View source for Association of Slovene Museums

{{Article
| status       = 
| maintainer   = Janez Premk
}}
{{Infobox
| name                = Association of Slovene Museums
| localname           = Skupnost muzejev Slovenije (SMS)
| street              = Prešernova 20
| town                = SI-1000 Ljubljana
| telephone           =
| email                 = skupnostmuzejev@gmail.com 
| website             = http://www.sms-muzeji.si/
| contacts = {{Contact
  | name        = Aleksandra Berberih Slana (Maribor National Liberation Museum)
  | role        = President
  | street      = 
  | town        = 
  | website     = 
  | email       = aleksandra.berberih-slana@mnom.si
  | telephone   = 
  | fax         = 
  }}{{Contact
  | name        = Anica Odlazek (Muzej novejše zgodovine Celje)
  | role        = Secretary
  | street      = 
  | town        = 
  | website     = 
  | email       = anica.odlazek@guest.arnes.si
  | telephone   = 
  | fax         = 
  }}
| accounts =
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Skupnost-muzejev-Slovenije/939707559414440
}}

{{Teaser|

Several Slovene museums came together in [[established::1970]] to establish an informal organisation with the aim of enhancing networking and common objectives and needs. In 1979 the [[Association of Slovene Museums]] was formally enrolled in the commercial register as a society, which today operates as a public institution. The Association promotes museums' activities and offers a professional platform for the development of the education, conservation and documentation fields on the international level. 

In May 2011 the Association of Slovene Museums organised the first ''Vesna Fair'' where 22 Slovene museums and over 50 artists, designers and craftsmen presented museum replicas and other objects of art, craft and design. Under the auspices of the [[Ministry of Culture]] the fair took place in the ''museum quarter'', next to [[National Museum of Slovenia - Metelkova]].

}}

== Programme ==
The Association of Slovene Museums helps educate, network and support Slovene museums by connecting them institutionally. It currently has 64 members, comprising almost all of the museums in the Slovene museum network and some, mostly private, working outside of it. Since 1992 the Association has organised the biennial Museum Fair, which affords its members the opportunity to present their activities on selected themes to the wider public. 

Various departments are active within the association, the most prominent being those concerned with education, conservation and documentation. The association thus brings together different specialised museum experts and different museums with similar collections (such as the department for technical heritage).

=== ''Poletna muzejska noč'' event ===

Under the wings of the Association of Slovene Museums and initiated by the [[International Centre of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana|International Centre of Graphic Arts]] the event ''Museums on a Summer Night'' [Muzejska noč] takes place every summer on the 3rd Saturday in June in an effort to promote museums as spaces for relaxation and creative use of free time. Organised for the first time in 2003, the event now includes more than 80 museums, galleries and other art institutions across Slovenia who offer over 200 special programmes for more than 20,000 visitors. Since 2013 this popular event has been coordinated by the [[Technical Museum of Slovenia]] (till 2017) and [[Maribor National Liberation Museum]].

== International cooperation ==

The association also focuses on educating and training museum workers, organising professional visits to museums abroad and providing financial support to individuals that enables them to attend international conferences staged by organisations other than the [[International Council of Museums (ICOM), Slovenia|International Council of Museums (ICOM)]]. 

From 1996 to 2003 the [[Association of Slovene Museums]] was a partner in ''Matra Project'', which aimed to develop Slovene museum management. Part of the training included an excursion to the Netherlands, where 13 Slovene museum professionals and the representatives from the [[Ministry of Culture]] had the opportunity to get information and to meet volunteers. They were especially surprised to find that volunteers can also be the managers of museums.

At the same time the idea of developing a special Cultural Heritage Protection Act was
introduced in Slovenia (realised eventually in 2008), which included a special Article on Volunteers; the [[City Museum of Ljubljana]] proposed the project ''Volunteering in Slovene Museums'' to the Association of Slovene Museums, which accepted it as a part of a 3-year plan 2007&ndash;2010; and Slovenia's Third Age University developed another international volunteer project ''Cultural Mediators in Museums''. 

The [[Association of Slovene Museums]] as an active member of the Network of European Museum Organisations (NEMO) took part in 2009 in the European project ''Volunteering in Museums and Cultural Heritage''.

== Publications ==
In 2000 the Association of Slovene Museums published the ''Guide to Slovene Museums'' in both Slovenian and English. The association is developing a ''Virtual Guide to Slovene Museums'', which gives interactive access to 3D virtual presentations of Slovene museums using special 3D photography.

The association established the [[Valvasor Award]] in 1971; since 1998 this award has been administered by the [[Slovene Museum Society]]. Together with the [[National Museum of Slovenia]] and the [[Slovene Museum Society]], the Association of Slovene Museums is the co-publisher of [[Argo Journal|Argo, the Journal of the Slovene Museums]].

== See also ==
*[[Museums.si - Museums and galleries in Slovenia]]
*[[Valvasor Award]]
*[[Argo Journal]]
*[[Slovene Museum Society]]
*[[National Museum of Slovenia]]

== External links ==
* [http://www.sms-muzeji.si/ Association of Slovene Museums website]
* [http://www.muzejska-noc.si/ Museums on a Summer Night website] (in Slovenian)
*[http://www.ne-mo.org/fileadmin/Dateien/public/country_reports/2007/Contry_Report_2007_sl.pdf Slovenia 2007 country report for the NEMO (Network of European Museum Organisations)] (pdf)
* [http://www.burger.si/SLOMuseums.htm Virtual Guide to Slovene Museums] on the [[Virtual Guide to Slovene Museums and Galleries|Burger.si]] website

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[[Category:Museums]]

[[Category:Museum support services]]
[[Category:Professional associations]]
[[Category:Professional heritage associations]]

[[Category:Event organisers]]
[[Category:Museum event organisers]]

[[Category:Publishers]]
[[Category:Museum publishers]] 
[[Category:Museum education]]
[[Category:Education]]

[[Category:Cultural management]] 
[[Category:Cultural management support services]]
[[Category:Support services]]
[[Category:Education_and_research]]
[[Category:Cultural_heritage_education_and_research]]
[[Category:Museum_funding,_professional_and_support_services]]
[[Category:Funding,_professional_and_support_services]]