The Minister for Tourism, Culture, and the Arts will visit Kerry County Museum tomorrow morning for the Irish Museum Association’s annual conference.
Minister Patrick O'Donovan will launch the event, which was last held in Tralee in 1993.
This year’s conference runs from tomorrow to Friday (5th–7th March) at Siamsa Tíre.
Over 120 museum professionals, academics, and policymakers, including 25 speakers, are expected to attend.
Issues for discussion include ethical concerns, such as the return of historical artefacts taken during colonial raids.
Curator and manager at Kerry County Museum, Helen O'Carroll, says there is debate about whether museums should primarily serve locals or tourists:
The conference’s highlights will include panel discussions and talks on:
• Re-interpretation of a collection through different lenses and strategies to re-engage with and revitalise dormant collections.
• The role of new technologies, open data, and digital strategies in transforming collections management.
• Ethical, financial and curatorial challenges and considerations in expanding collections.
• Addressing historical injustices and colonial legacies through repatriation, restitution, and ethical stewardship.
• Innovative and sustainable approaches to deaccessioning and repurposing collections.
• The fate of collections, institutional memory, and legacy when museums close.
Beyond the official sessions and discussions, delegates may attend a special reception, take part in tours and activities at Kerry County Museum, and join a field trip to the Blasket Centre.
