CAMOC 2023 Annual Conference

1220 Fifth Ave at 103rd St., HOURS: Mon-Fri 10-5 | Sat-Sun 10-6

CAMOC 2023 Annual Conference

Changing Cities, Changing Museums

New York City, October 16-18 2023

Museum professionals and researchers from more than 30 countries gather to share experiences and debate issues of change in museums and cities at the 2023 Annual Conference of CAMOC, the International Council of Museums committee dedicated to city museums. With more than 800 members worldwide, CAMOC is a global forum for people who work in or are interested in museums about cities.

Cities are famously generators and reflectors of social, economic, and political change, and never more so than in our own times. Population changes, global and regional migrations, racial and social justice uprisings, wars and human rights crises, economic globalization, the pressures of real estate development, gentrification, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the climate crisis are just some of the forces that are causing cities to reckon with their futures, their identities, and what they represent.

As interpreters of history, city museums have always had the responsibility to contend with change, but existential shifts affecting cities in the 21st century present new levels of challenge. Simultaneously, new imperatives in museology and conversations around social justice are challenging city museums to examine their own practices around DEAI (diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility) and their relationship to their communities.

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Program Schedule Overview

Download the preliminary conference program now!

Monday 16 October
10:00 AM-12:30 PM — Guided excursions to Lower East Side Tenement Museum, Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, East Harlem, and Central Park (Register below!)
12:30-6:00 PM — Explore NYC! (Self-guided options to discover and taste what different parts of the city have to offer)
4:00-6:00 PM — Museum of the City of New York open house: visit the exhibits or go behind the scenes with collections and education staff
6:00-8:00 PM — Opening reception at Museum of the City of New York

Tuesday 17 October
9:00 AM-5:30 PM at Museum of the City of New York
Keynote by Garnette Cadogan, essayist and lecturer in Urbanism, MIT
Opening panel on MCNY’s Centennial
Workshops
Panel sessions

Wednesday 18 October
9:00 AM-5:30 PM at Museum of the City of New York
CAMOC Annual General Meeting
Panel sessions
Gallery of Ideas
Roundtables

Hotels and Local Travel Information

There is no official hotel for the conference, but three recommendations are:

Aloft Harlem, 2296 Frederick Douglass Blvd
Courtyard by Marriott Upper East Side, 410 East 92nd Street
The Franklin/Voco, 164 East 87 Street

These and many other properties are easily accessible to the Museum of the City of New York via MTA bus and subway or taxi.

Museum of the City of New York is located at 1220 Fifth Avenue at 103rd Street in Manhattan.

Registration

Conference registration is open through 2 October! Click here

Registration fees include opening reception, lunches, and coffee breaks.

For national committee category designations, please consult this document. For registration questions, email camoc@mcny.org

ICOM Member (Category 1 & 2 countries) US $300
ICOM Member (Category 3 & 4 countries) US $150
Non-ICOM Member US $350
Student US $75
Online access is only US $10/day (Registration link coming soon)

Registration for online access to the conference will open at the beginning of October.

Excursions US $15 (Register for your choice below)

Excursion Registration

Visit Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty

Hop on board the ferry to two of New York’s most celebrated sites, which celebrate our city’s role as a beacon and a gateway for immigrants. Visitors will receive an overview of the two islands; Liberty Island includes a museum, and the group will have the option to go to the top of the Statue’s Pedestal. Ellis Island includes the National Museum of Immigration, with exhibits on the three eras of US immigration: People of America, Ellis Island, and New Eras of Immigration (contemporary). Free audio tours in 12 languages are available on both islands.

The Tenement Museum

The Tenement Museum tells the stories of working-class tenement residents who moved to New York City from other countries and other parts of the country. Their work helped build the city and nation, and their stories helped us understand our history. While textbooks often overlook the stories of ordinary people, our tours immerse visitors in the tenement hallways, kitchens, and parlors where families carved out new lives. We share primary sources and research that help us explore the stories of tenement families. By sharing these stories, we aim to build an inclusive and expansive American identity and believe that the exploration of our complex history—one with moments of both inclusion and exclusion—helps prepare us to recognize and discuss today’s complex issues with empathy and nuance.

Walking Tour of Central Park

Join Gabe S. Tennen, MCNY researcher tour guide and Ph.D. Candidate in History at Stony Brook University, for a walking tour of Central Park. Constructed between 1857 and 1876, Central Park represented a new push by municipal leaders for public green space in an increasingly crowded and diverse city. Over the next century and a half, the Park reflected New York’s highest highs and lowest lows, often serving as a backdrop for cultural change and social conflict. Join Gabe for a ninety-minute excursion that will explore the Park’s past, present, and future.

Walking Tour of East Harlem with Artist Manny Vega

Let’s take a cultural stroll around East Harlem (aka El Barrio, the Spanish translation for “the hood”), MCNY’s own neighborhood and a center of Puerto Rican culture and history in New York. Join MCNY Curator of Community Histories, Monxo López, and mosaic artist and muralist Manny Vega, whose artworks adorn more than a few of El Barrios’ public spaces, including a subway station, and who will be the subject of an MCNY exhibition in late 2023.

We will stop at a few cultural spaces and delve into some of Manny Vega’s beautiful mosaics in the neighborhood. Time permitting, we will also visit a local community garden.

Scientific Program Committee

Melanie Adams, PhD, Smithsonian Anacostia Museum, Washington DC
Andréa Delaplace, PhD, CAMOC Board, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne
Elena Pérez Rubiales, PhD, CAMOC Board, MUHBA, Barcelona
Sarah Henry, PhD, CAMOC Vice Chair, Museum of the City of New York
Flora Mutere Okuku, Technical University of Kenya, Nairobi
Glenn Perkins, CAMOC Chair, Greensboro (NC) History Museum
Lilly Tuttle, PhD, Museum of the City of New York
Johanna Vähäpesola, CAMOC Secretary, KAMU Espoo City Museum
Annemarie de Wildt, CAMOC Vice Chair, Amsterdam Museum

CAMOC 2023 Annual Conference