Diversity and Inclusion Research in Dutch collections and Museums
On October 20, 2022 from 11:30-13:00 the Centre for Gender and Diversity (CGD) and the Maastricht Centre for Arts and Culture, Conservation and Heritage (MACCH) jointly hosted an event on Diversity and Inclusion Research in Dutch Collections and Museums attended by sixteen people in the Spiegelzaal (Grote Gracht 80-82). The audience included MACCH director Claartje Rasterhoff, MA Arts and Culture students, PhD Candidates, Teaching Fellows, and Staff.
The CGD director Dr. Eliza Steinbock moderated the presentations about two different in-progress research projects on diversity and inclusion theory, policy, and practices that are being conducted in relation to institutional art and heritage collections. The speakers were two researchers at CGD and MACCH partner institutions currently being supervised by Dr. Eliza Steinbock: Nicole Emmenegger from the Netherlands Institute for Sound & Vision (NWO MuseumGrants) and Arent Boon from the Bonnefanten Museum (Mondriaan Fonds). The discussion of their research was a great opportunity to see how partnerships between cultural institutions and the university can be set up, and to explore how "embedded research" has particular advantages and potential drawbacks. The speakers and their talks are detailed below:
Bring Queer Research Excellence to the Archive: Rewind + Record Project Mid-Term Report
Description: Rewind and Record: Preserving the People's History will look at how to intentionally involve marginalised communities in the creation, preservation and reuse of Dutch audiovisual heritage. The core research question focuses on how The Netherlands Institute for Sound & Vision can ensure that the tools to rewind and record history are accessible to all people, while at the same time preserving and sharing these stories in a trustworthy way. The process includes two case studies (working specifically with LGBTQ+ collections) and will result in a theory of change and an article published in an open access journal.
Speaker: Nicole Emmenegger (she/her) is a Product Manager at Sound & Vision. Her main areas of interest are polyvocality, community co-creation and oral history. Her long-term vision is to help develop practices and policy for diversity, equity and inclusivity in the audiovisual archives sector internationally.
Researching “Diversity” as an Erfgoedtalent at Bonnefanten
Description: This March, I started as an Erfgoedtalent, a 16-month research position supported by Mondriaan Fonds, with my project “Diversity” at the Bonnefanten 2011 – 2021. My project was initiated by the Bonnefanten, which, in recent years, has increasingly expressed its commitment to “diversity”, a contestable concept in itself. My research project maps out to what extent the Bonnefanten has translated “diversity” from its policies into its acquisition and exhibition practices in the last 10 years. My talk at FASoS has a twofold aim: to introduce my research into “diversity” at the Bonnefanten and to reflect on my experience researching “diversity”.
Speaker: Arent Boon (he/him) is an art historian and museologist, whose work generally focuses on “diversity” in art museums. He is currently a researcher on “diversity” at the Bonnefanten in Maastricht. Arent received his BA in Liberal Arts summa cum laude from Amsterdam University College (2018) and his MA in Art History from Utrecht University (2021).
