After 34 years, CIMCIM returns to the Netherlands. CIMCIM (International Committee for Museums and Collections of Instruments and Music) is one of 32 international committees of ICOM, the International Council of Museums. The conference aims at offering a platform to discuss how museums of instruments and music can facilitate access to their collections, and compare practices across different institutions and countries.

Following ICOM’s new museum definition, highlighting that museums, in addition to being “open to the public”, are “accessible and inclusive”, CIMCIM’s 2023 Annual Meeting offers a platform to discuss how museums can facilitate access to their collections, and compare practices across different institutions and countries. Indeed, the idea of accessibility of museum collections has changed over time based on a variety of historical, ethical and cultural factors. What are the policies that make musical-instrument collections accessible to a wider and more diverse public? How can museums showcase their collections to best suit all types of audiences? What are the solutions museums can implement to also make their musical collections accessible to visitors with disabilities? How do museums deal with the objects that cannot be displayed? What are the strategies to make the sound of instruments in museums more accessible to musicians and to the public? How are digital technologies helping to improve access to collections? These are some of the questions that the conference might address from different angles.