As a result of the long and devoted work of dozens of experts and professional juries, more than 40 major award schemes from around the world announced some 300 prize-winning museum, heritage and conservation projects in 2016. At The Best in Heritage conference, the featured, handpicked selection of the most innovative and inspiring candidates from this accumulation of quality will represent a balanced variety of best practices.

The gathering will consist of two events: IMAGINES, a one day event where multimedia and new technology achievements will be presented; and the core event, with its packed two-day schedule. Over 40 projects from China, the United States, Japan, India, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Russia and Europe will be presented. The conference is a rare international platform where official, private and civil society institutions & actions meet.

The audience, moderators-judges, and the keynote speakers will vote for “The Project of Influence 2017”, for each part of the programme. The two representatives of the winning projects will have the privilege of delivering the key-note speeches at the 2018 conference, and will be invited to present their institutions projects at the EXPONATEC fair in Cologne, in November 2017.

In addition to its global survey of best practices, the conference features rich social and cultural content organised with help of Dubrovnik Museums, Dubrovnik Archives, – all taking place in the Renaissance city centre of Dubrovnik, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The dinner-receptions, all located in the historic palaces, will provide an inspiring and relaxed atmosphere, ideal for networking, discussing potential collaborations and getting to know prize-winning professionals in person.

The conference is organised in partnership with EUROPA NOSTRA & the Endowment Fund of ICOM, with the local partnership of Dubrovnik Museums, the support of the City of Dubrovnik and Ministry of Culture of Croatia, and with sponsorship from Meyvaert Glass Engineering.

Website: https://www.thebestinheritage.com/conference 

The Programme

Thursday, 28 September

8.00 – 19.30 Registration for all events in the lobby of Theatre “Marin Držic”

16.00 –  18.00 Guided tour of the Dubrovnik City walls, for all registered participants

​Official opening and IMAGINES

Multimedia Hall VISIA ​ – Moderator: Alex Palin

10.00 – 10.10 The Best in Heritage Official Opening

10.10 – 10.30 Keynote address, Joost van der Spek, Tinker Imagineers – IMAGINES Project of Influence winner 2016

10.30 – 10.45 Project i 1: Heritage in Motion / Apps for mobile devices Award

Virtual Architecture Museum: Russia by Vizerra

10.45 – 11.00 Project i 2: 2016 MUSE Awards / Games and Augmented Reality Gold Award

Sydvestjyske Museer: Augmenting the Historic City: Trade and Merchants’ Life in Ribe

​11.00 – 11.15 Project i 3: AVICOM 2016 F@IMP Awards / Video Art Prize laureate

Mosman Art Gallery: “SYRIA”

11.15 – 11.30 Project i 4: European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Award 2016

Granaries of Memory

11.30 – 11.45 Project i 5: Museums and the Web GLAMi Awards 2016 / Platinum

AnnoTate

​11.45 – 12.00 Project i 6: 2016 MUSE Award for Mobile Application

Brooklyn Museum: ASK Brooklyn Museum

12.00 – 12.15 Project i 7: Heritage in Motion / Best Achievement Award 2016

Provincie Limburg: Limburg 1914-1918, Small Stories From a Great War

12.15 – 12.30 Project i 8: AVICOM / FIAMP 2016 Website and Webart Gold

“The Voyage On Board the Cruiser Dmitrii Donskoi” by Rosphoto

12:30 – 13:30 lunch & coffee

​13.30 – 13.45 Project i 9: Heritage in Motion / Websites and Online Content Award 2016

ArchivPortal – D – Building a German Archives Portal by Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg

13.45 – 14.00 Project i 10: Museums and the Web GLAMi Awards 2016 People’s choice

British Art Studies Online Journal

14.00 – 14.15 Project i 11: Museums + Heritage Awards 2016 / Educational Initiative

Historic Royal Palaces, Movie Maker Mission

14.15 – 14.30 Project i 12: 2016 MUSE Award for Video, Film, and Computer Animation

Field Museum: The Switch: A Bill Stanley Story

​14.30 – 14.45 Project i 13: MAPDA 2016 / Institution Website Level B Best in Show – Multimedia

Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu Website

​14.45 – 15.00 Project i 14: European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Award 2016

Prehistoric Picture Project. Pitoti: Digital Rock-Art in Cambridge​

15.00 – 15.10 Vote on the “IMAGINES Project of Influence 2017″

15.10 – 15.30 Closing Remarks

19.30 – 21.00 The Best in Heritage Welcome ceremony in the Theatre “Marin Držić”

With Keynote address by Dr Roberto Nardi, Centro di Conservazione Archeologica Roma – winner of Project of Influence award 2016

21.00 – 23.00 Welcome party in Sponza Palace, Venue courtesy of the Dubrovnik Archives

​Friday, 29 September

“Marin Držić” Theatre: Presentations of projects

Morning session moderator: David Fleming

​9.30 – 9:55 Project 1: European Museum Forum / Council of Europe Museum Prize 2016

European Solidarity Centre, Gdańsk, Poland

9:55 – 10.20 Project 2: European Museum Academy Micheletti Award 2016

Den Gamle By, Aarhus, Denmark

​10.20 – 10.45 Project 3: Chinese Museums Association / Most Innovative Museums of China 2016

