Following the previous work of the Balkan Museum Network (BMN) in interpretation and the interest that it has sparked among the museum and heritage professionals, the BMN is establishing an Interpretation Working Group (IWG).

The IWG would be made up of people working in museums and heritage organisations in the Balkans, individual or institutional members of the BMN. Members of the Group would gain knowledge in the basics of interpretation and its interdisciplinary approach, different tools in interpretation and methods of reaching specific audience, increasing accessibility and access to museums, etc.

The BMN has been involved in interpretation by delivering keynote speeches and workshops through different international events in the past. Also, the BMN has designed a virtual exhibition based on interpretation principles titled “My Museum and Me” (on-going project), collecting different responses to museum objects from a range of people. The IWG is part of a 24 months project titled “Stories from the Balkans – Building capacity of museum professionals in interpretation and access to museums” support by the Headley Trust from UK.

Selection Procedure

The Call for Applications is open to dynamic and motivated museum and heritage professionals who:

• Have a commitment to and are eager to learn about and develop interpretation in Balkan museums and heritage organisations,
• Work in a museum or heritage organisation,
• Are individual or institutional member of the Balkan Museum Network,
• Who are active in their own museums and in other heritage activity across the Balkans (for example as a volunteer or consultant),
• Come from following counties: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Greece, Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia,
• Are available to attend workshops scheduled for September and November 2017.

For the application, you must be able to tell us why it is important to you, and you must be able to commit to receiving training should you need it to bring your knowledge in line with good practice guidelines. In return, we can offer you high quality training and support.

Application

If you would like to be considered for the working group and workshops, please write a letter between 1000 and 1200 words telling us:

1. Why you think interpretation is important in museums and heritage?
2. Give examples of work you have done or have planned to do to implement better communication and learning activities (it doesn’t necessarily matter if you haven’t had the opportunity yet to do any of this work but, if you have done, we’d like to know about it),
3. How many days a month you would realistically be able to devote to this work (again, it doesn’t necessarily matter if it isn’t many hours at the moment but knowing how many will enable us to plan. Please be realistic and honest!)
4. If you have any specialist skills, knowledge or experience in this area,
5. If you have any interests in this area that you would like to develop,
6. Please provide the name of someone we can talk to about your work.

Answer all of these questions in a letter and together with your most recent CV email it to:

aida.vezic@chwb.org by 30 June 2017.

You can use the same email address for enquiries.

All museum and heritage professions are encouraged to apply to this call regardless of your position in a museum. We especially welcome applications from under-represented groups and communities. The IWG would be managed by the CHwB office in Sarajevo that hosts Secretary General of the BMN, with the support from the international consultants.