The Mariners’ Museum to Host International Conference

For Immediate Release

The Mariners’ Museum to Host International Conference

Newport News, Va. - (February 2010) - The Mariners’ Museum has been selected to host the 2011 conference for the International Congress of Maritime Museums.

The conference will bring about 200 museum professionals in the maritime community from around the world, including from Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America. The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., will co-host the event.

“It’s a natural for us, because our collections are international,” said Mariners’ Museum CEO and President Dr. William B. Cogar, who traveled in February to Greenwich, England, to visit with the ICMM’s executive committee. “This confirms again our status as America’s national maritime museum,” said Cogar, referring to the official designation the United States Congress has afforded The Mariners’ Museum.

Cogar said hosting the conference could help The Mariners’ Museum forge partnerships with other maritime museums, including for Internet and genealogical research.

“It’s a good showcase for our museum, to show in what innovative ways museums are working to become increasingly more relevant,” he said.

The conference will feature lectures, workshops, discussions and site visits. The Congress will spend Oct. 10 and 11 at the Smithsonian's American History museum, then three days at The Mariners’ Museum. In Hampton Roads, the officials’ itinerary will include a trip to the Jamestown Settlement and Exhibition, and a cruise aboard The Spirit of Norfolk.

The ICMM conference is held every two years. The last time the ICMM conference was hosted in America was in 1997, in Philadelphia. The 2009 conference was held in Esbjerg, Denmark.

In addition to hosting the biennial conferences, the 300-member ICMM helps create standards and guidelines among maritime museums, and offers technical assistance and opportunities to exchange or loan collections.

For more information:
Contact: John Warren
(757) 591-7746
E-mail: pr@MarinersMuseum.org 

The Mariners' Museum, an educational, non-profit institution accredited by the American Association of Museums, preserves and interprets maritime history through an international collection of ship models, figureheads, paintings and other maritime artifacts. The museum is open from 10 A.M. until 5 P.M. Wednesday through Saturday, and 12 to 5 P.M. Sunday. It will be closed Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. For information, visit www.MarinersMuseum.org, call (757) 596-2222 or (800) 581-7245, or write to The Mariners' Museum, 100 Museum Drive, Newport News, VA 23606.

The Mariners' Museum and The South Street Seaport Museum of New York City are partners in America's National Maritime Museum, an innovative alliance recognized by an act of Congress in June 1998 to share collections, exhibitions, educational programs, publications, and other endeavors.