Museums of the 21st century
In 2016, Audrey Azoulay, Minister of Culture and Communication, called for a joint reflection by the entire network of museums in France to answer the following questions: which museums do we want? What is the place and role of museums in our society? What will be the main orientations of a museum policy?
'Museums in the 21st century must stand as common houses, accessible and open to all. At the same time, they are places of creation and innovation.'
A museum of the XXIe century is a museum open to the younger generations, a museum that addresses all the diversity of audiences, a more collaborative and welcoming museum, a museum in touch with the society of the 21st century.
Broad and national thinking
For nine months, museum professionals, academics, elected officials have conducted a reflection on what the museum of the XXI should bee century. Eight regional forums and a citizen consultation on the Internet made it possible to broaden the discussion to all audiences and to gather a thousand opinions and proposals from amateurs and visitors of museums.
What are the expectations of museums?
This work has made it possible to identify the main expectations of our society vis-à-vis museums:
- Open museums even more widely to young generations and encourage them to appropriate the world of museums;
- Open museums to all audiences, in all their diversity, and in particular facilitate access for those in difficulty;
- Make museums more participatory, welcoming and user-friendly;
- Mobilize partners and build new public relations;
- Prolong the momentum of the mission and continue reflection.
What measures are being proposed?
Emblematic measures include:
1/ A museum open tox younger generations:
- Encourage museums in France to sign the "MOM'Art" charter for children and families and draft a charter for school groups and adolescents;
- Propose to set up groups of young "museum ambassadors";
- Promote the residencies of young researchers with the funding of two scholarships at the Musée Picasso-Paris and the Musée d'Orsay starting in 2017.
2/ A museum thataddress all the diversity of audiences:
- Creation of a manifesto for a humanist museum with the assistance of Alexia Fabre, Director of the Val de Marne Museum of Contemporary Art, MAC VAL;
- Launch at the end of March of an annual "Dare the Museum" meeting with social actors to reach audiences far from culture;
- supporting original initiatives to take museums "out-of-the-walls";
- involvement from 2017 of several institutions such as Universciences, MuCEM, the National Museum of the History of Immigration or the RMN-Grand Palais as part of the process of obtaining equality and diversity labels from the Ministry;
- Signing of agreements with the French federation of societies of friends of museums or with the association Art+University+Culture.
3/ For a more more collaborative and welcoming:
- Breaking down barriers by inviting other cultural fields to museums
- Support the award for the best film for young visitors at the next Museumexperts festival;
- Encourage and support participatory exhibition initiatives with local residents.
4/ For a museumadvantage in the 21st century society
- Creation in 2017 of an office of museum innovation at the service of museums of France;
- Organization of a colloquium from 21 to 23 June 2017 on "Life of museums - time of the public - re-examining the mediation practices in the museums of the XXIe century";
- Organization of the foundation of trades and training for museums in December 2017;
- Launch of a mission for a renewal of the role of the major departments in the animation of the network of museums of France;
The online report:
http://www.culture.gouv.fr/Espace-documentation/Rapports/Rapport-de-la-mission-Musees-du-XXIe-siecle