International Congress of Maritime Museums
ICMM

The International Congress of Maritime Museums (ICMM) is organized every 2 years in a different country. This time it took place in the Low Countries. VKOZ organized this together with the Maritime Museum Rotterdam, the Zuiderzeemuseum Enkhuizen, the Maritime Museum Amsterdam and Museum Aan de Stroom Antwerp. 230 participants came together, such as directors and ambassadors of maritime museums from all over the world. The goal of the congress is to see how other maritime museums work. In addition, the participants share knowledge and experiences, network and gain inspiration to take with them to 'their own' maritime museum.

The congress took place in Canada in 2022. At the kick-off of the congress in 2024, it was announced that the ICMM congress would take place in Australia in 2026. A unique congress like this, where the program is divided over four museums, requires a clear organization. For example, VKOZ has already started organizing in 2022! Everything is taken care of, such as communication, registration, hotels, speakers, and the partner program. In addition to the logistics, VKOZ was responsible for the total overview, the social program and of course advice on the entire event. Project manager Sanne visited the four maritime museums from the program in the Netherlands and Belgium in advance, to put together a nice program.

On Sunday, the first 150 visitors registered at Port Pavilion. After the welcome speech and steamship tour, the afternoon was concluded with a networking reception. On Monday and Tuesday, the conference took place in the Maritime Museum Rotterdam. The days were filled with interesting plenary sessions and break-out sessions. There was even a break-out session on a boat: the Geertruidaboot. On Wednesday, the program continued in the Zuiderzeemuseum Enkhuizen. The participants were busy with the program full of activities and workshops, such as building dikes with sandbags and weaving a net. On the ferry, the participants admired the Dutch dikes. On Thursday and Friday, the program continued in Amsterdam. They visited the Maritime Museum Amsterdam, had dinner on the beautiful square and explored the city and the ships. A large part of the participants concluded the conference on Saturday at the MAS museum in Antwerp, to complete the tour through the Low Countries!