At this year’s four-day conference “EMYA 2016”, which was held in Spain in the city of San Sebastian and Tolosa from April 6-9, 2016, with the presence of 46 museums from 25 European countries, nominated candidates from Bosnia and Herzegovina also participated, namely: “Museum Herzegovina Mostar” from Mostar and “Memorial Gallery 7/11/95 Srebrenica” from Sarajevo.
April 6 – Pre-conference day
The guests were welcomed by the representatives of the city and the Basque region (the mayor of San Sebastian, the mayoress of Tolosa, the representative of the tourism board of the Basque region), then the President of the European Forum of Museums and the President of ICOM. The official opening was held in the evening. San Sebastián is a city that was declared “European City of Culture 2016”.
April 7 – 23 presenters presented themselves to the judges and jury as well as other participants through a ten-minute presentation and answers to questions.
In the afternoon, a tour of Tolosa was arranged, and at the end, eco-products would be presented in the town square along with a rich musical program of the Basque region.
April 8 – continuation of the presentation of the museum. The Museum of Herzegovina Mostar and Gallery 11.07.95 presented themselves here. Srebrenica from Sarajevo. The content and work of the Museum of Herzegovina was presented by senior curator Ibrahim Dizdar on the topic of the nomination on achievements in raising the quality of the museum’s activities. Special attention was attracted by the presentation of the new department of the museum “MuM – Interpretative Center”, which has been in existence since 2014, as well as the specificity of the Museum of Herzegovina due to the position of all four of its departments, which are located in the UNESCO zone, in the immediate vicinity of the symbol of the city of Mostar, the Old bridge.
At the end of this second working day, museum delegations visited the Baleciaga Museum in the town of Getaria. There was a tour of the old town center of this small fishing town, a visit to the San Francisco Church and a visit to the museum itself. This museum presents the life and work of the famous Marquis Balenciaga, who donated his collection to his hometown.
April 9 – discussion of the conference of the European Forum of Museums
Before the actual discussion, the conference participants were addressed by:
- Hans Martin Hinz, President of ICOM
- Vesna Marjanović, representative of museums and democracy in the Council of Europe
- Minister of Culture of Spain
- President of the cultural and tourist board of the Basque province.
Given that one of the awards was established as an award by the Kenneth Hudson Foundation 39 years ago, there was also an address from the representative of this foundation, which awards a special Kenneth Hudson Award every other year within the framework of this conference.
Eithne Owens addressed the Committee of the European Council of Museums with her presentation “Museum Experience”.
The end of this year’s conference of the European Forum of Museums was devoted to the discussion about the way of work and the great diversity and specificity that the museums of the 25 nominated countries presented in the work of the conference.
In the working part, we also heard an address from the delegation of the city of Paris (France), which will host EMYA 2017 in 2017. All nominated museums were presented with Certificates for “immeasurable contribution to raising the quality of museum work in public activities”.
After the tour of the Euskal Herria – Museum in the town of Gernika, the awards ceremony of this year’s EMYA 2016 conference was held. The ceremony itself was held at the Basque Culinary Center in San Sebastian.
PRIZES
- The prize for the Museum of Europe 2016 went to the “Museum of the History of the Jews of Poland”, Warsaw, Poland
- The 2016 Council of Europe Award went to the “European Solidarity Center from Gdansk”, Poland
- The 2016 Silleto Award was awarded to the “Vukovar City Museum”, Croatia
- The 2016 Kenneth Hudson Foundation Award went to the museum from the Netherlands “Micropia”, Amsterdam
- The Special Sustainability Award 2016 was won by the “Bibracte Museum”, Mont Beuvray, France
- In 2016, the “Archaeological Museum of Tegea”, Greece, received a special award
- In 2016, the Museum “BZ ’18 – ’48, Un monumento, una citta, due dittature: un percorso espositivo nel Monumento alla Vittoria” received a special recognition.
- In 2016, the “State Military Museum”, Soest, the Netherlands, received a special award
- Special recognition in 2016 was given to the “Gallery of the Information Age, Science Museum” London, Great Britain
- Special recognition in 2016 went to the “Withworth Art Gallery”, Manchester, Great Britain
