Plenary Sessions
ICH Panel Discussion
Re-discovering the Human Spirit [T]
Is There a Future for Museums?
Museums in the Real World - Carol Sprachman Memorial Lecture
ICH Panel Discussion
Date: Wednesday, May 12
Time: 9 am - 10 am
Moderator: David Walden, Canadian commission for UNESCO
Speakers:
Cécile Duvelle, UNESCO
Richard Kurin, Smithsonian Institution
Richard MacKinnon, Cape Breton University
Gerald Pocius, Memorial University of Newfoundland
Laurier Turgeon, Laval University
Kindly supported by 
Intangible cultural heritage (ICH) comprises the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, and skills that communities, groups, and in some cases, individuals recognize as part of their cultural heritage. Today, ICH is threatened by globalization, increasing urbanization, loss of traditional economies and communities, and rural decay. This round table discussion will address some of the steps which are being taken nationally and internationally to safeguard ICH, and will pose some suggestions for future work.
Re-discovering the Human Spirit [T]
Date: Wednesday, May 12
Time: 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Speaker: Wade Davis, Explorer-in-residence, National Geographic Society
Kindly supported by the Alliance of Natural History Museums of Canada
What ultimately will be our mission for the next century? There is a fire burning over the Earth, taking with it plants and animals, ancient skills and visionary wisdom. At risk is a vast archive of knowledge and expertise, a catalogue of the imagination, an oral and written language composed of the memories of countless elders and healers, warriors, farmers, fishermen, midwives, poets, and saints. In short, the artistic, intellectual and spiritual expression of the full complexity and diversity of the human experience could disappear. Quelling this flame, and rediscovering a new appreciation for the diversity of the human spirit as expressed by culture, is among the central challenges of our times.
Wade Davis will take us on a worldwide journey that will help provide direction and a definition of what our mission will be for the next century. The Wayfinders is a celebration of the wonder of the human imagination as expressed in culture. We'll travel to Polynesia and celebrate the art of navigation that allowed the Wayfinders to infuse the entire Pacific Ocean with their imagination and genius. In the Amazon await the descendants of a true lost civilization, the People of the Anaconda, a complex of cultures inspired by mythological ancestors who even today dictate how humans must live in the forest. In the Andean Cordillera and the mountains of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta of Colombia, we'll discover that the Earth really is alive, pulsing, and responsive in a thousand ways to the spiritual readiness of humankind. Dreamtime and the Songlines will lead to the melaleuca forests of Arnhem Land, as we seek to understand the subtle philosophy of the first humans to walk out of Africa and the Aboriginal peoples of Australia. In Nepal, a stone path will take us to a door, opening to reveal the radiant face of a wisdom hero, a Bodhisattva, Tsetsam Ani, a Buddhist nun who forty-five years ago entered lifelong retreat. The flight of a hornbill, like a cursive script of nature, will let us know that we have arrived at last amongst the nomadic Penan in the upland forests of Borneo. Join us on this incredible journey with Canada's renowned conservationist and explorer!
Is There a Future for Museums? – ICOM Session
Date: Thursday, May 13
Time: 8:45 am - 9:45 am
Moderator: Françoise Enguehard
Speakers:
Dean Brinton, The Rooms
James Chung, Reach Advisors
Marc Mayer, National Gallery of Canada
Museums are no longer the exclusive enclaves of the elite. They have become centres of learning where doors to new experiences are opened to all. They have become our reinvented town squares where like-minded people with similar interests meet, share and engage. With visionary leadership museums can be at the core of a new civic culture. This plenary will explore questions critical to the future of museums: As you plan for the future, are you working to include your community? How are you retooling or redesigning programs and exhibitions to respond to the Net Gen? To a great extent we fashion the future by how we imagine it, what do you see for the future of museums?
Museums in the Real World – Carol Sprachman Memorial Lecture
Date: Thursday, May 13
Time: 1:45 pm - 2:45 pm
Speaker: Jeffrey Simpson, National affairs columnist, The Globe and Mail
Kindly supported by the Canadian Federation of Friends of Museums
A sweeping perspective by award-winning journalist Jeffrey Simpson on the geo-political trends affecting museums; from politics to tourism, the recession, changing demographics and the 2010 Shanghai World's Fair.