After a very successful first event back in October, we are pleased to invite you to the second lecture of the “Reflections on Culture” Series on Wednesday, 15 November, at 6.00pm, in the Advanced Research Centre (ARC), Room 237B+C.
This time we will welcome as our guest speaker Dr Mark O’Neill, who will give a talk titled “Museums for all? A utopian fantasy?”, sharing with us his expertise and experience gained in various roles at Glasgow Museums, Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum, Glasgow Life, and most recently, European Museum of the Year Award.
The lecture will be chaired by Philip Schlesinger, Professor in Cultural Theory at the University of Glasgow, and will be followed by a Q&A session with the audience.
This event will be in-person only. In order to secure your place in the audience, please register on the Eventbrite page here.
Dr Mark O’Neill
Mark O’Neill was until recently Chair of Jury of the European Museum of the Year Award. Now an international consultant and researcher, Mark was Head of Glasgow Museums from 1998-2009. In that role he led large-scale, award-winning projects. These included setting up St Mungo’s in 1993, the only museum of world religions in the UK. In 2006, he oversaw the £35 million refurbishment of Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum. He also worked on setting up the £74 million Riverside Museum (European Museum of the Year 2013). From 2009 to 2016, Mark was Director of Policy & Research for Glasgow Life, the charity which delivers arts, museums, libraries, and sports services for the City of Glasgow, the largest organisation of its kind in Europe. In that post, he developed a new perspective on the possible roles and impacts of museums in delivering cultural access and social inclusion. Mark has lectured internationally, publishing works on museum philosophy and practice, as well as on strategic planning for heritage, tourism, and urban regeneration, and on the health benefits of cultural participation. From 2017 to 2022 he was a judge for the European Museum of the Year Award and will draw on this wide-ranging experience in his talk.