CIMAM 2021 Annual Report
CIMAM is a key generator of content, contacts, and resources for the international modern and contemporary art museum community. We invite you to browse the 2021 Annual Report which highlights the achievements, activities, programs, and finances of CIMAM in the preceding year.
It includes details about the current composition of the Board, the number, geography, and profile of our members, the presence of CIMAM in social media channels, and the press.
The report showcases the activities of CIMAM’s working groups including the Museum Watch actions, the Sustainability and Ecology in Museum Practice Toolkit, the Annual Conference, the Travel Grant Program, and the Outstanding Museum Practices in a Time of Global Crisis. You can also watch the 2021 video-recorded webinars, the speaker conference presentations at CIMAM TV, and the list of institutions granting free access to CIMAM Members, as well as read the conference proceedings of CIMAM's past conferences since 2005!
Message from the CIMAM President
Mami Kataoka, Director of Mori Art Museum, Tokyo
February 2022
It has been already two years of a continued challenge for all modern and contemporary art museums, collections, and the professionals working in them. We have all had to go through an almost 360º transformation in the way we do our jobs – research, exchanging, visiting, meeting, traveling, installing.
In 2021, our focus has been on supporting our members as they dealt with a new reality. We continued offering safe online spaces for members to meet and support one another through the Rapid Response Webinars – a program that we are keeping for 2022.
We encouraged participation and provided inspiring resources by fostering exchange and participation among affiliated professionals, an example of this is the key report produced with the contribution of CIMAM members about Why should museums remain open and operational? highlighting the relevance of museums and their roles in their local contexts launched in January 2021.
We have also released the Toolkit on Environmental Sustainability in the Museum Practice that will be updated twice a year with the latest advancements in the field and which aims to help contemporary art museum professionals to start implementing the necessary changes to become carbon neutral.
Throughout the year, we kept our focus on our values and best practices, advocating for museums and the individuals working in them through the Museum Watch Program. The first edition of the Oustanding Museum Practices Award took place in 2021, intending to promote best practices and to give visibility to the great work that modern and contemporary art institutions are conducting during these difficult times.
And thanks to the powerful support of Travel Grant Funders – The Getty Foundation, V-A-C Foundation, Byucksan Foundation, Ms. Mercedes Vilardell, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Office for Contemporary Art Norway – this year we were able to give support to 50 professionals from around the world to take part and attend the 2021 Annual Conference that was held hybrid for the first time in CIMAM’s history in Lodz and Gdansk, Poland.
In connection with the title of the 2021 meeting, Under Pressure. Museums in Times of Xenophobia and Climate Emergency, I would like to remind you that we all have to learn ways to de-pressure, how to relieve pressure from ourselves. Because looking back over the last two years, we have all been under pressure. Coming together in Poland and hearing different experiences and thoughts, reminding us that we all went through a very tough year, professionally, institutionally, and also on a personal level. Being constantly under pressure, particularly for some of us who are in a leadership position and have to pretend that we have endless, positive energy to give to our staff and the institution, I think we are allowed to de-pressure and take good care of ourselves.
The coming year promises to be a busy and eventful one, not only because CIMAM commemorates its 60th anniversary in 2022, but also because a recovery seems to slowly start beginning. And in that sense, I want to give credit to my enthusiastic and committed co-Board members who have dedicated so many hours to this organization, contributing with their expertise and conceptual resources, as well as to the executive team who had the power to adapt and give their best in such uncertain times.
CIMAM has proved to be a relevant resource for our more than 650 professionals that are part of and at the heart of this organization.
I am honored too by the 11 individuals and institutions that support CIMAM year after year. Our beloved Founding Patrons, Patrons, and Supporters whose contribution is at the core of the continuity, the success, and the existence of CIMAM. We are touched by their trust and faithful support of CIMAM.
We remain grateful for your support and partnership and are eager to explore the ways we can work together to build a stronger, more sustainable, and relevant museum community – a diverse community where everyone’s voices are heard together.
Warm regards,
February 22, 2022
Mami Kataoka
President of CIMAM
Director, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan