Plenary Speakers

The International Conference on the Inclusive Museum will feature plenary sessions by some of the world’s leading thinkers and innovators in the field, as well as numerous parallel presentations by researchers and practitioners.

Garden Conversations Sessions

Plenary Speakers will make formal 30-minute presentations. They will also participate in 60-minute Garden Conversations – unstructured sessions that allow delegates a chance to meet the speakers and talk with them informally about the issues arising from their presentation.

Please return to this page for regular updates.

The Speakers

Lonnie G. Bunch, III

Historian, author, curator and educator, Lonnie G. Bunch, III is the founding director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. In this position he is working to set the museum’s mission, coordinate its fundraising and membership campaigns, develop its collections, establish cultural partnerships and oversee the design and construction of the museum’s building. Rooted in his belief that the museum exists now although the building is not in place, he is designing a high-profile program of traveling exhibitions and public events ranging from panel discussions and seminars to oral history and collecting workshops. The museum, the 19th to open as part of the Smithsonian Institution, will be built on the national Mall where Smithsonian museums attracted more than 24 million visitors in 2005. It will stand on a five-acre site adjacent to the Washington Monument and opposite the National Museum of American History in Washington, DC.

Prior to his July 2005 appointment as director of NMAAHC, Bunch, served as the president of the Chicago Historical Society, one of the nation’s oldest museums of history (January 2001-June 2005). There, he initiated an unprecedented outreach initiative to diverse communities and launched a much-applauded exhibition and program on teenage life titled “Teen Chicago.” From 1978 to 1979, Bunch was an education specialist at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, where he developed multi-cultural instructional programs and researched and wrote the history of African Americans in aviation. Bunch served as the curator of history for the California Afro-American Museum in Los Angeles from 1983 to 1989. There he organized several award-winning exhibitions including “The Black Olympians, 1904-1950” and “Black Angelenos: The Afro-American in Los Angeles, 1850-1950.” Committed to making history accessible, he also produced several historical documentaries for public television.

Alissandra Cummins

Alissandra Cummins is Director of the Barbados Museum and Historical Society and past President of ICOM. She holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree with Honors in the History of Art from the University of East Anglia, Norwich, and a Masters of Arts in Museum Studies from Leicester University, UK. A recognized authority on Caribbean heritage, museum development and art, she was elected a Fellow of the Museums Association (UK), a first for the Caribbean. She is a lecturer in Heritage Studies with the University of the West Indies. She currently serves on the editorial committee of the International Journal of Museum Management and Curatorship. Ms. Cummins was instrumental in the establishment of the Museums Association of the Caribbean (MAC), becoming its Founding President in 1989, and was equally active as first Board member and then as President of the International Association for Caribbean Archaeology (IACA). Miss Cummins served between 1998-2004 as Chairperson of the Advisory Committee of ICOM (International Council of Museums), following which she was elected as its President in 2004 and 2007. She is still serving in this capacity having been re-elected In August 2007. She has also served as Chairperson of UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property to its Country of Origin or its Restitution in Case of Illicit Appropriation (ICPRCP) from 2003-2005, and more recently (2007) was appointed as President of the International Advisory Committee of UNESCO’s Memory of the World Program. Ms. Cummins was recently selected to head Barbados’ delegation to the World Heritage Committee.

In 1999 Ms. Cummins was appointed Special Envoy for Cultural Heritage by the Government of Barbados, in which capacity she advises on both technical issues and policy development, and represents the nation at the regional and international levels. In 2005, Alissandra Cummins was awarded Barbados’ Gold Crown of Merit in recognition of her services to heritage and museum development. In 2006, she was recognized by UNESCO as one of “sixty eminent women who, in different parts of the world, in different positions and in different moments across the history of the Organization have made, and in many ways are still making, significant contributions to the ideals and action of the Organization, be it in education, culture, science or communication”.

