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Febnanda de Camargo e Almeida-Moro Until 1971, most of Brazil’s museologicd work was centred on national museums coming under the authority of the government. Since then here has been a gradual movement towards decentrdi- zation, with state, city and private mu- seums playing a more important role. Meanwhile, university-level training for

Bemeen 1932 and the end of the lgbos, the museology course in Rio de Janeiro was the only training course

ducing museologists only.” In an eE~bt- to extend assistmce to all museums in the country, the federal government had in- t r ~ d ~ c e d a system of study grants cover- ing dl the states of the federation. This system, which was far ahead of its time, was very well organized. The grant gave its benefaciabies &e opportunity to spend three OH QUE yeas in Rio deJmeiro study- ing at the National History Museum, which offered intensive instruction in subjects related to museum work, with the possibility of specializing in a par- ticular subject such as art, history, etc., while remaining in permanent contact

cessive periods of practical training. In addition to fellowshipholders from other states of the federation, there were students from &O de Janeiro ceived no goverment g*ant

amination. on completion oftheir ing, $0 per cent of th students, both fellows$ip-holdeans and o&rs, would return home to work in locd museums where, even in the larger ones, they would often be the only employees qudSed in museoh’.

IllUSeLlm pCX§QnlneP haS beell developed.

aV8labk for PnuSeUm p P Q f ~ S S i Q ~ d S , pro-

with the cQkctbn§ and Undergoing SUC- 1. For university training, see the article by

Lourdes Rego Novaes in Museum, No. 151, 1968, page 141, with the following addition: ‘the museology course at Minas Gerais (1986) is confined to speddist studies in museology (360 hours of study in related subjects). The Federal Universities of Minas Gerais, Rio deJaneiro and

curricula, and even a specialist course in conservation. ’

2. At that time the term ‘curator’ was applied to museologists who were civil servants recruited on the basis of a competitive examination. Few openings existed for others.

3. Ever since it was fxst published, the Unesco review Museum has played a vital role in supporting this kind of training.

re-

Bahia include conservation courses in their selected 08 the basis of a competitive ex- .

4. Refereed to in the article by Lourdes Rego Novaes (see note 1). the Cae, they W Q d d Work dongside tern-

p o r q staff and voluntary workers with qualifications or training in other areas, who would thus learn museum science on the job, usualply with the help of the qualified museo~ogist or by studyilng &e specialized literature3 and through ex- change programmes with curators of na- tional museums.

This p&CUkU CQa?abinaUh O f a nucleus O f qualified IllU§eQlQgi§t§ work- ing in conjunction with interdisciplinary teams proved highly creative. Brazilian museums were the scene of some most in-

inal projects, rated as avant-garde by Georges Henri Rivière as early as 1970.

~suseology course in Bahia at the end of the 1960s, and subsequently the intro- duction of a course at a private university in Rio d e J ~ ~ - i e i ~ - ~ in B975,4 considerably improved the training simation, &e fact that once again they were located in the East/ South-East of the country led to fur- ther centralization of the programme of assistance to museums. Concern for inter- dissiplinasitg vas voiced more frequently in discussion of museums, but tended to disappear in practice. A multidisciplinary approach continued to preside over the training of museologists, but not over that of museum professionals, which left the ‘non-museologist’ teams working in museums out of touch with their main subject, which is the museum itself.

In the context of the centralization of the programme of professional assistance to museums, the main fact~rs in areas other &an the eastern and southeastern regions wese the discontinuation of study grants and the rise in the cost of living, whish meant that students could not &%rd to leave their home towns. As a

dhhQUgh &e e§~abli§hment of the

253

maseam firofessiona2.s J

- Brazif

5. The São Paulo course, which provides a different kind of university training, is now beginning to meet some of the needs of various museums in the capital and the state of São Paulo.

6. From my own personal experience as Professor of the course at that time, I can testify that it was a highly rewarding experience for all concerned.

in a

result, training courses were mainly at- tended by local professionals (in the cities where courses were held), replacing the previous student body composed of fellowship-holders from all over the country, who found themselves having to accept temporary engagements in response to the demand created by new museums. 5

This trend clearly runs counter to what happened before. Previously, profes- sionals from any part of the country at- tending courses in Rio de Janeiro would begin their training by learning to adapt the subject-matter of the course to their local environment. This was a very in- teresting phenomenon since the mecha- nisms of identification and adaptation functioned simultaneously and the ex- perience was enriching not only for the students but also for their teachers, fellow-students, curators, museologists in general and all the professionals taking part in the course provided by the History Museum.6

This experience was also of great im- portance in the establishment of an inter- disciplinary nucleus in the museum. The former fellowship-holder or student returning to his or her local museum would by force of circumstance set up an interdisciplinary team, and that 'forced' interdisciplinarity made the museum a dynamic, creative institution where teamwork was encouraged. It was not always plain sailing, but the difficulties encountered were usually more of a budgetary than an institutional nature, and the fact remains that some outstan- ding museological ideas were conceived and put into practice as a result of this type of adaptive on-the-job training.

