International Training Programme 2021 – Week 9

Written by George Peckham, ITP Assistant

This week’s core session for ITP 2021 covers national and international loans. Modules for this week’s core session includes British Museum loans: in theory and in practice, and Loans and Couriering.

The aim of this week’s session is to introduce the ITP 2021 fellows to lending and borrowing at the British Museum. It provides an overview of the BM’s loans policy and strategy including the loans process; risk management; delivery; and the impact of COVID-19 on museum loans.

There’s also the opportunity to hear about the Museum’s loans work from a Collection Manager and Assistant Collection Managers perspective. The modules explain what the role of a courier is and the key requirements for their role.

The British Museum shares its rich and diverse collection of more than 8 million objects with audiences around the globe through its extensive programme of touring exhibitions.

In the UK we share our collection through touring exhibitions, spotlight loans, partnership galleries and long-term loans. Long-term loans from the British Museum can be seen in many museums in the UK and are an excellent way of having objects come out of storage and go on display. While short-term lending can sometimes treble the number of visitors to local collections.

Meanwhile international loans allow the BM to work with colleagues and institutions overseas and have helped us to build new relationships and to strengthen existing ones with museums in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas.

As part of this week’s session we have also released another ‘in conversation’. This week Anna Cottle spoke to Jasper Chalcraft, Jean Monnet Fellow at European University Institute and friend of ITP, to discuss cultural heritage and conflict.

Cultural heritage often plays a crucial role in conflict dynamics – before, during and after a dispute. Anna and Jasper’s conversation explored why this happens and Jasper shared some examples of how culture and heritage has been used in conflict-affected environments. The module also considered approaches to the reconstruction process and how you can prepare yourselves to work with conflict.