Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 20-24 May, 2019, the Center for Contemporary Art is hosting t the third cycle of a joint long-term program on museum management of the British Council and the Culture and Art Development Foundation under the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the University of London Goldsmiths (UK).

The program is designed for two years and is aimed at improving the skills in art management of employees of museums and galleries in Uzbekistan. It was specially designed for Uzbek specialists by Goldsmiths University of London, which is a recognized university in cultural management worldwide and has extensive experience in teaching and implementing modern museum management systems in a number of countries.

The program is developed according to the experience of the museum business in the UK with a focus on improving the administrative structure of the museums of Uzbekistan and improving the quality of services for visitors.

The program consists of several stages - courses from leading British specialists in this field and includes the study of international best practices in museum management, project management, as well as aspects of marketing and communication. According to the course lecturers, with all its theoretical format, the material will be as “working” as possible and applicable in practice. The knowledge gained at the lectures, the participants will be able to apply when drawing up their calendar work plans for museums in 2019-2020.

The course was attended by representatives of the State Museum of Applied Arts of Uzbekistan, the I.Savitsky State Museum of Arts (Karakalpakstan), the Aibek House Museum, the State Museum of Arts of Uzbekistan, and the Foundation for the Development of Culture and Arts under the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the State Institute of Arts and Culture.

This third stage of the course is devoted to the issues of a strategic review of what makes museums interesting in the 21st century and relevant to today’s audiences. A number of principles will be explored, including the development of cultural marketing; the seven pillars of the audience’s focus; audience oriented strategic planning; the need to understand the audience in order to develop, diversify and deepen the relationship with the audience.

The whole theory will be accompanied by examples of real practical approaches. The course is a mixture of inspiring presentations, case studies, individual and group exercises that will help participants apply the principles in their own museums and galleries.

The course will be conducted by renowned British experts Una Murphy and Joanna Taylor, who shared their opinions.

Joanna Taylor, director of consulting agency Morris Hargreaves McIntyre, said: Today we started training on museum management and we are very pleased to see among the participants representatives of museums who love their work very much. We are waiting for a very busy week, and first of all, today we started to talk about how to organize museum branding, what values they would like to convey to their visitors and how best to present their work to the whole world. We will also think together about how museums can more effectively position themselves and show how they differ from other museums, and what is their role in society.

Una Murphy, Professor, University of London Goldsmith, noted that among the participants of the training it was very nice to see specialists from various fields, including historians, researchers, curators, and marketers - this gives you the opportunity to look at the questions from different perspectives, which is very important in building strategies and plans. And during the week we will discuss questions about the future work of museums, both from the point of view of our British practice, and from the point of view of the rich cultural heritage of Uzbekistan and the unparalleled collection that is in your museums.