Welcome to MEG
MEG Conference 2024: Living Museums – Looking to the Future
Sainsbury Centre, Sainsbury Research Unit for the Arts of Africa, Oceania & the Americas, University of East Anglia, 25th – 26th April.
Museums have never been just reflections of the people and societies materialised within them but also institutional drivers of cultural action, political perspective and social change. This conference marks 50 years of MEG meetings, and aims to highlight the important role museums can play in addressing challenges in collegial and collaborative ways. Museums holding ‘ethnographic’ or ‘World Cultures’ collections find themselves at the forefront of new debates and controversies, but also new opportunities.
‘Keeping Connected’ Repatriation Series
MEG’s most popular series of events has been the ‘Keeping Connected’ Repatriation Series: a number of events that focus on issues around repatriation, restitution, and reparation to countries outside of the UK. Each event focuses on one country and is held in collaboration with institutions and practitioners outside of the UK. These events are for MEG members only and allow for a safe space for practitioners to exchange knowledge, ask questions and learn about the process of repatriation.
The first event focused on the United States, taking place on 30th October 2023. The second focused on Australia, and took place on 29th January 2024. Watch this space for updates on the next event!
Rethinking Relationships
MEG is pleased to work in partnership with Pitt Rivers Museum (University of Oxford), the Horniman Museum and Gardens, World Museum, National Museums Liverpool, and Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (Cambridge University), to advance the Rethinking Relationships project thanks to the support of Arts Council England (ACE). Rethinking Relationships is a sector leading collaboration to develop and adapt museum practice to build trust with communities and improve access to collections with significance to them. It responds to questions all museums must face about how they interpret, record and acquire collections.
Repatriation Resource
We have created a free, open access resource for museum professionals, originating communities, research institutions, and anyone interested in museums and repatriation. MEG is a long-standing supporter of repatriation and ethical collaborative practices in the UK. We see this resource as a way of extending our advocacy and support to museum colleagues and originating communities globally. MEG’s membership has significant knowledge and expertise in supporting repatriation claims made to UK museums. Therefore, in addition to this open access resource we are working towards the development of a MEG members-only support network that will allow members – in confidence – to share information relating to new and on-going requests, whilst also providing guidance and help on repatriation processes.
