2014.09.18

At 9:00 on September 12, 2014, the Second Chinese Private Museum Development Forum (2014? Pudong) opened in Shanghai Long Museum (Pudong). Guangdong Times Museum executive curator Zhao Ju was invited to attend the forum and discussions.

The forum was under the direct guidance of Department of Arts, Ministry of Culture and Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture, Radio, Film & TV and hosted by Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture, Radio, Film & TV of Pudong New Area and Long Museum (Pudong). The forum brought together hundreds of museum directors worldwide. Its theme was “strategic positioning and operational strategy of China’s private museums” and keynote speeches and round-table discussions were conducted by centering on three major topics, including “social responsibility of private museums for cities’ social and cultural development”, “private museums’ means of public interactions and reflection of public values” and “private museums’ operating strategies and path of sustainable development”, taking the pulse of and asking prescriptions for the development of China’s private museums.

Guangdong Times Museum executive curator Zhao Ju was invited to attend the second unit of roundtable discussions with a theme of “private museums’ means of public interactions and reflection of public values”. According to Zhao Ju, this year, Guangdong Times Museum determined the selection and orientation of educational projects, distribution of resources, etc. and decided to develop from two aspects: for one thing, public dissemination would be included into public education and combined into a common project, indicating that we did not work on public education but rather on public projects. For another thing, localization was stressed, that is, how much we understood the region we lived in and how profound our research was. This year we cooperated with School of Sociology and Anthropology, Sun Yat-Sen University and conducted field studies and research with the School, attempting to figure out what were the influences and roles of museums.

The forum combines the new demands and new expectations for the arts and cultural activities of various professionals and the general public, further cements and strengthens the existing mechanism of forum and gives direction of the development of China’s private museum. The fact that Guangdong Times Museum was invited to attend the forum suggests its influence and benchmarking role in the industry. It is hope that Times Museum can grow together with other domestic counterparts and develop into an internationally renowned private museum.