Admission is free, but space is limited.

Advance registration is required. Please fill out the registration form.

To view the Program, please download the PDF.

This one day conference brings together academics, funding agencies, non-profit organizations, practitioners, and museums for a conversation about the current state of cultural heritage studies and practice. Divided into three sessions, it will examine the work being done by these organizations, look at models for future projects, discuss the issues that animate our theoretical and pragmatic concerns, and imagine what the future holds for these topics.

Session I: Assessments of the Field

Assessments of the Field explores the issues that have animated cultural heritage debates. Ranging from international cultural property law, to indigenous rights, to contemporary concerns about historic preservation, our panelists will discuss why these topics have gained such currency and the stakes that heritage has on local, national and global stages. They each highlight path-breaking heritage work, policy interventions, and projects that have become subsequent models for subsequent work in the field. This panel also provides a platform for our discussions throughout the day, by focusing our attention on what work has already been done by practitioners, and the intellectual labor and policy challenges that remain.

Session II: Emerging Topics

Emerging Topics addresses how collaborative projects are reshaping heritage practices. The panelists discuss how new social relationships, cross-disciplinary initiatives, and knowledge-sharing partnerships are transforming the idea of how cultural heritage is interpreted, preserved, exhibited, and consumed in museums. Museums are discussed as rich field-sites for conducting research on a range of emerging topics, from language loss to gentrification, affecting the communities they represent. This panel highlights the work of two New York museums, the Museum for African Art and the Museum of Chinese in America, which are at the forefront of collaborative exhibition design and education.

Session III: Future Directions

Our final panel looks ahead to the future of cultural heritage studies as a field of study. It delves into the role of museums in the public sphere, the place of objects and memory in civic life, and the ethics of preservation in a dynamic global environment. Our presenters will respond to the previous two panels in the context of their own work, and imagine the future impact of cultural heritage preservation studies on research and practice within the academy and beyond.

• Joshua Bell
  Curator of Globalization, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution
• Joan Connelly
  Professor, Department of Classics, New York University
• Jon Fein
  Independent Filmmaker and Sculptor, educator
• Douglas Greenberg
  Executive Dean, School of Arts and Sciences, Rutgers University
• Richard Leventhal
  Director, Penn Cultural Heritage Center
• Phillip E. Lewis
  Vice President, Mellon Foundation
• Mary Sue Sweeny Price
  Director, Newark Museum
• Suzan Shown Harjo
  President, Morning Star Institute
• Enid Schildkrout
  Chief Curator, Museum for African Art
• Mary Ellen Snyder
  National Park Service
• John Stubbs
  Vice President, World Monuments Fund
• Jack Tchen
  Director, Asian/Pacific/American Institute Founder, Museum of Chinese in America

Sponsored by the Program in Cultural Heritage and Preservation Studies, Department of Art History,
School of Arts and Sciences, Rutgers University.

Cosponsored by the Penn Cultural Heritage Center.

This conference is made possible by a grant from the New Jersey Council for the Humanities,a state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations in this conference do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities or the New Jersey Council for the Humanities.

For more information, please contact Geralyn Colvil.