Looking back at ITP 2024
Written by George Peckham, ITP Coordinator
It’s been 2 weeks since we said goodbye to ITP 2024 and to 20 new fellows who have joined the ITP global network. As we have been winding down after a fun but busy six-weeks, we have had a chance to reflect on another successful ITP annual programme.
While much of the core elements of what makes the ITP annual programme remained the same, we tried to introduce some new ideas and sessions for 2024. In response to the professional interests and backgrounds of this year’s cohort, we tried to incorporate lots of sessions relating to learning and engagement. We had sessions looking at the schools and young audiences programmes at the Museum, as well as community partnerships. We were delighted to also welcome external voices to this year’s programme who were able to speak about topics such as community engagement and museum health and wellbeing from a different perspective.
A new social event for this year was a weekend trip to Waddesdon Manor. An ITP tradition of visiting Stonehenge remained in the programme, a site which is maintained by English Heritage. To compliment this, we wanted to add a National Trust site to this year’s itinerary and decided on Waddesdon for its connection to the British Museum. We had a great day at Waddesdon exploring the house and its vast collections. We were lucky with the weather and the sunshine meant we can also explore the beautiful gardens that surround the property. Before our trip to Waddesdon the fellows were introduced to the Waddesdon Bequest at the British Museum, which gave us some useful context ahead of our trip.
We introduced a new workshop to round off the end of the annual programme we called The Future of Museums. This workshop was led by the 2024 ITP Senior Fellow, Yanoa Pomalima Carrasco, who devised a fun exercise which challenged participants to design their museum of the future. As well as colleagues from outside the museum, we were so pleased to welcome back some ITP alumni currently living in the UK to join this workshop: William Gmayi (Ghana, ITP 2021), Yohana Frias (Philippines, ITP 2018), Beimote Ngozi Etim (Nigeria, ITP 2017) and Cythia Iroube (Nigeria, ITP 2010). The workshop was a success and allowed us to reflect on the last six-weeks and discuss some of the themes covered in the programme.
On behalf of everyone at the British Museum who has worked on ITP 2024 that it has been a pleasure to work with this group of fellows. We thank them for being such willing and passionate participants on the programme. It has been fascinating to learn about your work and your home institutions and it has been such fun to explore London, the UK and its museums with you.
In true ITP style we ended the programme with barbecue food and drinks for the final evening to celebrate the end of the programme. It was emotional to say goodbye, but over the six-weeks the fellows have built friendships and networks which will keep us all connect well beyond the summer.
The ITP team now are busy writing up our reports and evaluations for ITP 2024, and the fellows are writing their own reports on their experiences. We’re looking forward to sharing this with the network later in the year.
We wish all of this year’s ITP fellows all the best for the future! The Museum is already a much quieter place without you!