This module is not currently running in 2022 to 2023.
The aim of this module is to introduce students to both museum and collections management. First students learn about the history of museums, starting from the early collections and first museums and ending with recent developments. Then the intention is, by exploring the pressures (financial, political and social) exerted in modern museums nowadays, to examine how museums use management and marketing to achieve their goals and serve their mission. Through theory and diverse case studies, students get acquainted with methods and ideas that museum experts have borrowed from the field of management and marketing and discuss the problems and prospects that arise. Students' understanding and awareness of museums' roles and responsibilities in light of funding cuts, the need of democratisation and professionalisation, and the increasing diversification of visitors' interests and demands will be further developed through guest lectures, field trips and practical exercises.
Total contact hours: 24
Essay (3000 words) - 80%;
Presentation (15 minutes) - 20%
Boylan, P.J. (ed.) 2007, Running a Museum: A Practical Handbook, Paris: ICOM;
Fahy, A. (ed.) 1995, Collections management, London: Routledge;
Kotler N. G. and Kotler P. 1998, Museum Strategy and Marketing: Designing Missions, Building Audiences, Generating Revenue and Resources, Jossey-Bass;
Pearce, S. 1992, Museums, Objects and Collections: a cultural study, Leicester: Leicester University Press;
Sandell, R. and Janes, R. R. (eds.) 2007, Museum management and marketing, London: Routledge.
See the library reading list for this module (Canterbury)
Students will be able to demonstrate a systematic understanding of museums historical development and function, as well as a critical awareness of the issues concerning modern museums;
Students will be able to demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the principles and practice of both museum and collections management;
Students will be able to evaluate the methods and concepts museum experts have borrowed from the fields of management and marketing, and engage in critical discussions about the problems and prospects that arise from such practices;
Students will be able to demonstrate comprehensive understanding of good practice in heritage management from cases from around the world.
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