Kumari Selja Inaugurates Leadership Training Programme

A step for Museum Professionals
Jawhar Sircar Receives First-Ever British Museum Medal

The Culture and Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation Minister Kumari Selja has said that Museums have always played an important role in our society by bringing us closer to our roots and making us aware of our glorious past. Museum visits as an integral part of school life were important events which shaped our understanding of the growth of human life on earth. Inaugurating Leadership Training Programme for in-house Museums Professionals here today, she said, there are over a thousand museums in India, both large and small. Over 90% of these are funded and maintained by the Central and State Governments and few renowned museums have also been set up through private efforts. The Archaeological Survey of India itself manages 44 site museums located near important historical sites, some of them in the remotest parts of the country like Dholavira and Lothal in Gujarat and others at well-known World Heritage Sites such as Agra.

Kumari Selja said, some of the oldest museums were established by the British and their collections were a combination of natural history and antiquarian remains like the Indian Museum, Kolkata, which will be celebrating its 200th anniversary in 2014, Victoria Memorial Hall, Kolkata and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, Formerly Prince of Wales Museum, Mumbai.

The Minister said, training and capacity building are an intrinsic part of the development of Human resources of any organization. Improvement in the functioning of museums is a felt need today. Her Ministry has made efforts to organize suitable trainings for our museum professionals to open up their imagination and improve the working so that we are able to replicate the best practices being followed by international museums.

The Minister said, the Leadership Training Programme, being organized by the Ministry of Culture in collaboration with the British Museum, is a unique programme especially designed for Indian museum professionals. She said, the programme will include intensive training sessions on curation, museum education, design and display, scientific storage, conservation and preservation, museum marketing, outreach and collection management.

The Minister said that she is happy to note that 20 professionals from 12 national level museums will be participating in the Leadership Training Programme. She said, she trusts this programme will generate Museum leaders who will further train museum professionals all across the country to create a rich web of world class museums in India. More importantly, I hope this will help shape each and every museum to be people centric institutions and not remain centres of eclectic study and scholastic pursuits.

Mr. J.D.Bevan, British High Commissioner Designate to India and Mr. Neil MacGregor, Director, British Museum, London, also spoke on the occasion. Secretary Culture, Govt. Of India Shri Jawhar Sircar was presented with the first-ever British Museum medal for his "extraordinary contributions" in piloting museum reforms in the country. The medal was presented by Mr. J.D.Bevan, British High Commissioner Designate to India.

As part of long term planning for the cultural sector, the Ministry of Culture, Government of India has initiated a training programme for future directors and cultural leaders to ensure museums across India have a strong foundation for development in the 21st century. The programme is being coordinated by National Culture Fund, Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India.

This Leadership Training Programme has been developed in collaboration with the British Museum, a world leader in its field with a strong history of providing tailor-made training for curators and museum professionals across the world. The British Museum has used its experience to develop the first programme of its kind, focussing specifically on developing the leaders of tomorrow.

Participants have been selected from existing museum professionals and scholars through a joint Ministry of Culture and British Museum interview process. They will take part in three sessions of training which have been specially created to balance the theoretical with the practical, building on participants existing skills and advising on museum best practice. The training has been carefully shaped to ensure participants can immediately apply and share their knowledge and skills within their organisations. The first session commences in Delhi in January 2012, the second in London in March, and the final session in Mumbai in May. This will ensure the training has the highest possible impact and takes advantage of local conditions.

Museums are increasingly engaging personnel with a wide variety of skills to increase their profile and remain relevant to 21st century audiences. While academic scholarship remains the bedrock of our organisations, it is increasingly acknowledged that this work benefits from, and is enhanced by individuals with different specialisms. The range of practitioners involved in conducting the training programme is broad. Among many others, sessions will be taught by specialists in strategic planning, project management, exhibition display, education, communications, marketing, digital technology, conservation and security, drawing on their extensive first-hand experience of working museum environments.

As part of the training programme, Indian scholars will be given substantial access to the British Museum’s world collection and will be encouraged to share their invaluable knowledge, particularly of the Indian collections. The exchange of knowledge between .

Indian and British Museum scholars will be strongly encouraged and the training programme will form a foundation for future collaboration in the areas of research and publication.

Neil MacGregor, Director, British Museum said ‘We are honoured to be working with the National Cultural Fund and the Ministry of Culture for the Government of India on this important training programme. The British Museum is committed to working with partners across the world for our mutual benefit’.
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