ICMM Program

Dr Kim Sajet

Courageous Leadership: Museums in an Age of Culture Wars

With some variation depending on the nature of a museum’s collection, community, and country, most museum director position descriptions are remarkably similar -- and rather overwhelming. Directors are expected to be visionary leaders, fundraisers, financial stewards, HR experts, government partners, board managers, public advocates -- and look good doing it. But rarely on that laundry list is the word courage.

Yet courage may be one of the most important qualities museum leaders need as they navigate competing demands about institutional mission and values-- and about what museums should collect, exhibit, say, and stand for.

Dr. Kim Sajet, Donna and Donald Baumgartner Director of the Milwaukee Art Museum and former director of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, will draw on her experience navigating the American culture wars to explore courageous leadership in museums and offer suggestions on how leaders can act with conviction while protecting institutional integrity and the historical record.

Seb Chan

Complicated, difficult, essential

Having spent two decades as a museum technologist, Seb Chan became ACMI's director & CEO in 2022. The last four years have helped him better understand why museums continue to find technology so difficult to manage and extract promised value from. In this talk he will discuss what he has learned from these last few years where the new technologies of GenAI have created another period of great uncertainty, risk and potential opportunity.

Mereoni Camailakeba

Community engagement

The Manager of Archaeology Services at the Fiji Museum, Mereoni Camailakeba will be speaking on the theme of ‘Community Engagement' through the lens of underwater archaeology, highlighting the cultural significance of shipwrecks, sacred maritime landscapes and traditional seafaring knowledge in shaping historical understanding and contemporary identity. Emphasising community empowerment, capacity building and alignment with global standards such as the UNESCO 2001 Convention, her keynote positions Fiji as an active contributor to global maritime heritage discourse and will present a model of inclusive, locally grounded and sustainable heritage stewardship.

Hon Hieu Van Le AC

A Personal Journey

Hon Hieu Van Le is Chair of the Council of the Australian National Maritime Museum and a former Governor of South Australia. He arrived in Australia from Vietnam as a refugee in 1977 and has since made an extraordinary contribution to Australian public life. In addition to his role at the Museum, Mr Le currently serves on the boards of a number of public institutions, community organisations and not-for-profits.

In this deeply personal reflection, Mr Le will explore themes of migration, inclusion and belonging through the remarkable story of his life—from his treacherous journey by boat from Vietnam to Australia in 1977, to his appointment as Governor of South Australia, and the many chapters of public service and community leadership that followed.