Guangdong Museum, Guangzhou, China

10.45- 11.10 Project 4: Estonian Museum Awards 2016 / Best Permanent Exhibition

Estonian National Museum, Tartu, Estonia

11.10 – 11.40 coffee

11.40 – 12.05 Project 5: UNESCO/Jikji Memory of the World Prize 2016

Iberarchivos Programme for the Development of Ibero-American Archives, Madrid , Spain

12.05 – 12.30 Project 6: American Alliance of Museums / Excellence in Exhibition Awards 2016

San Diego Natural History Museum: “Coast to Cactus in Southern California”, San Diego, United States

​12.30 – 12.55 Project 7:  Portuguese Museum Award 2016​

Museu da Misericórdia, Porto, Portugal

​13.00 – 15.00 lunch break

​Afternoon session moderator: Suay Aksoy

15.00 – 15.25 Project 8: European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Awards 2016

Conservation Study of The Village Gostuša, Niš, Serbia

15.25 – 15.50 Project 9: Intermuseum 2016 festival Grand-prix / ICOM Russia Award

State Darwin Museum, Moscow, Russia

15.50 – 16.15 Project 10: Swedish Museum of the Year 2016 Award

National Museum of Science and Technology, Stockholm, Sweden

​16.15 – 16.40 Project 11: Telegraph Family Friendly Museum Award 2016

York Art Gallery, York, United Kingdom

16.40 – 17.10 coffee 

​17.10 – 17.35 Project 12: European Museum Forum / European Museum of the Year Award 2016

POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, Warsaw, Poland

17.35 – 18.00 Project 13: ServiceIQ 2016 New Zealand Museum Awards / Best Museum Project

Pearson & Associates: Kaiapoi Museum, Kaiapoi, New Zealand

18.00 – 18.25 Project 14: European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Awards 2016

Employees and activists of the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

18.25 – 18.45 SPOTLIGHT: Dr An Laishun, Vice President and Secretary General, Chinese Museum Association

“The Development and Innovation in Museums in China”

​18.45  – 21.00 free time

21.00 – 23.00 Ethno dinner-party offered by Dubrovnik museums in Rupe Museum

With guided tour of the Rupe Museum 20.00 – 21.00

Saturday, 30 September

“Marin Držić” theatre: Presentations of projects

​Morning session moderator: Carl Depauw

9.30 – 9.55 Project 15: European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Awards 2016

Adopt-A-Monument, Tampere, Finland

9.55 – 10.20 Project 16: European Museum Forum / Silletto Prize 2016

Vukovar Municipal Museum, Vukovar, Croatia

10.20 – 10.45 Project 17: Japan Institute of Architects Grand Prix 2016

Oita Prefectural Art Museum, Oita, Japan

10.45 – 11.10 Project 18: Norwegian Museum Of The Year 2016

Vest-Agder Museum, Kristiansand, Norway

11.10 – 11.40 coffee 

11.40 – 12.05 Project 19:  European Museum Forum / Kenneth Hudson Award 2016

Micropia, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

12.05 – 12.30 Project 20:  EU Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Award 2016

Preserving and Promoting Dance Heritage, Berlin, Germany

12.30 – 12.55 Project 21: National Lottery Best Heritage Project 2016

Lion Salt Works, Cheshire, United Kingdom

13.00 – 15.00 lunch break

​Afternoon session moderator: Viv Golding

​15.00 – 15.25 Project 22: European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Award 2016

Wimpole Hall’s Gothic Tower in Wimpole, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom

15.25 – 15.50 Project 23: Museums + Heritage Permanent Exhibition Award 2016

Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh: The Lister Project, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

15.50 – 16.15 Project 24: International Association for Children in Museums / Children in Museums Award 2016

GeoFort, Herwijnen, The Netherlands

​16.15 – 16.40 Project 25: Chinese Museums Association / Most Innovative Museums of China 2016

Changzhou Museum, Changzhou, China

16.40 – 17.10 coffee

​17.10 – 17.35 Project 26: Museums + Heritage International Award 2016

Horsens Museum and Kvorning Design & Communication, Horsens Prison Museum, Denmark

 17.35 – 18.00 Project 27: MAGNA Awards 2016 / Interpretation, Learning & Audience Engagement

Museum Victoria and Princes Hill Primary School: Building Our School Museum, Melbourne, Australia

 18.00 – 18.25 Project 28: Soft Power Destination Awards 2016 / Soft Power Organization

Canadian Museum for Human Rights, Winnipeg, Canada

​18.25 – 18.30 Vote on the “Project of Influence 2017” by the audience and moderators

18.30 – 21.00 free time

21.00 – 23.00 Closing ceremony, Dinner and farewell party in Rector’s palace

With guided tour of the Cultural History Museum 20.00 – 21.00

Sunday, 1 October

The Post Conference Excursion by bus (only upon reservation)

THE CITY OF KOTOR (UNESCO World Heritage Site) and THE BAY OF KOTOR (MONTENEGRO)