Since 2009, the São Paulo State Meeting of Museums has been organized by the State System of Museums (SISEM-SP), in partnership with the Cultural Association to Support the Casa de Portinari Museum (ACAM Portinari), and today it is considered the largest event of the museum sector in Sao Paulo. Annually, it gathers museum professionals, public managers of culture, students and interested people as an important space for the exchange of experiences, expanding the network of museums interlocution and collaboration and debates about the aspects of the management and policies of Brazilian museological institutions.
The programming includes the presence of renowned national and international specialists in lectures and discussion roundtables on current museological themes; a review of the activities of the regional representatives and thematic networks; elections of representatives to the SISEM-SP Orientation Council and of regional representatives; institutional presentations or projects carried out by museums in São Paulo state; technical visits and workshops at museums in the capital.
Aiming at expanding the discussions, especially among museum professionals from the countryside and coast of São Paulo state, the event, which until its tenth edition was held in the state capital, has gained a traveling version. It has been decided that in even-numbered years, the EPM will take place in São Paulo and, in odd-numbered years, the EPMi – Itinerant Meeting of São Paulo State Museums – will take place in other cities, thus allowing an extension of the period of reflection on the theme, in six events throughout the year, one in each macro-region.
All editions of the São Paulo State Meeting of Museums have video records of their main activities. Panels, conferences and roundtables may be freely accessed by the audience that could not attend, or even by those who would like to review some of the activities of their interest, contributing to expand the spaces for discussion and the exchange of experiences and knowledge, in person or at a distance, and strengthening the relations of articulation among several professionals, students and the people interested in the museological area. Those interested can also check the critical reports of some of the activities held throughout all editions of the EPM, made by the Permanent Forum Cultural Association.