Museums and Education ITP+ Course, Mumbai

Written by Claire Messenger, International Training Programme Manager

I’m delighted to be able to give you an update on our plans for the next ITP+ course, Museums and education. Museums and education, a 3-day event, will be held from 28 – 30 March 2019 at Chhatrapati Shivji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS) Mumbai following the kind invitation of Mr Sabyasachi Mukherjee.

Museums and education will see the presentation of a series of case studies to provide perspectives on engaging and educating young audiences, and offer participants interesting and common themes, benefits and challenges that can inform their own institutions’ strategies.

These case studies will be delivered by colleagues from the British Museum, UK and programme partner museums, alongside fellows from the ITP network. They will highlight creative and innovative approaches around the world through sharing learning, challenges and impact.

Workshop groups will then be given time to debate and brainstorm key issues around museum-based learning and will be challenged to conceive and formulate a programme with learning outcomes for young audiences, which can be shared worldwide.

International Training Programme fellows joining us to present case studies will be:

Fadzai Muchemwa (ITP 2017, Zimbabwe), who will talk about ‘Engaging the young: An analysis of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe’s “First Fridays” project’.

Ishaq Mohammed Bello (ITP 2012, Nigeria), who will present on ‘Museum education in times of crisis’.

Paul Michael (ITP 2012, Tanzania) who will focus on ‘The effects of museum education on teaching and learning the national culture for Butiama District Primary Schools in Tanzania’.

Rashidah Salim (ITP 2016, Malaysia), who will talk about the ‘School-Museum Partnership:  Artventurous journey of learning’.

Solomy Nabukalu (ITP 2018, Uganda) who will tell us more about ‘Interlacing and engaging children at the Kabale Regional Museum’.

And Bilwa Kulkarni (ITP 2015, India) will be introducing CSMVS’ new wing, the Children’s Museum and Creativity Centre, which will open in in March 2019, during her presentation ‘Children’s Museums: Relinquishing Ownership’.

We are also lucky enough to be able to invite Namrata Sarmah (ITP 2018, India) and Suruchika Chawla (ITP 2018, India) who will be taking part in the course as ‘workshop facilitators’ to help develop potential future learning programmes.

Joining us from the UK will be:

Ed Lawless, Education Manager: Samsung Digital Learning Programme, British Museum, who will present ‘Beyond knowledge and skills: how the British Museum supports 7–11 year old school visitors to explore their own attitudes and values using digital technology.

Ronan Brindley, Head of Learning, Manchester Art Gallery, who will talk about ‘Making the Museum Useful – Developing Manchester Art Gallery’s learning programme’.

Joanna Mawdsley, Head of Learning, V&A Dundee, who will tell us more about ‘Engaging audiences without a Museum’.

Tim Corum, Director, Curatorial & Public Engagement, Horniman Museum and Gardens, who will explain how they are ‘Engaging young people in the Horniman Museum’s long term planning and capital development programmes’.

And Jan Pitman, Learning Manager, Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse, Norfolk Museums Service, who will present on ‘Museums and literacy: developing primary literacy in Norfolk Museums’.

It is wonderful to be working with Bilwa Kulkarni (ITP 2015, India) and Vaidehi Savnal (ITP 2016, India) again as we create and develop the programme. I hope you agree that we will have a fascinating and diverse range of case studies to help us start conversations around museums and the learning programmes they deliver. We can’t wait to share the results with you both during and after the workshop.

Claire