How are we - museum professionals around the world - dealing with colonial collections? How do we critically engage with the museum’s own histories and reflect on their role in society in the face of these challenges? How can we handle collections created and collected during colonial times in more caring and ethical ways? How do we navigate and react to contestations over certain histories and heritage?
This knowledge exchange programme brings together a group of young professionals from around the world working in museums or collection-managing organisations to reflect on these questions and to exchange knowledge and experiences regarding their working practices.
The participants of Sharing Stories on Contested Histories edition 2024 in the Lichthal of Wereldmuseum Amsterdam
About the programme
Many museums or other collection-managing organisations hold collections from or with a colonial context, urging professionals working with such objects to reflect on their own working practices and their role in society. This requires diving into such institutions’ recent and less recent past, and to the histories and practices of museums themselves.
The 2025 edition of the Sharing Stories on Contested Histories programme will explore present topics such as conducting provenance research, handling restitution requests, working with communities of origin, and dealing with public opinion and political dynamics, by stimulating and facilitating an exchange of knowledge, tools and experiences regarding our professional practices.
The programme touches on many aspects of museum practice, such as exhibition-making, public programming, research and developing (international) collaborations. It involves reflecting on our individual positionalities and acknowledging our institutions' entanglements with these histories – think, for example, of museums founded in colonial times to support colonial policies and handling historic objects and belongings that are now at the centre of restitution debates. It requires developing practices of care, inclusivity and accessibility, and sometimes imagining new concepts and professional practices that speak to different challenges and needs.
The increasing focus on notions of care and reparative practices is an important and urgent development in the museum sectors all over the world. Yet it is also a challenging task, as it often involves navigating opposing perspectives and different kinds of tensions and emotions, and sometimes facing resistance from within or outside one’s organisation. The Sharing Stories on Contested Histories programme brings together a diverse group of young professionals working at museums or other collection-managing organisations from different countries around the world to facilitate an exchange on the work practices involved in addressing these challenges.
Participants will be invited to bring in their own case study, which will be used for exploration and discussion during the programme. We believe that exchanging knowledge and experience with peers, working in different contexts, can be really impactful. It can lead to the development of new insights, practices and tools, while learning about each other’s (entangled) histories and building more equitable relations.
We will address these issues by using real case studies from the participants themselves and from different contexts in the Netherlands. Through lectures given by invited speakers from around the world, contributions from the participants, listening sessions, site visits in the Netherlands, workshops and team projects, this programme facilitates a space for learning and unlearning, reflecting, exploring, and experimenting, while developing new ideas, tools and practices together. The programme will involve working together on concrete shared challenges within the professional practices of the participants, and sharing insights and results with a larger group.
One underlying theme of this programme is an awareness of, and ability to deal with contested histories, also in correlation with ongoing forms of inequality and injustice. Furthermore, we will reflect on the impact of such contestations in different contexts. We will focus particularly on colonial histories, because of their entangled character and the way they impacted and continue to impact societies, albeit in different ways.
The programme is structured around four key interconnected themes that speak to different yet overlapping roles and tasks of museums and professionals:
Self-reflecting: Acknowledging our positionality, colonial histories, and their afterlives in the present, including of and within the museum itself.
Activating: Developing practices of care and repair in which museums can contribute to positioning their colonial collections.
Co-creating: Sharing power, making space, building communities, and more equitable relations on different levels (local, national, international).
(Re-)imagining: Freely exploring the role of museums and heritage in a changing society.
This programme is set-up for young professionals working at museums or collection-managing organisations who are actively dealing with the issues described above. We expect participants to have at least three years of work experience in this field and to actively contribute to the programme by bringing in reflections from their own practice and a case study which represents questions or challenges they are facing.
Professionals based in or from one of the following countries: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Ghana, Hungary, India, Italy, Indonesia, Japan, Morocco, the Kingdom of the Netherlands (both European and Caribbean regions of the Netherlands), Poland, Spain, Sri Lanka, South Africa, South Korea, Suriname, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and the United States.
