Representatives of 11 Polish museum institutions are participating in a RE-ORG workshop at the National Museum in Poznań from 19-30 September 2022. The RE-ORG Poland project is funded by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland and implemented in cooperation with the National Institute for Museums and Public Collections (NIMOZ).
The workshop provides the tools to implement the RE-ORG Method: a practical tool, developed by ICCROM and UNESCO, that provides resource materials for training programmes and strategies for museum staff to regain control of their collections in storage.
Twenty participants, six trainers from Poland and three mentors from ICCROM came together to reorganize the storage areas of the Wielkopolska Military Museum and the Museum of Musical Instruments – two branches of the National Museum in Poznań. The main coordinator and mentor of the training, Gaël de Guichen, is supported by Aida Nunes, a conservator from Portugal, and Maria Jose Gracia Tarragona from the Center for the Restoration of Movable Property in Catalonia (CRBMC).
Workshop participants will practice each step of the storage reorganization process – from preparation to condition assessment, planning and implementation – in a real museum context. This process addresses problems in four areas: the building and space, the type and vulnerability of the collection, the storage furniture and equipment and the collections management procedures. By the end of the two weeks, workshop participants will be familiar with the RE-ORG Method and working on a plan to reorganize their museum collection storage.
On 24 September, the National Museum in Poznań's education department surprised workshop attendees with a mini-RE-ORG workshop for youth! The museum presented a one-hour, condensed version of the nearly two-week programme to museum employees' children. They learned about the role of the museum, putting on exhibitions, collections and how to organize them, and the need for storage. The kids' workshop ended with a visit to the Museum of Fine Arts' pristine storage areas. Involving young people in RE-ORG has always been a goal of ours, and it was terrifically demonstrated with this mini-RE-ORG in Poznań.