2019/10/01 by John Fraser
Arts and Humanities · #Museums and Cultural Heritage
paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/cura.12345
crossref issued 2019/10/01 · crossref published 2019/10/01 · crossref published-print 2019/10/01 · openalex publication_date 2019/10/01 · crossref published-online 2019/10/29 · crossref created 2019/10/30 · crossref deposited 2023/08/21 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · crossref indexed 2026/07/27 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
I started this editorial at the 25th International Council of Museums (ICOM) meeting in Kyoto where delegates found themselves embroiled in redefining what constitutes a museum. The proposed definition was presented in a December 2018 report by the Museum Definition, Prospects and Potentials (MDPP) committee, to the ICOM Executive Board. That report represented many years of input from a vast network of ICOM committees. The final "consensus position" pushed at the edges of past practice to suggest a more activist role of museums as contributors to their cultures, redressing past wrongs, and aspiring to leadership for a more inclusive and environmentally responsible global culture. The updated definition built on the last ICOM definition formally adopted in August, 2007 by ICOM's 22nd General Assembly in Austria. The 2007 version stated that: "A museum is a non-profit, permanent institution in the service of society and its development, open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits the tangible and intangible heritage of humanity and its environment for the purposes of education, study and enjoyment." (ICOM 2019).