1. Katrijn D’hamers
19/03/2014, Antwerp

2. PARTICIPANTS
 MAS
 KADOC
 KMSKA
 Middelheimmuseum
 Red Star Line Museum
 Erfgoedcel Mechelen
 FARO

3. DO WE ACTUALLY NEED A DIVERSITY PLAN?
 Important that diversity is part of strategic plan
 Don’t let it slip of the agenda
 Depending on organisation what works best: separate or part
of general plan
 Mainstream should become normality
 Heritage is sharing

4. PROCESS
 Start from small activities
 End goal is inclusion in all parts of the organisaties
 Everybody should be ware
 Within regular budget

5. NETWORKING AND OUTREACHING
 Go for specific actions in stead of many
• Try out (Mechelen)
 Valuate collaborations in terms of investment of
personnel, time, budget
 Include different perspectives from the audiences in stead of
the wish to pass on historical knowledge
 Use opportunities
 Get involved in the city
 YOU have to reach out
 Other functions for your space

6. NETWORKING AND OUTREACHING
 Many good practices:
• Summer school and portraits (KMSKA)
• Demention (Middelheimmuseum)
• Creating an artwork with neighboorhood (Middelheimmuseum)
• Let young people decide (KMSKA)
• People in poverty (KMSKA)
• Training courses for guides (KMSKA)
• Prisoners and psychiatric patiens (KADOC)
• Guides (Red Star Line)
• Dock workers (MAS)
• Moroccon and Chinese communities (MAS)
• Hearing city museum (Erfgoedcel Mechelen)
• …

7. MANAGEMENT AND PERSONNEL
 Change is going slow
 Budget cuts
 Make personnel aware by training, projects, …
 Need of bringing in other expertises
• Psycho-medical help
 Look for opportunities
• Internships
• Volunteers
• students

8. FROM THE UK TO FLANDERS
 Constructivistic approach: make it together
 Let the public contribute (online feedback)
 Give people the feling they actually can help
 Give training to the personeel
 Importance of diversity in every level of the organisation
 Beware of tokenism
 Work with specific targets in stead of many
 Take diversity for serious, keep it on the agenda, in any level
 Flickr
 Reconsider collections from the potential for diversity

9. FROM FLANDERS TO THE UK
 Help regional archives in how diversity is represented in the
collections
 Make a survey of online and target audiences
 Use the classic audiences in the reading room as
intermediates (also diverse?)
 Use volunteers (they have time to talk with visitors)
 Create someting with the audiences in the public space
 Systematic registration and advice of minorities at THEIR siege
 Use internships for diverse communities