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Freedom Center To Host International Inclusive Museum Conference

Historians, Educators and Activists Convene to Discuss Urbanism, Inclusion and Cultural Freedoms

CINCINNATI, OH – The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center announced today that they will host the international Inclusive Museum Conference September 16-18, 2016. Museum professionals, scholars and civil rights activists from around the globe, will convene at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center to discuss vital themes including social justice, education, cultural heritage, human rights and representation.

Underground Railroad Freedom Center“We are honored to host this year’s Inclusive Museum Conference at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center,” says Dr. Michael Battle, executive vice president and provost. “The conference will provide international attendees with an open forum for discussion on the role of a museum in preserving history and culture in an educational setting.This conference will also provide an opportunity for our international guests to witness the beauty of one of the nation’s most beautiful cities, Cincinnati.”

The program brings together a distinguished body of international scholars and activists from Egypt, Nigeria, India, New Zealand, Switzerland, Australia, Denmark, United States and Canada. The conference features discussions offering numerous examples of how museums might be used to not only inform the public but also discuss challenging subject matter including, how to discuss race and the preservation of cultural heritages.

Panel discussions and breakout sessions include:
The Digital Museum: A Tool for Inclusion, Empowerment, and Foregrounding Allegories of Race, Place, and Museums
Educators on Education: An Activist Study on Facilitating Race Talk in Museums
Contemporary Understanding of “Harlem on My Mind”: What Can We Learn from an Art Museum’s Early Attempt toward Culturally Inclusive Practice?
The Signs of the Times: Understanding the Inclusive Museum That We Inhabit
Video Modeling in the Art Museum: Enhancing the Museum Experience for Visitors with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Social Justice and Museum Accessibility: Working to Become More Inclusive
Museums as “Connective Structures”: The Politics of (Re)presenting the History and Memory of Political Pasts within Eastern Europe
What Culture Do We Belong To? Creating Cultural Learning in a Museum and many more.

“The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, an enabling and empowering civic space across a diversity of cultural borders, is an apt place for an intercultural dialogue through the Museum as a vehicle for promoting cultural inclusion and peace among and between communities,” says Dr. Amareswar Galla, founding chairperson of the international Inclusive Museum Knowledge Community. “In recent years we have witnessed a global increase in violence and growing racial and cultural divide that is manifest through the lack of cross cultural understanding and respect. Museums are not just about objects, they are also about people and multiple voices and narratives. The Conference will debate and discuss ways that the Inclusive Museum, as a global Knowledge Community and a strategic partner with the world’s largest heritage agency – the International Council of Museums, can promote peace and cultural understanding”

The international Inclusive Museum Conference begins September 16, 2016 at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. For more information and to register for the conference visit freedomcenter.org