From the end of the 1960s, when

grants were first cut off, the system of support to regions in need of training courses was altered and a new form of assistance was introduced. Museologists from the region where training courses existed were sought.out and invited to go and work in other regions. The results were often positive, but there was also a tendency to see this trend as a move towards greater centralization, and this was not very well received. As a general rule, some provision should have been made for a period of adjustment to the new situation, so that the newcomers could familiarize themselves with condi- tions in the region in which they were to work, and especially with customs, needs and problems which were alien to them. In some cases they had difficulty in adapting their knowledge to local condi- tions; they often found it hard to accept the fact that an interdisciplinary team was already established in the area, and occa- sionally they also met with resistance from the teams already on the spot.

In some places, museums continued to function and develop successfully with this kind of interdisciplinary training. Museologists trained under the fellow- ship scheme adjusted to the new situ- ation by holding meetings, studying the museological literature and themselves organizing retraining courses for their teams. Other museum officials, keenly aware of the need for a well-balanced in- terdisciplinary team, organized retrain- ing courses with leading national specialists, with good results. One such experiment took place at the Art Museum of Rio Grande do Sul (MARGS) between 1983 and 1987. Another example of ex- cellent results achieved with on-the-job training was the rescuing of a museum

254 Femunda de Cumarao e Almeidu-Aforo

7. During the almost twenty years I spent as an active member of ICOM (the International Council of Museums), I have observed similar problems in training courses for museologists in several parts of the world, and primarily in the countries which are highly developed economically.

-the Museum of the Republic-not only physically but also by rehabilitating it as an important centre for community activities. The project, carried out be- tween 1983 and 1987, consisted not only in meticulously restoring the late nineteenth-century building but also in renovating its collections, which for the PnQSt part are connected with the Brazilian Republic from its founding down to the present day.

Bemeen 1979 and 1983, the Super- intendence of Museums of the National Art Foundation (FvraARJ) established a strong interdisciplinary team through on- the-job training and professional retrain- ing (360 hours of theory and four times &at amount of practical courses). Other professional institutions have organized conferences, meetings, and training or retraining CQUHS~S anal seminars in various regions of the country.

Consequently, it may be said that even though formal training exists only for

consenators and restorers, idormal training and retraining schemes have brought Brazil up to the forefront of con- temporary museology, not of course in terms of advanced museum technoliogy but as far as appropriate technologies are concerned.

The fact remains that there are many

formal training, although this is not spe- cific to Brazil; the most serious problem is that formal training courses are often obsolete.' These CQU~SSCS, even when dispensed by universities, soon become out of date, and the slowness of bureaucratic procedures does not help matters. The CQUPS~S also sufier f l ~ m ex- cessive specialization and an obsession with detail which would be more ap- propriate for post-graduate courses or

It is obvious that a change in the whole approach to, and design of, formal train- ing courses for professionals would be the ideal way to disseminate &e new concep- tion of museums and the only means of improving interdisciplinary relations.

Retraining courses and the organiza- tion of and participation in conferences, meetings and seminars are excellent. ways of circulating information and enabling Brazil to foster development throughout its territory.

In such a vast country, where training centres are mostly located in a single region, the easiest short-term solution would be to revert to the former fellow- ship system, while continuing to train in-

ITN.lseQ1Qgist.S and, t O Some extent, fool

problems yet to be solved in the held of

doctQrd theses.

terdisciplinary teams by means ofretrain- ing courses or seminars either within museums or outside them, and gearing recruitment closely to local needs.

And what ofthe long-term solution? A proliferation of training courses and the establishment of several new courses at the universities ofthe various states ofthe federation would merely have the effect of flooding the labour market for museologists, who would take up posts outside their own field, as has already happened in several cases. F~rthermore, this-would not solve the problem of the shortage of technicians and support staff.

The ideal solution remains h e establishment of regional courses, but this would mean a change in curricula and course content and the provision of a budget for study grants covering the liv- ing and other expenses of fellowship- holders. Above all, we need to take a fresh look at existing courses and provide more comprehensive training for all museum staff, including a post-graduate course beginning with a broader view of the preservation of the cultural heritage and cultural identity and then branching 08 into specialist fields of study, such as museology, conservation and restoration, or community activities, as well as specialized technical training courses.