About the discussion
Thursday, March 11 • 5 to 7:30 p.m.
Guest: Lorraine O’Donnell
Moderator: Marc Nisbet
Venue: Musée McCord Museum
Guests of this public conversation will be given free access to the Being Irish O’Quebec exhibit between 5:00pm and 5:30pm. The conversation will begin at 5:30pm.
Relating a community history through a museum exhibit challenges curators. Different "stakeholders" including museum staff, historians and community members themselves will have different, even competing views about representing the community publicly. Should it be "infotainment," plain unvarnished truth, a celebration? Whose voice(s) should prevail? Which objects should be displayed?
Confronting these challenges as curator of the McCord Museum exhibition " Being Irish O’Québec", Lorraine O'Donnell came to understand that it was not about dead-and-buried history, but living heritage. It had to be debated and negotiated. This conversation will explore answers to the tricky questions that arise when history and heritage intersect in the public space of museums.
Guest: Lorraine O’Donnell is coordinator-researcher of the Quebec English-Speaking Communities Research Network, in Concordia University's School of Extended Learning. Lorraine has a graduate diploma in Community Economic Development and a Ph.D. in history. Her background is in community-based research. Before assuming her current position, she was guest curator of the McCord Museum's “Being Irish O’Québec” exhibit.
Moderator: Marc Nisbet coordinates the University of the Streets Café, a program of the Institute for Community Development of the School of Extended Learning at Concordia University. As the son of an Irish immigrant and an eighth generation Québecoise, he is particularly interested in exploring the boundaries between heritage and history in this conversation.