Blogerim

The Jewish Museum Berlin is honored with the prize for outstanding traineeships

V for Voluntariat; Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: David Studniberg

Every year the Bundesvolontärstagung (BVT), a conference for trainees, takes place in a different German city . The BVT is the only national conference for trainees in museums, historical sites, and other cultural institutions. It provides a forum for presentations and discussions on museum-related topics, and also offers the opportunity for networking among trainees. This year, the junior museum employees met on March 1st and 2nd at the Museum Pedagogy Center in Munich.

For three years, the Golden V (for Volontariat, German for trainee) has been given at the BVT. It is an award that honors those institutions that provide an ideal environment for trainees. This year, the Jewish Museum Berlin and the Museum for Communication Frankfurt were presented with the prize.
We asked two of our trainees a few questions about their traineeship, as well as about the prize:  → continue reading

New program director of the Jewish Museum Berlin holds lecture for future museum generation

1) Dear Mrs. Meijer-van Mensch: over the last years you have worked for various institutions in different countries. What distinguishes the museum landscape in Germany from other countries in your opinion?

Program director Léontine Meijer-van Mensch puts much value upon the promotion of the future museum generation; Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Yves Sucksdorff

First I would like to say that in Germany – contrary to the Netherlands – there is a widely supported notion that culture in general (and therefore museums) is important. It is stimulating to be able to work in such an environment. Before World War II German museology was very influential worldwide. After the war Germany lost its leading position and new developments in the international museum world were not always fully embraced. An example is the importance of education and the role of educators within the organization of the museum. → continue reading

The mid-term online strategy of the Jewish Museum Berlin

At a wearemuseum’s workshop in Warschau 2014 CC-BY-SA wearemuseums

At the moment, the conference “we are museums” is taking place in the rooms of our Academy. I have been working for days on my keynote lecture in which I take stock of recent developments at our museum. It is almost two years to the day since my colleagues and I first sat down together to discuss the web presence then in place and the cornerstones of its renewal. For while our online activities had been steadily expanding and diversifying, external assessment and target group evaluation revealed that visitors were finding it increasingly difficult to navigate our website. So it was evidently high time to → continue reading