[caption id="attachment_7044" align="alignright" width="135" caption="Brussels: Museums and Municipalities conference"][/caption] As museums and municipalities gain an increasingly prominent role in territorial development, they are assuming additional responsibilities, endorsing diverse management methods and facing new challenges.  How is this relationship between museums and municipalities evolving?  To what extent are they shaping the economic and social development at the regional level? What benefits are derived from this relationship and how could the partnership be further enhanced?   The relationship between Museums and Municipalities will be at the heart of discussions held on 9-10th December 2010 in Brussels, Belgium at the European Policy Grouping “Museums and Municipalities” Conference.  Eminent personalities active in the cultural sector will animate the conference discussions, including MEP Ms Cristina Gutierrez and Professor Ms Emiko Kakiuchi Professor at the University of Tokyo.  With the aim of ensuring lively and constructive debates, the opinions expressed by representatives from renowned museums, such as Ms Catherine Sueur, Deputy Administrator at the Louvre Museum and Ms Delphine Capdepuy, Head of Financial Affaires at Museum d’Orsay, will be complemented with the personal experiences and opinions from several municipalities.  Travelling to Brussels for the event, Mr. Goran Nikšić, Head of the Department for the Historic Core of the City of Split and Ms Marianna Kajantie, Deputy Cultural Director of the city of Helsinki will voice the local perspective on the subject.  In order to place the relationship between Museums and Municipalities in the wider European perspective, Ms Karine Gloanec-Maurin, member of the presidum for the Commission for Education, Training, Culture and Youth, Assembly of European Regions, Vice President of the Region Centre, France will be invaluable. Important personalities from the Belgian cultural scene, including Mr Michel Draguet, General Director of the Magritte Museum and Mr Laurent Busine, Director of the Museum for Contemporary Arts Grand Hornu, will also be participating in this international event.    The forthcoming conference, which marks the final event after a full year of activities, will be the opportunity to present the results of the European Policy Grouping “Museums and Municipalities”.  Coordinated by the University Paris I Sorbonne, the Louvre Museum and ENCATC, in partnership with the Manchester Museum (The University of Manchester) and the municipality of Split, this event will bring together eminent museum managers, curators, local authorities, researchers, educators and experts from across the European continent and abroad.   The results and conclusions from the two online questionnaires, launched in the summer of 2010 by Ms Anne Krebs, Responsible for the Studies and Research Department at the Louvre Museum and by Professor Xavier Greffe, Programme Coordinator and Professor at the University Paris I Sorbonne, to which over 200 museums and 50 municipalities participated, will be openly debated at this event. This Conference will also be the opportunity for the audience to share best practices, identify concrete proposals and formulate recommendations which will be integrated into the White paper on “Museums and Local Authorities” to be published by the policy group at the beginning of next year.   This event will take place in English and French on 10th of December 2010 in Brussels in the prestigious setting of the Bibliothèque Solvay.  To register for the conference, please refer to: ENCATC