Museums Ethnographers Group 50th anniversary conference

No current dates available

Help! Care and support in museums: colleagues, communities and collections

Museums Ethnographers Group (MEG) invites colleagues, researchers, partners, community representatives, critical friends, and caretakers of all forms to explore and share their understandings, experiences, and reflections on the role of help in museums, by museums, and for museums and the people who work with and in them.

In 1965 Liverpool band the Beatles released their fifth album, Help! In 1975 MEG was founded as a type of self-help group. The importance of this role was highlighted by MEG member Ken Teague in his reflection on ten years of MEG. Now, fifty years after our founding, the sector has moved on in many ways, and the need for help and support has become even more central to museum practice. Beneficiary models of help and need have also been radically reframed as we consider who museums are for, and why.

This is a unique opportunity to not only reflect on 50 years of MEG, a major achievement for a Subject Specialist Network, but also to reflect upon how the collections, communities, and colleagues involved have consistently challenged the sector to change and consider what care means. But challenges and changes come with costs - to buildings, structures, and ways of working; they can also be personal and emotional. How do we respond to those costs and what support do we need and should be offered to try and mitigate them?

Prices are:

MEG Members (and institutional members) £70
Concessionary MEG £50
Non MEG £110
Non MEG concessionary £85
Conference dinner £35