring together three experts in the museum field to address such issues as:
¥ Have changes in mission, focus and audience impacted the economic resources available to museums?
¥ Can a museum directly impact the social dynamics of the community it inhabits?
¥ To what extent can/should a museum exist beyond its own walls?
¥ Are museums about collections or about visitors?
¥ To what extent should excellence be the guiding criteria of curating decisions?
Lowry Sims, director of the Studio Museum of Harlem, formerly of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Jacquelynn Baas, director emeritus of the Berkeley Art Museum; and Martha Drexler Lynn, author and former curator of 20th century decorative arts at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art will participate in the discussion. They will be joined by Dr. Amalia Mesa-Bains, director of the Department of Visual and Public Art at CSUMB, and Lila Staples, faculty member in the universityÕs Museum Studies concentration.
The Museum Studies concentration gives undergraduate students an unusual opportunity to grapple with the complex issues of representation and interpretation in historic and contemporary museum settings. As well as theoretical and ethical approaches to Museum Studies, the students work on-site at local museums where they participate in exhibition design, descriptive labeling, research, registration and conservation of artifacts.
The event is co-sponsored by the Department of Visual and Public Art at CSUMB and the universityÕs Reciprocal University for the Arts Project.
What: Museum Matters roundtable discussion
When: Monday, May 3, 2004
Time: Reception at 6 p.m., discussion starts at 6:30 p.m.
Where: University Center ballroom, Building 29
Cost: Free, but parking fee must be paid
Information: 582-3005