November 6, 2014

Museums are key players in the arena of cultural property, together with private collectors, local governments, other charitable organizations and sovereign nations.  The question of whether and how an object is truly owned by a particular party is central to many disputes over cultural properties, and consequently a parallel question arises about the nature of cultural stewardship and responsibility. This December, the Drexel Museum Leadership graduate program will host a two-day conference with expert panelists from around the world, who will explore how common ground might be established around these terms.

On Friday, December 12 and Saturday, December 13 in the URBN Annex Screening Room (3401 Filbert Street), speakers who represent collecting institutions as well as legal philosophers, architects, critics and private collectors will join in a series of panels around Cultural Properties: Ownership, Stewardship and Responsibility. 

Among the twenty panelists are Timothy Rub, Director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art; Marc Andre-Renold, Director of the Art-Law Centre, Geneva;  Hugh Eakin, Senior Editor of the New York Review of Books; Kwame Anthony Appiah, Professor of Philosophy and Law at NYU; Jay Bernstein, University Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the New School; Larry Rosen, Professor of Anthropology at Princeton; Marsha and Jeffrey Perelman, Al West, and Fred Simeone, collectors; Manny Wheeler, Director of the Navaho Nation Museum; Julian Siggers, University of Pennsylvania Museum Director; and Tang Keyang, Assistant Professor at Renmin University, Beijing.

Distinguished Visiting Professor Derek Gillman organized the conference as part of the University's commitment to cultural debate.  Drexel’s Museum Leadership Program is directed by Dr. Danielle Rice. Click to learn more about the conference, which is generously co-sponsored by the Art-Law Centre at the University of Geneva. Click here to learn more about the Museum Leadership Master of Science program.