Young Professionals: Shaping the future of the museum industry

The major technological shift necessitates the development of a broad skill set.

This feature highlights today’s museum environment and the technological proficiencies required by heritage professionals in the 21st century.

The Museum Knowledge Workers for the 21st Century project evaluates the role of technology in the changing museum environment, determines the technological skill set required by museum professionals in the 21st century, considers the curricula of university and college programs in Museum Studies programs in North America, analyzes professional development and continuing education opportunities for museum professionals, and identifies the gap between the skills needed to carry out museum jobs and the technical skills currently taught by educational institutions (some with a course of study emphasizing technology).

Discover the VMC Lab projects developed in collaboration with young heritage professionals:

Young Curators of the Future is an innovative project that uses social media and open source software to allow young students to experience the work of a museum professional and to communicate with each other about the project.

Canada’s got treasures is an interactive space developed in collaboration with the Concordia University department of Fine arts. Within this interactive online space, users, museums and heritage institutions from across the country can upload their videos and photos of objects, artworks, buildings, people or locations that are culturally significant to them by using YouTube and Flickr.