The four-day Network of European Museum Organisations (NEMO) conference, which is held in a different city every year, ended yesterday in Tartu, Estonia, with the City of Rijeka, the European Capital of Culture 2020, taking over next year as hosts of this important assembly of museum workers and cultural policymakers.
Several hundred attendees involved with museums and culture in a broader sense gathered at the 27th annual NEMO conference, which took place from 7 to 10 November in Tartu (Estonia). Irena Kregar Šegota, Director of the Partnership and Communication Sector at RIJEKA 2020, travelled to Tartu to meet with her colleagues an announce to the attendees that the next conference will be held from 15 to 17 November 2020 in Rijeka as part of the European Capital of Culture project.
Although the full conference programme is yet to be revealed, the NEMO conference in Rijeka will deal with two major topics: audience development in terms of finding new ways to attract and retain the audience, and the issue of museum sustainability. The three-day programme will include expert lectures, public discussions, workshops and the drafting of guidelines for developing the museum profession. More than 250 people are expected to attend the conference in Rijeka, mostly representatives of national European museum organisations, museum experts and active participants in museum-related projects. The aim of the conference is to reach conclusions regarding pressing issues for European museums, exchange know-how and experience and enable networking between colleagues from Europe.
The prestigious global Children in Museums Award ceremony will definitely be one of the highlights of the NEMO conference in Rijeka. This award is presented annually by a Graz-based non-profit network of museum professionals named Hands On! International Association of Children in Museums for the best children’s exhibition or project dedicated to children. The award criteria include creativity, innovation and interpretation as a way in which a selected exhibition or programme can change the course of museum thinking or practice, nationally as well as internationally.
The Croatian Museum Association, Croatian Museum of Naive Art, RIJEKA 2020 and the Croatian Museum of Tourism are members of NEMO from Croatia.
The fact that the NEMO network represents the museum community of the member states of the Council of Europe through national museum organisations gives credence to its importance. Members of the NEMO network, which was established in 1992, jointly represent over 30,000 museums across Europe. Some of the network’s goals include: aiding museums in fulfilling their role of preserving cultural heritage by promoting their significance for European policymakers, establishing networking and cooperation between European museums and encouraging participation in current European cultural policies. NEMO views museums as key actors in the preservation of cultural heritage that take on a central role in building modern society and fostering greater mutual understanding.
