The Collaborative Museum: Embedding Cultural Infrastructure in the City
Summary
Flagship cultural institutions such as museums have long been significant sites of cultural exchange and the urban experience. In the 21st century, museums are increasingly expected to contribute to local place-making and community cultural development. To be successful, new museums must be embedded in their physical and social environments from the outset.
In partnership with the Powerhouse, this project examines the complex processes of collaboration and community engagement needed to embed the new Powerhouse museum in the key Western Sydney city of Parramatta. Anticipated to open in 2025, the establishment of the Powerhouse Parramatta provides a unique opportunity to analyse, and contribute to, the process of embedding the new museum into the physical and community space of Western Sydney in real time.
The project has four strands: contributing to the Australian Culinary Archive in binding culture and community through food in Parramatta; documenting community uses of the Parramatta River; exploring the possibilities of engagement with local creative industries and cultural infrastructures; and the development of working principles for the research community associated with the Parramatta Powerhouse’s collaboration space within the new museum.
Presentation & Events
The City, the River and the Museum: Ways of Knowing the Parramatta/Burramatta River - November 2023
Ien Ang, ’Embedding a Flagship Museum in the City: Cultural Infrastructure and Communities in Expanding Sydney’, Keynote address, 5th ANCER Conference – Ecologies of the Arts: Sustainable Futures, New Creative Economies and the Management of Arts and Culture, LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore. - December 2022
Ien Ang, ’The Collaborative Museum’, Masterclass presentation, Co-designing Socio-Cultural Infrastructures for Inclusive Cities, Erasmus Initiative Vital Cities and Citizens, Erasmus University Rotterdam. - November 2022
Researcher(s)
Chief Investigators
- Distinguished Professor Ien Ang
- Professor Deborah Stevenson
- Dr Malini Sur
- Dr Zelmarie Cantillon
- Dr Alison Barnes
Research Fellow
Partner Investigators: Powerhouse - Dr Deborah Lawler-Dormer; Ms Emily McDaniel, Ms Lisa Ffrench, Anni Turnbull; Nina Earl.
Funding: ARC Linkage Grant
Period: 2021 – 2025
Contact: Dr Cecelia Cmielewski at c.cmielewski@westernsydney.edu.au