José do Nascimento Junior

PRESIDENT OF THE BRAZILIAN INSTITUTE OF MUSEUMS – IBRAM

José do Nascimento Junior was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil on October 11, 1966. He holds a BA in Social Sciences and a MA in Social Anthropology from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS). He is a visiting professor of Cultural Heritage at the Federal University of Santa Maria, Brazil and also a member of the international course of Cultural Management at the National University of Cordoba, Argentina.

He is currently the president of the Brazilian Institute of Museums (Ibram) and the chairman of the Intergovernmental Council of the Ibermuseums Programme.

He was an event manager at Anhembi Tourism in São Paulo, event coordinator at the Porto Alegrense Tourism Company and member of the Board of Trustees of the Educational TV of Rio Grande do Sul State. He was director of the Museum of Anthropology of Rio Grande do Sul, director of the Memorial of Rio Grande do Sul and coordinator of the State Museums System of Rio Grande do Sul. He worked also at the former Coordination of Museums and Arts at the Ministry of Culture of Brazil.

He was, as well, director of the Department of Museums and Cultural Centers of the National Institute of Historical and Artistic Heritage (DEMU/Iphan) and when this department was converted in the Brazilian Institute of Museums (Ibram), he became its first president, a position he holds to date.

Gail Dexter Lord is Co-President of Lord Cultural Resources Planning and Management Inc., which she co-founded in 1981 with her husband Barry Lord.  With a network of offices in Toronto, New York, Paris, Beijing, San Francisco, Cairo, Beirut and Mumbai, Lord Cultural Resources has grown to become the largest cultural planning firm in the world having completed over 1,800 museum planning and management projects in 49 countries and on 6 continents.

With over 30 years of experience in the museum and cultural sector, Gail is one of the world’s foremost museum and art gallery planners. Shebrings exceptional vision and knowledge to each of the projects she leads. She is committed to assisting institutions, communities, and their leaders worldwide develop their cultural resources, including:  King Abdulaziz Center for Knowledge and Culture in Saudi Arabia, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg, The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) Bell Lightbox, the Smithsonian National Museum of African-American History and Culture in Washington, DC and Constitution Hill in Johannesburg, South Africa. Gail has been instrumental in developing museum planning having co-authored, with Barry Lord, The Manual of Museum Exhibitions (2001), The Manual of Museum Management (2nd edition, 1999), The Manual of Museum Planning (2nd edition, 2009), The Manual of Strategic Planning (2007) and The Cost of Collecting (1991); and, has published numerous articles on a wide range of museum topics. Her latest book co-authored with Barry Lord, Artists, Patrons, and the Public: Why Culture Changes (2010) focuses on the challenging questions of why and how culture changes.

In 2002, Gail’s ongoing dedication to promoting of culture was recognized when the Ontario Museum Association presented Gail and Barry with the Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Museum Field of Ontario. In April 2011, during the CMA National Conference in London, Ontario, ICOM Canada awarded Gail and Barry Lord the 2011 International Achievement Award for promoting excellence in Canadian museology on an international scale. ICOM Canada has recognized Lord Cultural Resources’ projects as nationally and internationally significant and exceeding the current standard of practice.

As Executive Director of the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience, Elizabeth Silkes guides the strategic growth of a thriving coalition of 300 museums, historic sites and memory initiatives in 50 countries. Through regional and issue-based networks, the Coalition supports members across the globe in developing innovative public engagement and human rights programs through exhibit design and methodological guidance, peer-learning exchanges, project grants, and joint advocacy initiatives. Prior to joining the Coalition, Liz served as CEO of Cinereach, a foundation supporting film and media projects focused on social change and as Executive Director of FilmAid International, a humanitarian relief organization using film and video to address the needs of refugees and other displaced communities. Prior to joining FilmAid, she led the major gifts program at Amnesty International USA to record growth while advocating for human rights in the US and abroad. Her extensive experience with community-based media projects gives her a unique perspective on the power of the personal story to engage broad audiences in moving from past to present and memory to action. As a featured speaker at conferences and workshops around the world, Liz has addressed issues ranging from psycho-social relief initiatives in refugee communities to the role of memory in emerging democracies and post-conflict settings. She currently serves on the board of ICOM-US, the U.S. National Committee of the International Council of Museums, and is a member of the Law Advisory Council for the Fetzer Institute.

