Dalian Century Sound Recording Music Culture Museum (World Music Culture Museum)

Medium-to-Long-Term Development Plan Outline

(2017-2027)

    To accelerate the comprehensive development of the Dalian Century Sound Recording Music Culture Museum (World Music Culture Museum), fully leverage the museum's operational capabilities, and meet the public's growing demand for spiritual and cultural enrichment, our institution has formulated the "Dalian Century Sound Recording Music Culture Museum (World Music Culture Museum) Medium-to-Long-Term Development Plan Outline (2017-2027)." This plan outlines strategies for artefact collection, preservation, research, exhibition, and public services. By 2027, the museum aims to establish itself as a major music-themed museum in China, laying a solid foundation for the future development of a "Music Cultural Museum Town."

I. Guiding Principles

    Upholding the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics and guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, we will vigorously advance the collection and preservation of cultural relics, exhibition organization, academic research, social education, protection of intangible cultural heritage, and digital museum development. By highlighting our unique characteristics, we will comprehensively enhance the overall operational standards and public cultural service quality of the Dalian Century Sound Music Culture Museum (World Music Culture Museum), driving the comprehensive development of museum affairs.

II. Overall Objectives

    Rationally allocate funds to accelerate the pace of collection acquisition. Intensify efforts to collect artefacts in the following categories: ethnic music, cultural relics, modern and contemporary revolutionary-themed historical musical and physical evidence of Dalian's reform and opening-up history. Establish a distinctive and resource-rich collection system. Leveraging museum collections as the foundation and private collections as a supplement, consistently organize high-quality temporary exhibitions and actively introduce prestigious domestic and international exhibitions to meet the growing demand for cultural experiences among citizens and visitors; Vigorously advance talent development, continuously enhance overall research capabilities in disciplines including modern and contemporary history of Dalian and the world, world history, folk culture, intangible cultural heritage, ancient art, cultural relic restoration technology, and museology. Establish a high-calibre professional team with a balanced age and disciplinary structure, possessing significant influence in relevant academic fields. We will continue to innovate work methods and approaches, focusing on enhancing management standards and best practices. We will steadily advance museum performance reforms and refine position structures, deepen exchanges and cooperation with domestic and international museums, vigorously strengthen the development of digital museums and cultural relic conservation laboratories, actively promote and implement basic exhibition renewal projects, further elevate the level of social education and public cultural service quality, and strive to build the Dalian Century Sound Music Culture Museum (World Music Culture Museum) into a key specialized museum in Northeast China dedicated to collecting, exhibiting, and researching the history of world music culture. Specialised museum for collecting, exhibiting, and researching the history of world music culture in Northeast China.

III. Implementation Process

(1) Collection Acquisition

    Collections form the foundation for a museum's research, exhibition, and public education activities. Based on its positioning and developmental direction, the Dalian Century Sound Music Culture Museum (World Music Culture Museum) will establish a collection acquisition plan, building upon its existing holdings. This plan aims to broaden acquisition channels, accelerate the pace of collection development, and strive to establish a distinctive collection system by 2027, achieving significant growth in both the quantity and quality of its artefacts. The preliminary acquisition strategy is outlined below:

1. Strengthen communication with relevant municipal departments to secure dedicated fiscal funding for artefact acquisition.

2. Enhance and refine the collection of tangible music cultural artefacts and related materials, prioritizing items that document and reflect the evolution of traditional ethnic music culture. Strive to position the collection among the nation's leading museum holdings, sufficient to support medium-to-small-scale thematic exhibitions.

3. Vigorously expand the acquisition of folk music cultural artefacts. Building on broad-based collection efforts, continue to strengthen the acquisition of thematic artefacts, such as those related to revolutionary culture, striving for a systematic and distinctive collection.

4. Further diversify acquisition channels and accelerate the collection of musical cultural artefacts from diverse ethnic groups and regions worldwide. While prioritizing the expansion of the collection size to fill gaps in the current collection system, focus on enhancing the quality and level of the artefacts acquired.

(II) Collection Conservation

    Collection conservation is a priority for museums worldwide and a key focus for the Dalian Century Sound Music Culture Museum (World Music Culture Museum). While continually improving collection storage and exhibition environments, the museum will actively establish a conservation laboratory to ensure the sustainable use of artefacts. Specific plans include:

1. Utilize internationally advanced equipment to upgrade exhibition facilities such as display cases and lighting systems. Strengthen the monitoring and control of microenvironments, including temperature, humidity, and light sources, to enhance the protection of exhibited artefacts.

