Martin Segger
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Résumé

Martin Segger, B.A., Dip.Ed., M.Phil., F.R.S.A., F.C.M.A.

Martin Segger started his museum career at the Royal British Columbia Museum. He has recently retired as director, Government & Community Relations, University of Victoria. His career included Director, Art Collections and Galleries; Professor for Renaissance Studies and Museum Studies in the Faculty of Fine Arts; and founding academic supervisor for the international Cultural Resources Management Programme at the University of Victoria He is now Senior Research Associate, Centre for Global Studies at UVic. He provided long-term service on many UVic academic and administrative committees including the President’s Advisory Board, Campus Planning Advisory Committees, and a crucial role in the founding of the Centre for Community Based Research.

Martin Segger has extensive experience in public and nonprofit community service including: Alderman and councilor, City of Victoria (i.e. finance. Victoria conference centre, heritage, cultural and planning portfolios); president Association of Vancouver Island Municipalities, board of Union of BC Municipalities, BC CORE Commission, Capital Region Arts Commission, founding member Victoria Harbour Authority, vice-chair Provincial Capital Commission; founding board member of numerous organizations including: BC Heritage Trust, BC Heritage Advisory Board, BC Heritage Society, Royal British Columbia Museum corporate board, Government House Foundation, Queenswood Society (chair), Victoria /Khabarovsk and Victoria/Suzhou Twin City Societies, Performance Review Panel, Emily Carr College of Art & Design.  Other NGO Board service: Governor BC & Yukon Heritage Canada Foundation, Canadian Society of Decorative Arts, Victoria Heritage Trust, Victoria College of Art, BC Heritage Advisory Board, Victoria Community Social Planning Council.  At the federal level he has served on numerous government boards and advisory commissions including the Federal Cultural Policy Review Task Force, and boards of professional organizations: Canadian Museums Association, International Council of Museums (Canada), International Council of Monuments & Sites (Canada); at the international level: advisory board of ICOM/UNESCO, president ICOM/ICTOP/UNESCO, and president, Commonwealth Association of Museums.

Awards: Honorary Citizen City of Victoria; Assn Preservation Technology Harley McKee Award, Heritage Canada Lt. Governor General’s Medal, Queens Golden and Diamond Jubilee Medals; Lt. Gov. of BC Sequicententenial Medal, Hon. Arts Ambassador, Metchosin International School of the Arts; Hon. Citizen, City of Victoria; University of Victoria President’s Distinguished Service Award; Harley J. McKee Award, Assn. Preservation Technology; Community Service Award, B.C. Society of Landscape Architects; also awarded K.H.S.J. Vatican, Rome.

In 1987 and 1990 he was elected to serve three-year terms as alderman then councilor, City of Victoria. During his two terms he was instrumental in establishing new policies and programs in the Heritage Preservation for the City of Victoria, a regional arts policy and inter-municipal arts fund for the Capital Region, and start-up of the Victoria Conference Centre. For 15 years he served on the board of the Provincial Capital Commission (7 years as Vice Chair) and recently completed a 3 year term on the founding board of the Victoria Harbour Authority.  

Early schools: Castle Hill and St. Joseph's College, Ipswich, England; Burstall School Saskatchewan, Canada.  Prof. Segger completed his post-secondary education at Smith Memorial High School, Port Alberni, on British Columbia’s Northwest Coast and one year of philosophy at St. Anthony's College, Edmonton.  He holds a B.A. in English Literature and a Diploma of Education (Secondary Curriculum) from the University of Victoria, and a Master of Philosophy in Renaissance Cultural Studies from the Warburg Institute, University of London, where he studied under Prof. Sir Ernst Gombrich.  In 1982 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and 1999 a Fellow of the Canadian Museums Association.  He is past President of the Society of Architectural Historians, Pacific North West/Marion Dean Ross Chapter, continues as a member of the board, Downtown Victoria Community Alliance (organizer of the 2020 Victoria community visioning conference) and recently served on the City of Victoria Mayor’s Learning Precinct Task Force, and the Victoria Downtown Planning Advisory Committee and various other Civic Committees.  He is a well-known author, educator, and documentary film maker.

Curatorial and Academic contributions (some high lights):

Architectural History:

            Victoria, An Architectural History (1979)

            The British Columbia Parliament Buildings (ed. 1979)

            This Old House (1982) and This Old Town (1984): two conservation reports for the City of Victoria:

            Proceedings of the Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada (1975-78, editor

            Vice-Regal Mansions of British Columbia (1982) Editor of this posthumous book              by P. Cotton

            West Coast Review (Editorial Board member)

            The Buildings of Samuel Maclure:  In Search of Appropriate Form (1986).

            Exploring Victoria’s Architecture (1996)

            Victoria Modern , catalogue/monograph series (University of Victoria 2005-12) editor/author.

            A Global History of Ideas in Architecture, on-line textbook for the RAIC Institute, Athabasca University (2012).

 

Art (recent):

            Art and architecture contributions to the British Columbia Encyclopedia, the Canadian Biographical Dictionary, (on going).        

Michael’s World (with catalogue) Legacy Gallery, University of Victoria, 2007.

Copper Thunderbird, Invention, Inspiration, Transformation (with catalogue) Legacy Gallery, University of Victoria, 2008.

  Museology:

            Training of Museum Personnel in Canada (1978)

            Technical Manual Series in Heritage Conservation (BC Heritage Trust, 1979-), editor         Introduction to Museum Studies  and Introduction to Heritage Conservation (print and   video distance education course, University of Victoria, 1984)

            OLMIS /iMIS (On-line Museum Information System) collections inventory control system for the museum collection of the University of Victoria, co-author.

Recent Keynote Addresses:

“Reinventing the Profession: The need for change in the preparation of museum workers as both institutions of higher education, and museums, undergo profound change to meet the challenges of the 21st Century” ICOM/ICTOP, Vienna, 2007.

             “Museums and the Sacred: Engaging with the Other”, South African Museums Association, Cape Town, 2008.

            “Introduction: Putting Culture First”, Martin Segger,  to Commonwealth Association of Museums, Singapore, 2011

He has also written numerous exhibition catalogues, film scripts, articles and book reviews..

website by Cara Segger