Around 90 museum and heritage professionals from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Germany, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Sweden and United Kingdom participated from the 15th to 17th April, 2015 in Novi Sad in the third annual museum conference titled „Meet, See, (critically) Do“.

The conference was organized by the Balkan Museum Network (BMN) and the Foundation Cultural Heritage without Borders (CHwB) in partnership with the Museum of Vojvodina, Novi Sad.

As one of the largest museum conferences in the Western Balkans it aims to strengthen individual and institutional capacities of museums, as well as to encourage and inspire museums in the region to work jointly.

Key speakers at “Meet, See, (critically) Do“ conference this year were prominent experts in museology and heritage with regional and international experience prof dr Tomislav Šola, Anna Viola Hallberg, Nat Edwards, Stephen Allen, Michele Taylor and six museum professional from the Western Balkans that are developing different strategies for the community engagement with colleagues from the United Kingdom.

“The most important value of this conference is re-establishing the old and the making of the new cultural links among museum institutions in the region. The dramatic events of the last decades that have changed our destinies, left behind the broken ties that are often hard to re-establish due to complex political and social circumstances in which we live. We all have the opportunity, during this conference, to acquaint ourselves with the common problems that we encounter in our work,“ said Bogdan Šekarić, deputy director of the Museum of Vojvodina.

At the conference in Novi Sad experienced lecturers from the region and other parts of Europe delivered presentations and opened dialogue on critical approach to museums in the Balkans, role of museums in societies, community engagement, intercultural policy and museums, art and activism, interpretation and storytelling.

“We are extremely satisfied due to participation of museum and heritage professionals from across the region at this conference. The number of participants this year tells us that museums have recognized the importance of cooperation for the improvement of their work and building better museums as an institutions established for all citizens,“ stated Tatjana Cvjetićanin, President of the Steering Board of the Balkan Museum Network.

The conference in Novi Sad was funded by the Swedish government and Swedish institute.

Previous “Meet, See, Do“ conferences were organized in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2013 and in Tirana, Albania in 2014. More than 130 participants from and outside this region attended these conferences.

Photo gallery from the “Meet, See, (critically) Do“ conference is available at THIS LINK