Christina Kreps (2003) "Curatorship as Social Practice," Curator 46/3
The development, curatorship, care, and management of museum collections is a specialized area within the field of professional cultural resources management.
It is a practice that involves complex interdisciplinary knowledge and skills while addressing difficult philosophical and practical questions. You’ll be studying with other collections management specialists from across Canada and beyond, led by instructors who are experts in their fields.
This Professional Certificate in cultural resource management is an innovative and accessible part-time program that can be completed entirely by distance courses. It will enhance your ability to develop, manage, and bring meaning to diverse collections.
Applicants to the Professional Specialization Certificate in Collections Management must normally hold a bachelor's degree or its equivalent, be admissible to UVic, and have a minimum of two years of related professional experience in the sector.
Our courses are available in accessible formats to accommodate busy schedules.
These courses are offered in intensive six-day sessions, or in shorter “blended” sessions that include online components. To get you started on each course, you'll receive advance materials and preparatory components to complete before your arrival. Courses are scheduled from 9 am to 4:30 pm from Monday to Saturday with occasional evening group work. Classes are small and emphasize interactivity through a stimulating mix of presentations, activities, field trips, guest speakers, and group and individual assignments.
Distance courses tend to be offered over 14-week periods. Learning at a distance has significant benefits - you can plan your learning schedule to balance professional and personal demands. You should expect to invest about 8- 10 hours per week for each distance course.
Choose the course format that best suits your work, life and learning needs. Regardless of the format, you'll interact with colleagues from across Canada and beyond in stimulating group activities while you relate your learning to practical issues in your workplace.
You are required to complete four courses to earn the professional specialization certificate:
HA 488B Collections Management - and the knowledge they convey—remain a cornerstone of most museums. This course addresses the evolving role that collections play within the framework of institutional mission and community objectives, and builds your capacity to manage collections by developing your knowledge of crucial issues, ethics, policy, technology, accessioning, cataloguing, registration and documentation.
HA 488J Curatorship - Consider collections and acquisitions policies, object-oriented research methods, information management and the contemporary role of the curator in exhibitions and public program applications.
HA 488D Caring for Collections - Investigate the physical characteristics of various types of museum collections, the ways they are affected by a range of environmental factors, and the preventive conservation and treatment policies and procedures that are utilized to ensure the safe-keeping of artifacts and specimens in storage, on exhibit, in transit, and when in use for research and programming purposes.
Plus an elective from our HA 488 series relating to your professional interests. With topics ranging from the management of cultural organizations to web 2.0 technologies to exhibition design and installation, the elective enables you to focus your learning on an area of particular interest.
Call 250-721-8206
In order to perform maintenance on the UVic servers, there will be intermittent outages this Thursday, May 24 from 6:00-8:00 am (Pacific Time). You may not be able to log in to your courses during this period.
If you experience any problems after 8:00 am on Thursday, May 24, please contact the Onlinehelp Desk at 250-721-8476 (toll-free 1-888-721-8476 in North America) or by email at dehelp@uvic.ca.