JAG CONSULTATIONS 2019: SESSION 5

The subject of de-accessioning is often a contested and extremely difficult one for museums, galleries and heritage practitioners to navigate, not only for ethical reasons, but for legal reasons as well.

However, it is often suggested that if de-accessioning was carried out thoughtfully and using recommendations from institutional frameworks, such as a collections policy, it may be able to support the integrity of a collection and help an institution refine the scope of its collection in order to better serve its mission and community.

We thus extend this invitation for your participation in a closed discussion around the legal, policy-related, financial, institutional and historical considerations of de-accessioning. In short: how do we de-mystify this understandably complex and potentially emotive subject? Although there are no immediate or even long-term intentions to de-accession any of the JAG holdings, it is important to develop an appreciation of the social, economic and political implications of collections as art institutions grapple with the multi-dimensional calls for transformation.