EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT “Activating the Past” explores museums as gathering places

DATE: 9 a.m.–5 p.m.
EVENT: “Activating the Past,”a symposium, brings together the leading forces in an international movement to change the role of historic sites in civic life. Around the world, historic sites–from large museums to tiny memorials–are establishing themselves as new town halls, active centers for citizen participation. They are drawing connections between their histories and contemporary legacies, fostering public dialogue on difficult issues and inspiring visitors to participate in making change.

“Activating the Past”explores the latest practices of self-described “sites of conscience,”and their implications for the place of memory and museums in the development of democracies. Included in the program are such topics as Racism in Urban Communities, the “Slave Galleries”of St. Augustine’s Church and national conversations on democracy.

Presenters include representatives from the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, St. Augustine’s Church, the Japanese American National Museum and the Perm Gulag Museum. A public reception will be held 4:15-5:30 p.m. in Rackham’s fourth floor reception hall.

PLACE: Amphitheater, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies. Central Campus map: http://www.umich.edu/news/ccamp.html

SPONSOR: The University of Michigan Museum Studies Program and the Arts of Citizenship Program in collaboration with the International Coalition of Historic Site Museums of Conscience.

Additional support provided by the Office of the President, Office of the Provost, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies, the Institute for the Humanities, and the International Institute.

WEB: For detailed information, visit http://www.umich.edu/~ummsp/event_hsc_program.htm

http://www.umich.edu/news/ccamp.html

http://www.umich.edu/~ummsp/event_hsc_program.htm