2. Improve storage facilities by optimizing internal equipment such as cabinets, shelves, boxes, and cases according to conservation requirements. Implement flexible designs and modifications to create storage areas that meet specific safety standards for artefact preservation.

3. Establish collection management protocols to standardize and strengthen daily oversight of exhibits and storage holdings. Conduct annual comprehensive inspections of collections by conservation and relevant department personnel, addressing identified issues promptly.

4. Continuously upgrade storage facilities in the new museum building. Accelerate the renovation and expansion of the artefact repository, aiming to complete the project within five years. Establish a storage system featuring advanced facilities, adequate space, rational functional layout, and compliant preservation environments.

5. Further enhance equipment and facilities for cultural heritage conservation, restoration, analysis, and research. Establish a state-of-the-art conservation laboratory and restoration workshop with comprehensive capabilities. Within five years, strive to equip conservation and restoration facilities with hardware capable of undertaking national-level research projects and executing a diverse range of conservation tasks for museum collections.

6. Establish a specialized team of cultural relics restoration and conservation experts through external recruitment, in-house training, individual advanced studies, and consultant appointments. Within five years, aim to have at least two full-time personnel dedicated to the conservation and restoration of cultural relics. All relevant staff members shall complete training programs approved by the National Cultural Heritage Administration and possess the necessary professional qualifications.

(III) Exhibitions

    Exhibitions serve as the primary means for museums to fulfil their social functions and serve the public. The Dalian Century Sound Music Culture Museum (World Music Culture Museum) will continually enrich and refine its permanent exhibitions, actively introduce high-quality, influential temporary exhibitions from both domestic and international sources, and develop into a comprehensive museum dedicated to collecting, displaying, and researching Dalian's urban history and development. The specific work plan is as follows:

1. Enrich exhibition themes to bring music to life.

    The exhibition planning team intends to design multiple music-themed exhibitions, including: the history of sound equipment, the history of the phonograph, the history of music boxes, the history of Chinese music, the history of radios, the history of records, the history of Eastern and Western music cultures, musical documents since the founding of New China, a collection of local Dalian musical works, revolutionary music culture, tributes to masters, and tributes to classics. This will elevate public understanding of music into a comprehensive cognitive framework and knowledge system encompassing multiple dimensions: time, space, figures, materials, and artefacts.

2. Refine exhibition details and further enrich existing exhibit materials.

    Deepening the storytelling behind current exhibits will fully showcase the inherent value of the museum's collections. Utilising high-tech methods to create interactive audiovisual experiences for exhibits will enhance the effective transmission of knowledge to audiences.

3. Expand interactive installations to engage visitors through diverse experiences, fostering an appreciation for music and allowing its positive, mood-altering power to influence public attitudes.

4. Refine team roles and strengthen management.

    Clarify job responsibilities, establish detailed operational procedures, and develop short-, medium-, and long-term objectives in conjunction with strategic plans.

5. Initiate preparatory work for establishing a World Sound Archive.

    Serve as the historical recorder preserving sounds from nature for this century.

6. Solidify collection management procedures.

    Enhance inventory control and artefact maintenance. Implement unique codes for each item, maintain detailed records of all entries/exits, document all maintenance activities, and assign clear accountability.

(IV) Scientific Research

    The Dalian Century Sound Music Culture Museum (World Music Culture Museum) places great emphasis on cultivating professional talent and advancing academic research. Over the next decade, the Dalian Century Sound Music Culture Museum (World Music Culture Museum) will adhere to the principle of advancing the museum through research. By establishing a scientific and rational research management mechanism and fostering an open and inclusive academic environment, the museum will actively produce a series of research outcomes with significant influence in relevant domestic and international academic fields, based on its collection and exhibition studies, thereby promoting the comprehensive development of museum affairs. Specific plans are as follows:

1. Further strengthen and refine the functions of the Academic Committee. Develop and implement research work plans, advance relevant disciplinary development, and actively organise museum researchers to apply for and participate in national, provincial, and municipal research projects.