Dr. George H.O. Abungu is a Cambridge-trained archaeologist and former Director-General of the National Museums of Kenya. He is the founding Chairman of Africa 2009, ISCOTIA (the International Standing Committee on the Traffic in Illicit Antiquities), and CHDA, the Centre for Heritage Development in Africa (ex-PMDA), among others. Dr. Abungu has been a guest scholar at the Getty Conservation Institute in Los Angeles, Chairman of the Kenya Cultural Centre, and is currently C.E.O. of Okello Abungu Heritage Consultants. He has been a visiting lecturer at a number of universities, including Gothenburg University, in Sweden, and the University of Western Cape in South Africa.  He is a recipient of the “Ife Prize in Museology” in 2007 at the 6th Festival of Pan-African Music (FESPAM) in Brazaville and also the recipient of the distinction of “Passeur du Patrimone by EPA, Ecole du Patrimoine Africain in 2009 in recognition of his over 20 years of dedicated service to African Heritage. Dr. Abungu has over 60 publications in the disciplines of archaeology, heritage management, and museology, culture and development and has championed the role of the arts and its respect and protection in many of his publications, public forums and in his works as a museum professional, scholar and administrator. He has been an advisor to the Aluka project of the Mellon Foundation, the Global Heritage Fund, and is Vice President of International Council of Museums (ICOM), a Member of the International Jury of the UNESCO Melina Mecouri International Prize for Safeguard and Management of Cultural Landscapes and Board member for TARA, the Trust for African Rock Art, among others. He has sat on the World Monuments Watch panel and was Kenya’s Representative to the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, and Vice-President of its Bureau (2004-2009).

Chairperson, Inclusive Museum Knowledge Community

Amareswar Galla

An alumnus of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, Professor Dr. Amareswar Galla is the founding Executive Director of the International Institute for the Inclusive Museum, Copenhagen and Editor of the prestigious volume, to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the 1972 World Heritage Convention, to be launched in Kyoto, Japan, in November 2012. He is also Professor of World Heritage and Sustainable Development at the University of Split located in the World Heritage City of Split. He is currently working on MDGs and Small Island Development States. He provided strategic cultural leadership in Australia and the Asia Pacific Region as the first Professor of Museum Studies in Australia at the University of Queensland, Brisbane. Prior to that he was Professor and Director of Sustainable Heritage Development Programs, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies at the Australian National University, Canberra. He was also a regular visitor at the National Museum of Ethnology, Leiden, working on the implementation of Museums and Cultural Diversity Promotion in the Netherlands; Guest Curator of International Projects for a decade with the Vietnam National Department of Cultural Heritage; and Founding Convener of the Pacific Asia Observatory for Cultural Diversity in Sustainable Heritage Development in partnership with several bodies including UNESCO. He is the first Australian elected as the President of the Asia Pacific Executive Board (1998-2004) – Chairperson of the Cross Cultural Task Force (2005-2011) – and Vice President of the International Executive Council (2004-2007) – of the International Council of Museums, Paris. A founding Trustee of the Pacific Islands Museums Association and Vice President of the Commonwealth Association of Museums, he is the Editor of three leading research journals dealing with Sustainable Heritage Development: International Journal of the Inclusive Museum (www.museum-journal.com) Chicago/Melbourne; 2nd & 3rd Editor-in-Chief of International Journal on Intangible Heritage (www.ijih.org) Seoul/Paris; International Journal on Environmental, Cultural, Economic and Social Sustainability (www.sustainability-journal.com) Chicago/Melbourne. He spends half the year building community grounded museums addressing MDGs with the help of his graduate students in countries with low economic indicators.

Email: director@inclusivemuseum.org Web. www.inclusivemuseum.org