Australasian Registrars Committee

The concept of due diligence is an important corner stone for museums managing risk, and is fundamental in the documentation of museum collections. So what are the reasonable steps that museums need to take to fulfil their duty of care in managing their collections and exhibitions? To explore what due diligence means in registration practice the ARC is pleased to host an in depth workshop, Due Diligence for Registrars facilitated by UK expert Freda Matassa on 7 & 8 February 2012.

Places in the workshop are limited to encourage discussion and participation, so the workshop will be offered twice on the two days preceding the 2012 ARC Conference. 7 February for Melbourne Residents and 8 February for Non-Melbourne Residents to assist with travel planning.

This seminar will discuss due diligence for museums in the areas of acquisitions, deacessions, exhibitions and loans. It will address the meaning and importance of due diligence, discuss immunity from seizure and how to undertake provenance research.

Topics to be covered:

• due diligence for museums

• acquisitions & deaccessions

• exhibitions & loans

• immunity from seizure – background, legislation, UK experience

• provenance research

• case studies

Delegates are encouraged to bring examples from their own collections and will have the chance to share issues and discuss case studies.

Facilitator: Freda Matassa, FRSA, MA

Freda Matassa is an independent museum consultant and art collections manager offering practical advice on museum policy and procedures as well as acting as a freelance registrar for exhibitions, loans and collections care.

Former Head of Collections Management at the Tate Galleries, she has a MA Hons degree in art history and a Diploma in Art Law.

She is a teacher of museum policy and procedures and has lectured widely throughout Europe, specialising in indemnity, immunity from seizure and mobility of collections.

Museums Representative on the UK UNESCO Cultural Network and UK Expert Representative on the Commission for European Standardisation, she also contributes to the EU Collections Mobility project. In 2008 she was appointed the first Expert Adviser to the Minister of Culture on Immunity from Seizure applications and has recently been nominated as one of the UK Top 50 Women to Watch in the Arts. Her book “Museum Collections Management: A handbook” has just been published www.fredamatassa.com

Registrations now open ARC Conference 2012 Registration Form

Email any queries to arcconference@registrars.org.au

ARC is excited to present Breathe easy: Hazardous substances in collections. A one day workshop plus half day of guided tours through collection store facilities.

Melbourne, Monday 20 and Tuesday 21 June 2011, Melbourne Museum

Sydney, Thursday 23 June and Friday 24 June 2011, Powerhouse Museum

Day 1

Morning training session - Identifying, Handling and Storing hazardous materials by Hibbs and Associates Pty Ltd, Occupational Health and Safety Consultants.

This will be an introduction to the types of hazards found in museum and gallery collections. These include asbestos, PCB’s, radioactive material, lead, arsenic, mercury and cellulose nitrate.  We will consider the nature and properties of the material, the history of usage, routes of possible exposure, health risks from exposure, methods of identification, recommended control measures, typical applications and specific examples from museum collections.  There will be a strong focus on asbestos in this first session.

Afternoon case study session - Caring for the Collection Carers: Managing hazardous substances in Collections by Maryanne McCubbin, Head, Strategic Collection Management, Museum Victoria.

We all care for the collections, but who cares about us? Collections contain a range of hazardous substances, about which there is an ever-increasing body of knowledge, but not necessarily the action to match to protect staff. Over the past two years, Museum Victoria has overhauled its process for managing the well-being of staff who work with hazardous substances in collections.  Museum Victoria learnt the hard way that its previous processes were inadequate, and through a rather painful, elongated and difficult process, it continues to implement a range of measures at a whole range of levels to ensure that in the future, the prospects for staff exposure to hazards remain as low as possible.   

Day 2

This will be a half day of guided tours of collection storage facilities, with a focus on storing, handling and managing collection items which potentially contain hazardous substances.

For Melbourne this will include Melbourne Museum and Moreland offsite storage facility and for Sydney this will include The Powerhouse Museum’s offsite storage facility at Castle Hill.

Registration: now open Breathe Easy Registration Form

Cost - $200 per person

Places are limited.

Please contact Sarah Quantrill at ARC@ag.nsw.gov.au for further details