IC ETHICS Online Conference: The State of Museum Ethics Today, 27 July 2023

The State of Museum Ethics Today

Date: Thursday 27 July 2023

Time: 4 – 5.30pm (UK time)

In 2023, several museum sector organisations are reworking their Codes of Ethics in response to “changing conditions, values and ideas.” This rare moment of synchronous rethinking about the codified ethics of the profession offers a valuable opportunity to consider how codes of ethics, and the different approaches that professional organisations take in creating them, shape the field’s ability to respond to ethical dilemmas.

In this online conference, representatives from the International Council of Museums, Museums Association (UK), the American Alliance of Museums, and Brazil’s museum sector, along with museum ethicist Janet Marstine, will discuss the current state of museum ethics, and consider the ways that the professions’ codes of ethics are created, implemented and used. It will unpack the relationship between codified codes and the emergent, complex ethical dilemmas that museum professionals face in the course of their work, and ask how our codes of ethics might need to evolve to meet the needs of the future.

Speakers: Sally Yerkovich (ICOM Standing Committee on Ethics), Julie Hart (American Alliance of Museums), India Divers (Museums Association – UK), Tereza Scheiner (Federal University of Estado do Rio de Janeiro), Janet Marstine (Museum Ethicist). Moderated by Suse Anderson (IC-Ethics).