Does Stakeholder Management Contribute to a Museum’s Sustainable Development?

Museums are increasingly more connected to the concerns of the present-day society. In order to be actively involved in the development of the society and well-being of their communities, museums are more connected than ever, are active partners for their stakeholders. Having this new framework in mind, the present paper investigates the complex relationships between stakeholders and museums, as well as the role stakeholders could have to achieve the museum’s sustainable development. The present paper investigates how Romanian museums are using the stakeholder management approach to ensure their sustainable development. The interviews reveal why the funding bodies are considered by far the most important stakeholders. Other museums are generally ranked among the most important partners, along with local cultural organizations and educational ones. Sustainable development and increased impact on the museum’s community are constant concerns, but the main stakeholders and partners are rather narrowly considered

Communicating Museums: A Textual Analysis of Content and Interaction Management

Museums, through their institutional discourses, are playing an important but sometimes neglected role in enforcing social practices and creating social identities. With the new digital era, museums had to adapt to new forms of communication: in an environment that, at least, gives everybody an equal voice, museums managed to communicate themselves without renouncing their position of depositaries of knowledge and authority. By analyzing online communication, through content management and interaction management (on websites, Facebook pages) the current study aims to explore the mechanisms enabling museums to convey information about their specific features (space, access, learning and interpreting) while retaining a main role not only as communicators, but also as actors reinforcing the larger system of beliefs and knowledge that govern what counts as right or wrong, good or bad, normal or abnormal, in a particular society. Thus, by combining communication seen as a management tool and textual analysis, this study illustrates the application of diverse qualitative research methods in the fields of management, and, specifically, in the field of communication management

BUILDING A DISCIPLINE. THE SETUP OF COMMUNICATION AS AN ACADEMIC DISCIPLINE IN ROMANIA

This paper aims to shed a light on the importance of looking on the epistemological and methodological grounds of communication as a discipline in Romania in order to be able to discuss about the professionalization of the domain. We start from the widely acknowledged idea that communication is a new and emerging field, drawing its concepts, theories, and methods from diverse other fields and domains. In Romania, as well as in other former communist countries, after 1990 the changes in the political and economic situation created the premises to establish university programs in communication and to create jobs for people working in communication. All these were possible with the help of “imports” from the Western world, imports that transferred not only concepts and theories, but also the epistemological dispute and weakness of the field. This paper explores the development and the current state of communication as an academic discipline in Romania. Through an analysis of the social documents available on the University program’s website, we seek to understand the theoretical roots of the discipline of communication, as well as its current development.

Romanian Museums under Scrutiny

The museum sector has changed in the past decades, becoming for dynamic, diverse, interactive, participative and innovative. All this shifts make museums more and more appealing and increase the level of satisfaction of museum visits. Understanding to what degree the public perceives and appreciate these trends, could give museum management hints to better fit their development strategies to the audience. Generally, perceptions are very important for appealing organizations. This is valid also for museums. Museum’s image influences the audience’s satisfaction. Perceptions are important for successful museum visits in many ways. Having this is mind, the present study investigates how participative and innovative are considered Romanian museums

New challenges for museum education and communication in Romania. The case study of the National History Museum of Romania and a dedicated educational program regarding its archaeological sites

International audienc

Éducation muséale à la fin du programme : l'évaluation

National audienc

Two projects, one end: bringing the past into the present at Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa

The archaeological site at Ulpia Traiana Sarmisegetusa, being the most visited archaeological site in Romania has already proven its potential as a valuable resource for cultural tourism. The fact that the site is known almost to every Romanian as the place where the roman Emperor Trajan founded the capital of the newly conquest province of Dacia contributes certainly to this considerable popularity. In spite of its status as a place of memory (lieu de memoire), the site has more than one point that can be improved, starting with the ambiguity of "displaying" the monuments revealed through archaeological research and considered for in situ preservation and restoration process. Also one has to mention the lack of structures that could facilitate the comprehension of the ancient city. This paper focuses on two initiatives aiming to improve the general situation of the site, from a tourist perspective and museological valorization. The first one consists in the landscape creation around the site that would create a coherent visiting route, taking into consideration both the needs of tourists and of archaeologists who are still researching the area. The second one refers to the rehabilitation and development of the adjacent site museum, by reemploying an existing building. This new museum will facilitate not only the transmission of meaning and information about the site, but also the social interaction, without producing that fatigue often occurring during a museum visit. In addition to this, both projects are very well suited in relation with local context, past and present, as it is a Roman city in a rural environment. Also, both of them are providing opportunities for implementing a large range of cultural animation activities, which are quite scarce on archaeological sites in Romania

MUSEUMSINTIMESOFTHECOVID-19PANDEMIC. FOCUSONROMANIAANDITALY

Museums depend on two factors to achieve their educational and cultural missions: heritage/collectionsandaudience.Inthepastdecadestheroleofmuseumsinsociety,aswellasthe waytheyrelatewiththeiraudienceschangedsignificantly.Asinmanyotherdomains,theinternet andtechnologicaldevelopmentinfluencedmuseumsípublicoffersandhowtheyinteractwiththeir audiences,eithervisitorsortheonlinepublic.Nevertheless,museumsístrategieshaveconcentrated on effective visitors to the museumsí premises. One of the effects of COVID-19 pandemic was the complete closure of museums around the world. Therefore, museums had to adapt to remain significanttotheiraudienceandtocontinuetoachievetheirmissions.Thepresentinvestigationtries tomapinnovativeapproachesofmuseums,especiallytheonesinRomaniaandItaly.Aspecialfocus isputonthestrategiesadoptedbymuseumsaimingtohelptheircommunitiesbettercopewiththe pandemic

ACTIVISTMUSEUMS-BETWEENINTENTIONSANDPERCEPTIONS

During the last decade, changes in society have triggered a series of new strategic activities undertook by museums. They transitioned to an increased and more consistent presence in the digital space, as well as they began to participate in conversations about recent concerns that currently affect communities. This paper aims to investigate the perception of the general public regarding museums in terms of activism, considering several dimensions - minorities, migration, global warming, education, and social inclusion. It offers a broader vision of how museums in Romania are perceived both as participatory institutions and active Ñcitizensî of society as opposed to their foreign counterparts

Cultural Heritage under Construction: Exploring Stakeholder Perceptions of Preventive Archaeology in Romania

For over two decades, Romania’s fast-growing construction industry made an impact on infrastructure, landscape, and urban areas, contributing to an increase in preventive archeology research activities. The current study aims to explore public perceptions of both archaeology and preventive archeology. It was conducted online, on a convenience sample comprising both professionals within the domain of archeology and heritage safeguarding and research, as well as non-professionals. Its main aim is to shed light on the current situation, given the fact that public perceptions change over time and niche topics such as preventive archaeology pose a specific set of challenges when they have to be publicly addressed by various stakeholders