Sharing Stories on Contested Histories is a project of the International Heritage Cooperation programme of the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE), executed together with the Reinwardt Academy (Amsterdam University of the Arts). With different editions in 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024, Sharing Stories on Contested Histories approaches challenges in the field of cultural heritage that are widely shared by bringing together professionals from different countries to exchange perspectives and develop new knowledge and practices together. These challenges are not confined within national borders. We believe that it is only by joining forces that we can fully benefit from the potential of cultural heritage to address current challenges. Sharing Stories on Contested Histories aims to contribute to an international dialogue on the practices involved in navigating complex histories and their legacies today, and to strengthen the international heritage community.
The participants of Sharing Stories on Contested Histories edition 2024 at The Black Archives in Amsterdam, listening to Phaedra Haringsma
Set up and dates of the 2025 edition
More information regarding the content of the programme will be added here when ready.
The programme includes online sessions across five weeks and a one-week onsite programme in the Netherlands. It is made up of the following parts:
Preparation: ahead of the start of the programme, participants will receive reading, listening and watching materials.
Online sessions: five sessions which will explore different issues and topics by examining and discussing concrete case studies from different countries. During these sessions, the participants will get to know each other and learn about the work they are doing. This module provides the foundation for the onsite part of the programme.
One-week programme in the Netherlands: onsite programme in the Netherlands. During six full days, participants will be working on real case studies and challenges that they will bring and encounter in the Netherlands.
Wrap-up: One online gathering after the onsite programme to reflect on and share outputs of the programme.
The programme is case-oriented and practical in approach, comprising the following elements:
Lectures will offer both theoretical reflection as well as case-studies.
Listening sessions and discussions will ensure reflection and exchange amongst the participants.
Practical and immersive workshops will lead to deeper insight.
Fieldwork and excursions will offer interactive experiences.
Teamwork will offer opportunities for co-creation, learning and unlearning with and from each other.
Literature will be provided in advance for orientation and self-study.
The online sessions will take place between 12:00 and 14:00 CET on Thursdays or Fridays on the following dates (please also allow time for preparation for these sessions):
Thursday 18 September
Friday 19 September
Friday 26 September
Friday 3 October
Friday 17 October
Friday 14 November
The live programme in the Netherlands will take place from Wednesday 29 October to Wednesday 5 November.
How to apply
The programme will accept a maximum of 20 participants. To apply for the training, candidates are invited to applyvia the button Apply below. You will be asked to submit a motivation letter (maximum 500 words) and a short biography (maximum 300 words) to by 26 May 13:00 CET. If you have any questions regarding your application, you can contact Ruben Smit via ruben.smit@ahk.nl.
Please include the following information in your biography (maximum 300 words):
Education
Relevant work experience
Level of English
The motivation letter should address the following questions and be no longer than 500 words:
Work experience: Please write about your current responsibilities and day-to-day work and how they relate to the topics of this programme. Please provide us with a brief summary of your most important career stages up until now.
Motivation and goals: Why do you want to join, and what do you hope to gain from this programme?
Case study: Which case study, which represents questions or challenges you are facing, can you bring to the programme?
Benefits: How would you use your experience of Sharing Stories on Contested Histories to benefit your work and organisation?
Exchange: What do you feel are the benefits and challenges of participating in an international exchange programme on these topics?
The early- and mid-career participants will be selected on the basis of the following criteria:
You work in a museum or collection-managing organisation in one of the countries listed above.
You are proficient in the English language, both written and spoken, since all participants are expected to actively participate in all parts of the programme.
You have at least three years of relevant work experience.
You are available for the entire duration of the programme, including preparation and home work assignments.
Motivation and level of involvement in the topics addressed in the training.
We will seek to create a balanced representation in the group of participants, taking notice of country, age (up to 35 years) and gender.
The deadline to apply is 26 May 2025, to ensure sufficient time to make the necessary travel arrangements. The results of the selection will be communicated in the second week of June 2025. An interview may be part of the selection process.
The costs for accommodation in Leiden, breakfast, lunch and local transportation (for the duration of the onsite programme) are covered by the organisers. Participants are expected to cover for their travels to the Netherlands (including visa and insurance costs) as well as some of the meals during their stay. In circumstances where applicants would need assistance in seeking external funding to cover travel costs and other expenses, please indicate in your motivation.
About the organisers
This programme is put together and facilitated by Remco Vermeulen (RCE), Diede Bos (RCE), Ruben Smit (Reinwardt Academy), and Ranmalie Jayawardana (Reinwardt Academy). The programme will also include other facilitators and the contribution of many museum professionals from different countries. Their names will be shared once confirmed.