2. Establish a scientific and rational system for research evaluation, incentives, and management. Foster a supportive environment that encourages researchers to produce high-quality research outcomes. Allocate 3% of annual operational funds as a dedicated research fund to support staff projects. Establish robust systems for fund utilisation and management to ensure efficient and effective allocation of resources.

3. Within 10 years, cultivate 2-5 core research personnel, complete at least two major research projects, and publish influential academic papers and monographs.

4. Within 10-15 years, establish influential research teams in disciplines such as intangible cultural heritage, cultural relic conservation and restoration technology, and museology. Each discipline will have at least one academic leader, with the goal of establishing 1-2 disciplines as domestic centres for scholarly research.

(V) Public Education

    Public education is a vital function of museums. The Dalian Century Sound Music Culture Museum (World Music Culture Museum) will continually enhance its infrastructure services, provide diverse and comprehensive offerings, and elevate public cultural service standards and capabilities. This will leverage its functional strengths and foundational role to enhance urban sophistication and elevate citizen literacy. Specific work plans include:

1. Establish a dedicated team of public education professionals with high professional competence and operational capability. Aim to have at least five full-time social education staff within 5 years, achieving a leading position within Liaoning Province.

2. Further enhance infrastructure services and elevate service standards to position the Dalian Century Sound Music Culture Museum (World Music Culture Museum) among the top museums in the province. Enhance recreational facilities to offer visitors a comprehensive and comfortable experience. Develop a series of culturally refined creative products in various formats.

3. Innovate approaches by organising diverse and enriching research courses and activities to continuously enhance the museum's visibility and influence among citizens and visitors. Capitalise on occasions such as International Museum Day (May 18), China Cultural Heritage Day, and traditional Chinese folk festivals to host a variety of promotional and educational events. Expand promotional channels for museum exhibitions and social education programs. Strengthen collaborations with communities, enterprises, and military units, persistently organising touring exhibitions, performances, and lectures at grassroots levels. Deepen partnerships with schools by establishing cooperative institutions and long-term collaboration mechanisms. Through lectures, touring exhibitions, social practice programs, and volunteer services, guide more young students to visit the museum for patriotic education, historical and cultural knowledge, and artistic enrichment.

4. Maintain the "Museum Lecture Series," inviting renowned domestic and international experts to deliver high-quality lectures at our museum. Pair exhibitions with diverse science popularisation and academic lectures, striving to establish this program as a flagship brand for Dalian's public cultural activities and Liaoning Province's museum system social education initiatives.

5. Strengthen the organisation and management of volunteers and Friends of the Dalian Century Sound Music Culture Museum (World Music Culture Museum). Leverage their expertise and enthusiasm to organise diverse promotional activities within their communities and workplaces.

6. Continuously enhance connections with news media outlets, including newspapers, television stations, and websites. Enhance the museum's social media operations to establish a comprehensive, multi-channel promotional network, expanding the breadth and depth of museum outreach. Comprehensively develop the museum's new media matrix, utilising text, images, short videos, live streams, and other formats to continuously promote museum exhibit narratives, music history, cultural and creative products, and themed events across all online platforms.

7. Actively organise museum visitor surveys to gather constructive feedback for improving exhibitions and social education programs.

8. Strengthen exchanges and cooperation with social education departments of museums in other regions, proactively learning and adopting advanced social education concepts to continuously elevate the quality of social education initiatives.

(VII) Digital Development

Strengthening the application of modern information technology in museums and enhancing informatisation across all sectors represent the prevailing trend in museum development. The Dalian Century Sound Music Culture Museum (World Music Culture Museum) will further refine its foundational database of cultural relic resources, promote the interconnectivity of key information systems, resource sharing, and operational coordination. It will advance the digital museum project for the existing facility. Efforts will be intensified to enhance the socializsocialisationural relic information services and promote their dissemination and popularipopularisationic work plans are as follows:

1. Further refine the core database of our museum's digital museum system. Strive to register all collection information into the cultural relics database within five years, establishing a routine mechanism where each newly acquired artefact is immediately added to the database. Strengthen the construction of the exhibition database, digitally recording every stage of each exhibition—from signing the exhibition contract, artefact handover, installation, display, to dismantling—and promptly logging the generated data into the exhibition database. Intensify efforts to build thematic databases. Within five years, digitise all existing textual, pictorial, archival, physical, and audiovisual materials related to Dalian's modern and contemporary history, thereby establishing a comprehensive and authoritative thematic database on Dalian's modern and contemporary history.

