Everything in a Museum communicates - Workshop - Genoa sept. 2024 - part II

Il 12 e 13 settembre al Galata Museo del Mare, "Everything in a Museum communicates - i Musei in tempo di crisi”, workshop internazionale
dedicato alla comunicazione come attività strategica per i musei, organizzato dall'Associazione Promotori al Galata Museo del Mare.
L’iniziativa, che sarà replicata a Tiblisi, in Georgia, è stata realizzata in collaborazione con il Coordinamento Regionale Liguria e il Gruppo di Lavoro nazionale sulla Comunicazione Museale di ICOM Italia, nell’ambito dell’accordo quadro stipulato da ICOM Italia con Università di Genova - DIEC Dipartimento di Economia e in collaborazione con Mu.MA Istituzione Musei del Mare e delle Migrazioni e con il patrocinio di FERPI.
Maurizio Daccà, Presidente Associazione Promotori: Condividiamo i valori ICOM e abbiamo creduto da subito in questa iniziativa di livello internazionale, con importanti partner sul territorio e che ha raccolto l’adesione di tanti professionisti. Inoltre, il coinvolgimento dei giovani permette di creare valore per il futuro. Siamo orgogliosi di aver
portato il nostro contributo e di confermare, anche in questa occasione, il nostro impegno al fianco delle Istituzioni nella promozione e valorizzazione del patrimonio culturale marittimo.
Estratto saluti introduttivi di Michele Lanzinger al workshop:
My warmest greetings to the organizers and participants of this important workshop. Many thanks to the international committee ICOM MPR (Marketing and Public Relations) of ICOM - International Council of Museums, which promoted the project, and to Anna Dentoni, Board Member of ICOM MPR, for her commitment in having in Italy this international event. Special thanks to the Coordinamento regionale Liguria and the Working Group on Museum Communication of ICOM Italy. I like to remember that this very active Coordinamento regionale Liguria has promoted a framework agreement with the University of Genoa - DIEC Department of Economics.
Thanks to the Mu.MA institution for welcoming the workshop at the Galata Maritime Museum, to Promotori Musei del Mare Association for supporting the project and to FERPI, the Italian Public Relations Professionals Association, for its patronage of the event.
Again, thanks to Direzione Regionale Musei Liguria of the Ministry of Culture and to the Museums of the Municipality of Genoa, for their cooperation in organising the visits scheduled in these days.
The title of the workshop, “Everything in a Museum communicates - Museums in times of crisis”, defines a state of affairs: communication is a strategic activity within museums and, as such, must be followed and supported with professionalism and awareness. We are really convinced that communication is not a simple synonym of “advertising” but is an integrated component of the museum's function itself. In fact, we know that full coherence must be sought between the museum's strategies and its methods of communication. An integrated process that links the ways of interpreting cultural projects with the methods of marketing actions, audience engagement, accessibility and active participation of the museums' reference communities. It is interesting that this MPR conference intends to delve into the management of crisis situations and
the related communication strategies. In this regard, I would like to highlight an interesting. convergence between the transformation over time of the focus of museum missions and the transformation over time of the focus of communication strategies. Over time, the focus of the museum mission has shifted from material assets exposed in the galleries to the cultural assets “in the eyes and the hearth” of the visitors. People who are not considered only as visitors - if marketing focused on museum attendance still maintains its own meaning - but people who are considered as subjects with which to maintain a much more dedicated relationship. The concept of accessibility and attention to sustainable development, as we see it in the ICOM definition of Museum of 2022, clearly expresses this change of perspective.
If for museums we can observe, over the time, a constant shift from the focus on the art objects to the centrality on the people who interact with the museum, let’s look at what has happened in the Marketing sector. Quoting Philip Koetler, we have moved from a Marketing 1.0 with a focus on the product, to a Marketing 2.0 with a focus on the consumer, to then evolve to a Marketing 3.0 with an interest in integrating ethical and socially responsible marketing into the business model. Then in the subsequent 4.0, 5.0, 6.0, the path evaluates the digital transition but the relationship with people remains central, no longer seen only as consumers but as subjects bearing advocacy.
Video credits: Katarina Sevcikova Photographe