Call for articles to be published in a thematic dossier in Revista Lusófona de Educação (RLE) as part of the scientific output of muSEAum – Branding the Sea Museums of Portugal, the FCT-funded research and innovation project
Editors: Isabel Duarte, Nuno Cintra Torres, Célia Quico, Rita Grácio, Rute Muchacho, Eduardo Sarmento (CICANT -- Centre for Research in Applied Communication, Culture, and New Technologies, Lusófona University Lisbon, Portugal).
The callmuSEAum – Branding the Sea Museums of Portugal is a three-year FCT-funded research and innovation project (PTDT/EGE-OGE/29755/2017) developed by CICANT, a research unit of Lusófona University Lisbon.
The project created the muSEAum network of around 70 sea museums -- museums with a direct or indirect relationship with the sea. Two books were produced (PDFs available at www.muSEAum.pt). Two webinar series and online workshops took place with the participation of several sea museums. Articles were published in national and international journals, some of them peer-reviewed. Researchers participated in national and international conferences. Two major conferences were organised. Interactive prototypes and models were developed and deployed. After an interregnum due to the Covid 19 restrictions, the third muSEAum conference will take place in April 2022.
muSEAum is now pleased to invite researchers, academics, museum professionals, public bodies specialists, and other interested parties to present articles to be published in a thematic dossier entitled “The muSEAum: Water, Fire, Earth, Air” included in a forthcoming issue of Revista Lusófona de Educação (RLE). The articles accepted for publication will become part of the project’s scientific output.
BackgroundMuseums are their collections, building, location, accessibilities, natural environment, community, professionals, resources, reputation and publics. Museums should promote the creation of "landscape communities" aware of their identity, involved in their preservation, participating in their sustainable development (Siena Charter ICOM Italy 2014). Museums inspire powerful and identity-building learning in children, young people, and communities. Investment in the arts and culture can drive improvements in the quality of the local environment and the standard of living of local communities. Regional and local museums promote local participation, identity, and common heritage. Museums have positive spill over impacts in the economy covering areas such as tourism, skills, improving productivity, and as catalysts for economic regeneration. The importance of the branding and marketing orientation in museums is today recognised as a management discipline of great importance. However, many small and medium-sized European museums need to improve their brand management. Periphery, management instability, scarcity of financial resources, marketing and technological skills are some of the major challenges facing museums located far from major urban centres. Other constraints are little or no audience research; social media not used to its full potential; local partnerships could help more; the use of the English language is lacking; merchandising is rare; only a tiny percentage of the budget is allocated to communications and advertising; a unique visitor experience as a branding concept needs to be developed; branding the museum is and irregular activity; digital marketing is rudimentary. Developmental areas are the visitor-centric approach; designing visitor journeys; positioning the museum in the cultural and tourist markets; segmenting and defining target audiences; communicating the brand message over a choice of platforms. In some countries, financial autonomy is restricted by national legal frameworks hampering initiatives and the proactive search of funding sources alternative to State and regional bodies. The Covid-19 pandemic caused great difficulties to museums, but many reacted with innovative solutions, many digital-based, providing valuable lessons for post-pandemic times.
Topics- The muSEAum: Ethnographic, archaeological, arts repository? Social, cultural, identity building heritage forum? Place branding asset?
- Branding: Can small and medium-sized museums compete in a brand-dense world?
- Networking and partnering: A burden or a must-have?
- Digital skills and technologies in post-pandemic times: What’s new?
- Best practices: Are big museum practices applicable by small and medium-sized museums?
- Funding: How can museums improve their financial resources within the constraints of the present legal framework?
Submission: April 30, 2022
Evaluation: May 31, 2022
Author notification: June 30, 2022
Publication: Second semester 2022
RLE submission rulesArticles are accepted in Portuguese, English, French, or Castilian. Max. length: 40,000 characters with spaces, including the abstract with 1,500 characters in each of the four languages. Figures, tables (jpeg), images (jpeg) must not exceed 25 pages. See also revistas.ulusofona.pt/submissions
