Infographic - RE-ORG Emilia-Romagna in numbers
ICCROM has teamed up with the Cultural Heritage Service of the Emilia-Romagna Region in Italy to deliver the country’s first training course on the RE-ORG method. The course is providing a group of museum professionals from the region with the skills to prepare and implement tailor-made plans for reorganizing collection storage and improving preventive conservation.
The participants are from ten museums in Emilia-Romagna: Fondazione Culture di Santarcangelo di Romagna, MAMbo and Museo Morandi in Bologna, Istituzione Villa Smeraldi - Museo della Civiltà Contadina in Bentivoglio, Musei Civici in Cento, Musei Civici in Forlì, Museo Casa Pascoli in San Mauro Pascoli, Museo Civico in Modena, Museo Diocesano in Fidenza, Raccolta Lercaro in Bologna, and Soprintendenza Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio in Ravenna.
While these museums vary in ownership, size and resources, and hold diverse collections ranging from candelabras to paintings, archaeological finds to agricultural machinery, all identified major issues with their storage.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the course in Emilia-Romagna was redesigned in three parts, including online classes, in a variation on the classic two-week, face-to-face RE-ORG course, which has been successfully implemented in 17 countries around the world.
Part 1: Museum visits
Earlier this year, RE-ORG mentors Gaël de Guichen and Giorgia Bonesso visited the ten museums over four days to learn more about each one’s specific storage problems and management needs, enabling them to better support course participants in outlining proposals for reorganizing the different collections.
Part 2: Online classes
From 26 April to 3 June 2021, participants took part in a series of online classes covering the first three phases of the RE-ORG method, including a storage condition report and action plan, culminating in the presentation of a defined reorganization project for each museum. In the absence of face-to-face learning, the teaching staff considered ways to keep participants engaged and stimulated through group exercises and discussion, such as via a dedicated Facebook page.
Promotion of the course on social media, including by Emilia-Romagna’s Cultural Heritage Service, has also helped start to raise the profile of the RE-ORG method among other institutions in Italy.
Part 3: Practical implementation
With the success of the course to date, the Emilia-Romagna Region has announced its support for the RE-ORG project proposed by the Civic Museum in Modena, which will reorganise a 740 m² storage area housing 3 770 objects. All 21 participants in the online training will come together and apply their skills to implementing the project during the first week of October 2021.