Sharing Stories on Contested Histories brings together young professionals working in museums and collection-managing organisations from around the world. Through the exchange of knowledge, experiences, and working practices, we seek to answer the questions below:
- 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 histories?
- How can we handle collections collected during colonial times in more caring and ethical ways?
- How do we navigate and respond to contestations over histories and heritage?
Image: Remco Vermeulen
The participants of Sharing Stories on Contested Histories edition 2025 doing a morning session to kick-off the day
About the programme
The programme will explore topics including provenance research, restitution, collaboration with communities of origin, care, representation, exhibiting and design, and educational and public programming. It is designed to help you understand and work with contested histories - particularly those related to contemporary injustice. We focus on coloniality, given its global scope and ongoing impact.
With an emphasis on building relationships and trust, the programme supports the development of accesible, inclusive, and caring practices. We encourage participants to reflect on personal and institutional positionalities and to imagine new ways of working. To support this, you will be asked to contribute a real-life case study from your own practice as the basis for this shared exploration.
Learning with your global peers working in different contexts can generate fresh insights, strengthen understanding of entangled histories, and foster more equitable and durable professional relationships. Real case studies from your own practices will be the basis for shared exploration.
The programme is organised around five interconnected professional practices:
- Self-reflecting:
Recognising our positionality, colonial histories, and their continued influence today, including within our own institutions. - Activating:
Developing practices or care and repair and exploring how museums can responsibly position their colonial collections. - Co-creating:
Sharing power, creating space, and building communities and more equitable relationships at local, national and international levels. - Re-imagining:
Exploring new possibilities for the role of museums and heritage in a time of rapid social change. - Unlearning:
Recognizing, questioning, and dismantling the dominant ingrained knowledge frameworks, assumptions, and habits of seeing the world shaped by coloniality.
Sharing Stories on Contexted Histories aims to support an international dialogue on navigating complex histories and their legacies, and to strengthen the global heritage community. The programme is part of the International Heritage Cooperation programme of the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands and is delivered in partnership with the Reinwardt Academy (Amsterdam University of the Arts). Since 2018, Sharing Stories on Contested Histories has brought together (young) heritage professionals from around the world to exchange perspectives, collaborate and develop new knowledge and practices in response to these shared international challenges.
Image: Remco Vermeulen
The participants of the public World Café event, part of the Sharing Stories on Contested Histories 2025 programme
Programme approach and format
The programme consists of online sessions spread over four weeks and a weeklong onsite programme in the Netherlands.
- Preparation
Before the programme begins, you will receive reading, listening and viewing materials. - Online sessions
Four sessions exploring key issues through concrete case studies from different countries. You will get to know each other and learn about each other's work. This module lays the groundwork for the onsite programme. - Full-week-in-person programme in the Netherlands
A full week in which you will work on real case studies and challenges that fellow participants bring from their own contexts, as well as those encountered in the Netherlands during various fieldtrips. Lectures, workshops and a World Café will offer time to share and compare ideas and concepts and thus deepen the understanding. - Wrap-up
One online session following the onsite week to reflect on and share the programme's outcomes.
Online sessions will take place between 12:00 and 14:00 CET on Thursdays or Fridays on the following dates (please allow time for preparation for these sessions).
- Thursday 1 October: kick-off and meeting each other
- Friday 2 October: lecture and Q&A's
- Friday 9 October: lecture and presenting dilemma's
- Friday 16 October: teams working on their dilemmas
- Friday 23 October: lecture and sharing updated dilemma's
- Tuesday 3 till Tuesday 10 November: in-person programme in Leiden
Please note that the in-person programme will be fully used from early mornings till (sometimes) evenings - the weekend will be free. - Friday 27 November: recaps and futures
How to apply
Interested to join this year's edition of Sharing Stories on Contested Histories? You can find more information about the selection criteria and the application process below.