2. Further enhance the museum's external information dissemination channels and methods. Integrate existing channels—including the website, Weibo, and information display screens—for centralised backend publishing, ensuring simultaneous updates across all channels with a single release. Upgrade existing platforms by undertaking a major website redesign to enhance flexibility (both frontend and backend), professionalism, practicality, and aesthetics, thereby creating the premier website system within China's cultural heritage sector. Develop an information display screen management system to replace manual, item-by-item updates, establishing a dynamic platform for the integrated publication of images, text, and audio/video content. Add digital systems, such as a smartphonesmartphone self-guided tour system and multimedia interactive display systems, to advance further the museum's mission of serving visitors. Further refine the software systems in the existing multimedia resource room, continuously update visitor query data, enhance the user interface, improve multimedia data playback speed, and upgrade outdated computer hardware to significantly improve visitor experience quality.

3. Further promote the operational efficiency of our museum's integrated digital museum management system. Foster a museum-wide habit of consciously utilising and relying on the system to swiftly identify existing issues and shortcomings, enabling relevant departments to implement targeted system upgrades and enhancements.

4. Continuously refine the museum's digital museum system. Drawing extensively from advanced domestic and international digital museum systems, establish a digital system for the old museum tailored to its functional positioning and requirements. Effectively integrate this with the new museum's digital system to create a domestically leading and internationally advanced digital platform.

5. Conduct a series of specialised research projects. Align with national, provincial, municipal, and museum development trends and practical needs to undertake targeted research initiatives. Strive to resolve key constraints and challenges in our museum's digital development through these studies, master critical technologies, and translate research outcomes into concrete applications to elevate our museum's digital capabilities further.

(VIII) Talent Development

A skilled workforce is pivotal to the advancement of museum operations. The Dalian Century Sound Recording Music Culture Museum (World Music Culture Museum) will vigorously advance professional talent development. We will recruit and cultivate outstanding professionals through multi-tiered, multi-channel approaches, intensify talent cultivation efforts, and build a team of specialists with high professional competence and research capabilities. This will elevate museum management and research standards, enable the continuous production of high-quality exhibitions aligned with contemporary demands, enhance the quality of public education initiatives, and better fulfil the museum's social functions. Specific implementation plans are outlined below:

1. Systematically recruit highly educated, high-calibre technical professionals to meet the museum's developmental needs. Ensure academic qualifications and disciplinary composition rank among the nation's leading museums.

2. Strengthen staff training by systematically sending operational and research personnel to participate in professional training programs organised by national, provincial, and municipal authorities. Continuously enhance professional competence and research capabilities, with a focus on cultivating high-level research talent.

3. Enhance exchanges and cooperation with major domestic and international museums. Establish long-term cooperative mechanisms and systematically send technical and managerial staff for medium- to long-term exchange programs at partner institutions to continuously enhance our museum's operational and management standards.

(IX) Institutional Management

A refined management system is pivotal to the museum's development. The Dalian Century Sound Music Culture Museum (World Music Culture Museum) will continue to pursue reform and innovation. By establishing a comprehensive performance evaluation system and incentive/disciplinary framework, we will continuously elevate management standards and service quality to ensure the museum's advancement. Our goal is to achieve first-class management and service standards among domestic museums within 5-10 years. The work plan is as follows:

1. Based on the museum's current circumstances, organise relevant departments to draw upon management practices from leading domestic and international museums. Develop and strictly enforce regulations governing artefact collection, research, exhibitions, public education, and personnel management to standardise all museum operations. This initiative is scheduled for completion within two years.

2. Steadily advance performance-based reforms and position restructuring to enhance operational efficiency, focusing on building a cohesive and high-performing administrative and professional workforce.

3. Maintain open competitive selection for mid-level management positions, striving to recruit and cultivate an honest, efficient, and ethical mid-level leadership team.

4. Actively implement the outsourcing of property management and security services, aiming to thoroughly socialise these functions within five years. Establish a comprehensive oversight mechanism to strengthen governance, continuously improving the museum's property management standards and service quality.

January 9, 2017