5 MANAGING ART COLLECTIONS: from ancient to contemporary Online Training The online training of ISCH IV Edition, delivered through five webinars between February and April 2026, marked the opening of the programme and represented the first opportunity for exchange among participants. Ahead of the in-person workshop in Rome and the subsequent residencies at Italian institutions, it provided a shared space for reflection in which participants began to build professional dialogue, became familiar with the participating institutions, and engaged with key questions shaping contemporary museum practice. Designed as both a preparatory and formative component, the online sessions combined lectures, discussions, and case studies to introduce the main themes running throughout the programme. They provided participants with critical tools to reflect on the evolving role of cultural institutions and on how diverse forms of heritage are interpreted, preserved, and communicated to audiences. A central focus of the discussion was how the museum itself is defined and understood. Rather than being approached as a fixed or universal category, the museum was considered an evolving and negotiated construct, shaped by international frameworks, institutional contexts, and local cultural conditions. Within this perspective, participants were encouraged to examine how museums engage with increasingly heterogeneous forms of heritage, questioning established distinctions such as ancient and contemporary, tangible and intangible, or archaeological, ethnographic, and artistic objects. Particular emphasis was placed on interdisciplinary and cross-cultural approaches to collections research and management. Through selected case studies and examples, the sessions explored howmuseum practice increasingly relies on dialogue between disciplines and across cultural perspectives. In this context, archaeology was also reconsidered as a field of practice that connects past realities with present-day questions, contributing to the development of new heritage narratives and interpretations. The sessions were designed to foster critical reflection on issues such as absence and reconstruction in the interpretation of objects, the development of plural and inclusive museum narratives, and the role of cultural institutions in connecting different heritages, communities, and cultural environments. The programme brought together a group of leading international experts, including Thomas Thondhlana (Great Zimbabwe University); Bruno Brulon Soares (University of St Andrews), member of the ICOM committee contributing to the ongoing revision of the museum definition; Muthoni Thang’wa, heritage advisor and Chair of ICOM Kenya; Terry Little (Ahmadu Bello University) ,member of the ICOM-CC board; Francesca Fabiani, curator at the Central Institute for Catalogue and Documentation (ICCD), Italian Ministry of Culture; and Stefania Siano, Archaeologist at the Directorate-General for European and International Affairs, Italian Ministry of Culture.
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