Museums cannot be defined or understood outside the realms of society. A new museum definition must acknowledge and critically reflect the legacies and continuous presence of societal inequalities and the asymmetries of power and wealth marring the geopolitical relationship between continents and the national, regional and local societal contexts. Equally, it cannot ignore the alarming crisis of the destruction of nature and the unsustainable relationship between people and the rest of nature. There is, furthermore, a related and intensifying critical concern about the accountability and transparency under which museums acquire and use the material, financial, intellectual and social resources at their disposal.

In museums, as in society in general, the expectations of equal rights and equal access to culture, of cultural democracy and cultural participation, are growing steadily. The relationship between museums and their different constituents and communities needs to be restated and reinterpreted accordingly in a new, relational language that supports the opportunities to be discovered in genuine partnerships and shared responsibilities, cooperation and co-creation.

Jette Sandahl (2019) Addressing Societal Responsibilities Through Core Museum Functions and Methods: The Museum Definition, Prospects and Potentials, Museum International, 71:1-2, iv-v, DOI: 10.1080/13500775.2019.1638016

We worked out this concept during the five days LTTA held in Amsterdam from the 10th to the 14th. Participants from Cyprus, Georgia and France combined different approaches to co-create new business models for Museums and serve society with their collections or raise awareness about some critical issues.

Inspired by Module 1, Unit 1 and the question of whether museums can be relevant in contemporary social agendas and pressing issues, providing information, perspective, trauma improvement and political standing and with two examples as a base. Two examples were given:

• https://historia-europa.ep.eu/en/welcome-house-european-history 
• https://brokenships.com

The LTTA conducted visits to the Diamond Museum and the Rijks. Each visit has a specific interest value, tackling two different social domains. Participants in the LTTA need to develop new business models to become entrepreneurs and to team up a start-up with some theoretical investors from the partnership.