Season’s Greetings and Reflections on 2024
Written by Claire Messenger, Manager, International Training Programme
We wish the global network of ITP fellows and followers Seasons Greetings and all the best for the coming year!
2024 has been a busy, fulfilling and fun year for the International Training Programme with an annual summer programme and a range of legacy projects which meant we were able to meet new colleagues and re-connect with ITP fellows from across the global sector.
The Annual Programme
The 18th annual ITP programme brought 20 culture and heritage professional together from 6 July to 18 August. The British Museum and eight UK Partner Museums welcomed fellows from 13 countries, including Brazil, China, Colombia, Cyprus, Egypt, Ghana, India, Iraq, Kenya, Myanmar, Oman, Türkiye, and the USA, to the UK.
This year we welcomed a new country to our growing global network – being joined by a fellow from Cyprus – a new connection that we hope will develop into a long-term, sustainable and rewarding partnership.
The ITP network now boasts 373 museum professionals from 61 countries!
We had a wonderful group of fellows for 2024 and we are already looking forward to working with them – and introducing them to the rest of the network – in the future through our legacy projects and programmes.
Our Senior Fellow this year was Yanoa Pomalima Carrasco, Museum consultant (Peru, ITP Fellow 2022) and it was a truly a delight to have her join us over the summer.
You can read our ITP Annual Report HERE.
Beyond the Annual Programme
This year we have been delighted to support members of our ITP network through our Research and Conference Grants. In 2024 the ITP has given grants for fellows to attend conferences covering a diverse range of topics including Current Research in Egyptology; the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries and Museums; African Memorial and Human Rights Museums Building a More Sustainable Future for Peace; Common Ground: the role of museums in divided communities and the American Research Centre Egypt Annual Meeting.
We have also supported research projects looking at the launch and operating plan of the first Children’s Museum in Samarkand; Phase 2: Fernando Zobel as art patron and the Spanish printmakers from the Museo de Arte Abstracto Espanol, Cuenca; Distance Learning Through the Grand Egyptian Museum: Leveraging Modern Technology to Teach Ancient Egypt Among Schools and National Museums and Legion: life in the Roman Army.
The 11th issue of the International Training Programme annual newsletter, a celebration of the voices and views across our network, focused on Museums of the past through technologies of the future – a theme chosen and developed by our ITP Senior Fellow 2023, Ciprian Dobra, Alba Iulia Municipality Counsellor and Cultural Objective Curator, Principia Museum.
The newsletter tells fascinating, creative stories from many museums around the world who are currently incorporating technologies into their spaces and practice.
You can read our ITP Newsletter 2024, issue 11 HERE https://www.bmitpglobalnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/ITP-Newsletter-2024_Compressed.pdf
2024 saw the vital work of the ITP Advisory Board continue and develop. Board members – fellows from Armenia, Egypt, Guatemala, India, Kenya, Nepal, Peru and Romania – have worked to create the board’s terms of reference and guidance, to feed into the creation of the annual programme 2024, and to create a webpage where they can share their work with the wider global network. They are also working on increasing the digital and legacy project offering of the ITP by devising a programme of online subject specialist sessions which we will share in the New Year, as well as ideas for a new ITP publication and for a global Object in focus which will mark the 20th anniversary of the ITP.
You can see the ITP Advisory Board page on our website HERE https://www.bmitpglobalnetwork.org/fellows/itp-advisory-board/
In April, the ITP team were delighted to travel to Belfast for the ICOM UK conference 2024 with Namrata Sarmah, Freelance Museum Consultant and Researcher (India, ITP 2018); Nourah Sammar, MA Student, Academy of Korean Studies (Palestine, ITP 2009); Chantal Umuhoza, Curator, Rwanda Cultural Heritage Academy (Rwanda, ITP 2018) and Ma. Yohana Frias, Exhibition Designer, National Museum of the Philippines (Philippines, ITP 2018). The theme of the conference was Common Ground: the role of museums in divided communities and sessions explored the role of museums as important shared spaces, where differences can be discussed, and areas of commonality identified and valued.
You can read our fellows reflections on the conference on our ITP website.
Chantal Umuhoza https://www.bmitpglobalnetwork.org/2024/06/19/reflecting-on-the-2024-icom-uk-conference-report-from-chantal-umuhoza/
Ma. Yohana Frias https://www.bmitpglobalnetwork.org/2024/04/25/itp-conference-grant-report-from-ma-yohana-frias-philippines-itp-2018/
Nourah Sammar https://www.bmitpglobalnetwork.org/2024/06/21/reflecting-on-the-2024-icom-uk-conference-report-from-nourah-sammar/
Namrata Sarmah https://www.bmitpglobalnetwork.org/2024/06/17/reflecting-on-the-2024-icom-uk-conference-report-from-namrata-sarmah/
In November 2024 we invited five ITP Fellows from Egypt, India, Jordan, Kenya, and USA to join us at the Museums Association (MA) conference and exhibition, Leeds. The conference took place on 12 – 14 November at the Royal Armouries, Leeds and focused on The Joy of Museums and there was also the opportunity to spend time at museums, galleries, and heritage sites in and around Leeds with additional programming focused on our participants’ specific areas of interest.
Through 2024 we have also been supporting Siddhant Shah (India, ITP Fellow 2021) to join us at the British Museum for a co-creation project in the British Museum. Working with colleagues in the Department of Asia and Learning and National Partnerships (LNP), Siddhant has been working on a project centred on the upcoming special exhibition Ancient India (working title) which will focus on the creation of a sensory trail for autistic adults visiting the exhibition.
And we’d like to thank Roshan Mishra, Director, Taragaon Next (Nepal, ITP 2018 & Senior Fellow 2022) for delivering an online presentation as part of an ongoing partnership between the University of Nottingham Museum and the International Training Programme. Roshan’s was the third in a series of ITP Fellows who have been part of the Lakeside Arts public programme of cultural talks and focused on Cultural Nexus: Engaging Community through Museums, Archives, Curation, and Repatriation.
We’d like to thank everyone who has supported the ITP in 2024 whether this was through their generous financial support or through sharing their knowledge, collections and spaces. The International Training Programme wouldn’t be possible without them and we are so grateful for the opportunities their support gives us to deliver both the annual programme and our legacy projects.
Finally, we’d like to send our very warmest wishes to our ITP colleagues in Lebanon, Palestine and Sudan who have experienced so much sadness this year – we are thinking of you all.
Warm wishes to all!
Claire, George and Amelia