Center for Museum Studies

Dates: September 5-7, 1996
Location: S. Dillon Ripley Center
1100 Jefferson Drive, SW
Smithsonian Institution
Washington, DC 20560

Designed as expressions of civic pride and national identity, museums have been places of enlightenment and pleasure for generations. But today, museums are in a state of flux, ebbing and flowing in a global community that is changing rapidly. Strong social, political, economic and technical forces, worldwide, are challenging the long-term health of museums.

The Smithsonian Institution hosted "Museums for the New Millennium," September 5-7, 1996, a symposium for the museum community in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Smithsonian. The program brought together museum professionals from the United States and abroad to explore the implications of radical social, economic, technological and political change on the nature and structure of museums for the coming decades. Through plenary and break-out sessions, speakers and participants identified and interpreted significant emerging issues in the field, disseminated new information and diverse perspectives, and examined the role and function of museums in the 21st century.