Be Museumer: South Caucasus initiative for developing museum field launches in Tbilisi
The three-year initiative will see museum employees across the region work for developing contemporary solutions in their field. Photo: Georgian National Museum.
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Professionals across the South Caucasus and from Europe will join forces to develop answers to challenges facing modern museums, as a regional project for advancing the field was launched in Tbilisi on Tuesday.
Educational programmes, grants and research activities will involve museum employees from Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan over the next three years within Be Museumer, the initiative unveiled as a winning project of the Creative Europe programme of the European Union.
Within the move, experienced professionals from Europe will lead trainings and seminars for those staffing museums in the region, on topics including social and economic roles for museums, hospitality, audience development and digital technology.
Developing audiences and introducing digital technology are among elements to be researched within the project. Photo: Georgian National Museum.
The maiden training — opening on Wednesday in Tbilisi — is set to involve 20 selected participants from the three countries under the guidance of Margherita Sani, Project Manager for the Network of European Museum Organisations (NEMO) also representing the Institute for Cultural Heritage of the Emilia Romagna Region in Italy.
The selected group of museum employees will learn about contemporary practices of museum education, development of policies for teaching related professions and significance of teachers in the field.
In subsequent Be Museumer trainings, participants will visit museums in the Netherlands and Germany as well as regional venues. The museum field in the South Caucasus will also become a subject of series of research based on recommendations by European partners of the initiative.
Organisation of expert forums and publication of resulting research and educational materials is also in plans along with holding programmes for grants for developing the profession in the local context.
One of the highlights of Be Museumer is planned to be founding of a centre for museum studies at the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts, a venue looking to become an institution for contemporary intersectional studies following its recent renovation.
Led by the Georgian Museums Association and the Georgian committee of the International Council of Museums, the new project is partnered by the NEMO and the Academy of Cultural Management of the Netherlands.
Georgia joined the Creative Europe programme, a pan-European platform for supporting initiatives in art and culture, in 2015.
Various projects in the country have been aided by the programme since then, including financial support for Tbilisi's Kote Marjanishvili State Drama Theatre and CineDOC-Tbilisi Documentary Film Festival in 2016.
A brand-new initiative in Georgia’s capital is launching a business incubator at the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts to help the state institution’s students develop their projects and learn skills for promoting their work.
A 10-day festival of extraordinary exhibitions, public talks and educational events will celebrate International Museum Day in Georgia starting next week.
Georgia will celebrate this year's National Museum Week with a series of exhibitions and educational activities in capital Tbilisi and around the country.
Two Georgian cultural organisations have been awarded financial support within a Europe-wide program for creative projects after winning two separate contests.
Georgia will soon become a member of Creative Europe and reap the benefits of €1 billion in support that will go towards preserving and supporting the country’s culture, including art, theatre, music, traditional dance and more.
For just over a week starting today, venues of the Georgian National Museum network will be open for events and activities marking the 2019 GNM Fest, including the annual Night at the Museum special.
From accessories given as presents to items connected to shared experiences, exhibits and stories illustrating relationships that ran their course are now on view at the moving Museum of Broken Relationships in Tbilisi’s old town section.
A new, modern scientific research and cultural enlightening centre-museum will be opened in the vicinity of the Iveria Holy Virgin Mary Church on the Makhata hill in Tbilisi.