The programme is limited to a maximum of 20 participants. Apply via the Apply Button below. You will be asked to submit a motivation letter (maximum 500 words) and a short biography (maximum 300 words) by Thursday 28 May 13:00 CET.
If you are based in, or originate from, the following partner countries of the Netherlands International Heritage Cooperation Programme, then you are eligible to apply: Australia, Belgium, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Ghana, Hungary, India, Italy, Indonesia, Japan, Morocco, the Kingdom of the Netherlands (Europeans and Caribbean regions), Poland, Spain, Sri Lanka, South Africa, South Korea, Suriname, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the United States.
We will seek to create a balanced representation in the group of participants, taking notice of country, age (up to around 35 years) and gender.
As an early- and mid-career participant you will be selected based on the following criteria:
- You work in a museum or collection-managing organisation in one of the countries listed above.
- You have at least three years of relevant work experience.
- You are motivated and / or actively engaging with the issues dealing with coloniality as described above and will bring an aligned case-study for exploration.
- You are proficient in the English language, both written and spoken, since all participants are expected to actively contribute to all aspects of the programme.
Please note: To maxime the programme's value, we expect all participants to be fully present and engaged, setting aside other work or obligations during both online sessions and the in-person programme.
The motivation letter should address the following:
- Work experience: Outline how your current responsibilities relate to the programme's themes.
- Motivation and goals: Why do you want to join? What do you hope to gain?
- Case study: Describe a case from your own practice that reflects the questions or challenges you wish to explore.
- Benefits: How will your participation benefit your work and organisation?
- Exchange: What do you see as the benefits and challenges of taking part in an international exchange on these topics?
The deadline to apply is 28 May 2026 13:00 (CET). An interview may be part of the selection process. The results of the selection will be communicated in the third week of June 2026. For questions regarding your application, contact ruben.smit@ahk.nl.
The organisers cover the costs of accomodation in Leiden, breakfast, lunch, and local transport during the onsite programme. Participants are expected to cover their travel to the Netherlands (including visa and insurance costs) and some meals during their stay. If you require support in seeking external funding for travel or other expenses, please mention this in your motivation letter.
About the organising team
This programme is put together and facilitated by:
Image: Fiona Asokacitta
Fiona Asokacitta is an Indonesian PhD student in Anthropology at the University of Oxford researching British museum collections of Indonesian kerises, a traditional dagger originating from Java. She is also a volunteer with the British Museum's Southeast Asian collection, documenting and researching the Raffles collection of Indonesian objects, and an Editorial Assistant with the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. Fiona's research background focusses on contentious museum displays of Indonesian history. Fiona is an alumnus of Sharing Stories on Contested Histories 2024.
Image: Asmara Pelupessy
Asmara Pelupessy is a Bay Area, California-bred and Amsterdam-based cultural worker with decolonial ambitions. She works part-time as a researcher and project lead for the Research Group Cultural Heritage at the Reinwardt Academy (Amsterdam University of Arts), and full time as a mom. Asmara has worked in and across photography, contemporary art, media, education and heritage. In 2011 she co-edited the book UNFIXED: Photography and Postcolonial Perspectives in Contemporary Art. Lately her work engages contemporary makers, inclusion and policy.
Image: Ruben Smit
Ruben Smit is senior lecturer, researcher and programme lead International Knowledge Exchange Initiatives. He has been lecturing for the last two decades at the Reinwardt Academy and has previously held several managerial functions in the museum sector. In his capacity as senior trainer, he has a long-standing experience with work in countries including China, Indonesia, Morocco and Russia. His main professional interests are focused on: audience development and participation, museum exhibiting and interpretation, learning and education, and international knowledge sharing.
Image: Remco Vermeulen
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 as well as for the Consortium Colonial Collections. Remco is also an external PhD candidate at the Erasmus School of Social and Behaviourial Sciences. His research focus on colonial heritage engagement, particularly by young people, in postcolonial Indonesian cities.
FAQ: Sharing Stories on Contested Histories edition 2026
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 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.