The Museum Computer Network (MCN), a non-profit organisation supporting museums to achieve their digital goals, has announced that the call for proposals for this year’s conference is now open. Proposals are invited highlighting innovation, emerging work, and critical themes in museum technology. The closing date is Monday 9 June.
The theme of MCN 2025, which takes place at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, US, from 20 – 22 October, is Resilience and Resonance.
Museum professionals in the digital space face ongoing challenges: advocating for digital engagement, embracing AI advancements while preserving human expertise, and championing the cultural sector amid a complex social landscape. Visitors also seek institutions to provide spaces, both in-person and digital, for learning and inspiration amid change.
“Though uncertainties continue to loom large, how can we remain strong, focused, and motivated through internal and external forces? How do we continue to be sources of inspiration through the thickest of noise? How can we come together to support the needs of our audiences?
“With every challenge comes an opportunity to emerge with critical learnings to help shape future approaches,” says MCN.
Resilience and resonance
MCN advises those submitting proposals to think about the following:
- How can we responsibly and ethically utilise data insights to meet the needs of our communities?
- What role should digital systems play in preserving at-risk data and scholarship?
- How do we protect intellectual property as general access to generative AI models continues to rise?
- Where might we leverage unique relationships between museums and school curricula to develop critical interpretive resources?
- What strategies are you using to meaningfully include visitors of all types in the design of exhibitions, websites, or interactives?
How is your IT team supporting experimentation without overextending core capacity? - What frameworks guide your content decisions when addressing contentious cultural topics?
- What is the role that digital can play in creating strategies for institutional resilience?
MCN is accepting proposals for 45-minute sessions, 15-minute case studies, and ignite talks, which are five-minute, fast-paced presentations.
Proposals for 15- and 45-minute sessions must include details of the abstract, target audience, learning objectives, equity and inclusion, and co-presenters.
For the Ignite sessions, presenters run through 20 slides that automatically advance every 15 seconds. This year’s Ignite reception will take place on Monday 20 October. All speakers are required to participate in preparation calls throughout the summer and attend a rehearsal before the reception. Ignite proposal must include a title and a short description.
Every proposal will be reviewed by the program co-chairs and a committee of volunteer proposal reviewers who contribute diverse expertise to the process. The panel will evaluate proposals based on their purpose, relevance, potential impact, facilitation, and format, as well as the extent to which the sessions make space for underrepresented voices in the sector.
For more information and to submit, please click here.
Last year’s MCN conference took place in October 2024, hosted in partnership with the Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas.