Diede Bos is an advisor on cultural heritage and collection management at the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands, focussing on international heritage cooperation. His interests include: transnational history with a focus on cultural phenomena and the relationship between geopolitics, diplomacy, and (inter)national politics.
Dr Ranmalie Jayawardana (she/her) is a UK-based anthropologist specialising in addressing colonialism and enslavement in critical, collaborative and compassionate ways. Ranmalie has developed content and practices for major redevelopments in Leeds, Liverpool (including the International Slavery Museum) and London, where she currently works as Interpretation Producer for V&A. Ranmalie’s museum practice is deeply informed by her doctoral research on colonialism, conflict and violence in Sri Lanka, contextualising modern injustices within European imperialism. She also advocates for intersectional approaches to poverty alleviation as trustee of charity Good Company. Ranmalie is an alumnus of Sharing Stories on Contested Histories 2024 and is excited to meet a new cohort of global changemakers.
Remco Vermeulen is senior advisor for international cooperation on collection management at the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands, working on knowledge exchange and capacity building programmes in the context of the International Heritage Cooperation programme which is part of the International Cultural Policy of the Netherlands, as well as for the Consortium Colonial Collections. Remco also is an external PhD candidate at the Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences. His research focuses on colonial heritage engagement, particularly by young people, in postcolonial Indonesian cities.
Ruben Smit is Senior Lecturer and International Knowledge-Exchange Programmes Manager at the Reinwardt Academy (Amsterdam University of the Arts). He has been lecturing for the last 19 years at the Reinwardt Academy and has previously held a number of managerial functions in the museum sector. In his capacity as senior trainer, he has a long-standing experience with work in countries like China, Indonesia, Morocco and Russia. His main professional interest are focused on: audience development and participation, museum exhibiting and interpretation, learning and education, and international training and knowledge sharing.
About the facilitating organisations
The Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE) is closely involved in listing, preserving, sustainably developing, and providing access to cultural heritage in the Netherlands. The RCE is the link between policymakers, academics, and practitioners, providing advice, knowledge, and information, and performing certain statutory duties. The Sharing Stories on Contested Histories programme falls within the RCE’s International Heritage Cooperation programme, that in turn stems from the International Cultural Policy of the Netherlands. Responsibility for the Netherlands’ international cultural policy is jointly shared by the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Buitenlandse Zaken | BZ), the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation (Buitenlandse Handel en Ontwikkelingssamenwerking | BHOS) and the Minister of Education, Culture and Science (Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap | OCW). In the International Cultural Policy 2025-2028, the RCE has been appointed as one of the executing agencies on the topic of cultural heritage. Other executive organisations are: National Archives, DutchCulture, the Dutch Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage (Kenniscentrum Immaterieel Erfgoed Nederland | KIEN) and the Dutch embassies in the partner countries.
The Reinwardt Academy is a knowledge-, research-, and training centre of cultural heritage in the Netherlands. This vocational university is located in Amsterdam and offers the only bachelor’s programme on cultural heritage available in the Netherlands, as well as a master’s programme on Applied Museum and Heritage studies. Additionally, the Reinwardt Academy operates as a platform for (inter)national heritage professionals to exchange knowledge and experience.
FAQ: Sharing Stories on Contested Histories edition 2025
A participant cannot attend the programme part-time. If you must miss some hours of the programme, you are expected to catch up on the materials on your own time.
If you do not fit one or more of the requirements, the organising team can consider your application based on your professional qualifications. However, the applications that meet all requirements will be prioritised.
The complete programme will be shared in the coming months. Since this online edition accommodates multiple time zones, the schedule can involve irregular work hours for some participants (early in the morning, or late in the evening).
The online part of the 2025 edition will take place via an online communications platform. We will use social media platforms such as WhatsApp for information or quick communication.
Participants will receive a certificate of completion for the programme.
An overview of reading, listening and watching materials will be shared before the start of the programme. Participants are expected to prepare for the programme before and during its duration.
Yes, you can apply for the programme.
Yes, you can apply for the programme. However, the organising team will prioritise applications from candidates who are citizens of partner countries.
