MLvM ITP Celebration Event
On Monday 22nd May the British Museum hosted an event in celebration of the International Training Programme. The evening was a moment for advocacy and reengagement, formally welcoming supporters, advocates, and partner museum colleagues back to the British Museum after the Covid hiatus.
The evening also highlighted the Marie-Louise von Motesiczky Charitable Trust’s vital support of the programme over the years and showcased the ITP as the BM’s flagship international offering.
The evening’s speakers included Hartwig Fischer, British Museum Director, and Frances Carey, MLvM Chair, who both shared the importance of the Programme to the Museum and how the network has grown from strength to strength.
Previous ITP fellows Barbara Vujanović (ITP fellow 2016) Chief Curator, Meštrović Atelier (The Ivan Meštrović Museums) and Pankaj Protim Bordoloi (ITP fellow 2018) Deputy Director, Art & Museum Section, President’s Secretariat Rashtrapati Bhavan, both delivered speeches sharing their experiences of the ITP and the work they have gone on to do since completing the programme.
Barbara and Pankaj stayed on in London to make the most of their time and were able to enjoy our two new exhibitions – Luxury and Power; Persia to Greece and China’s Hidden Century – as well as trips to museums and galleries across the capital. Pankaj also travelled to the Manchester Museum to see their exciting new South Asia Gallery – a British Museum partnership gallery, presenting a compelling, contemporary take on South Asian and British Asian culture.
Cynthia Iruobe, Chief Curator at the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (Nigeria, ITP Fellow 2010) also joined us and spoke to our guests about her time on the ITP back in 2010 and where her career had taken her since.
We were also delighted to welcome colleagues from our UK network. Clare Pickersgill, Keeper, University of Nottingham Museum, Louise Smyth, HR Business Partner (L&D) and Sarah Gore, Teaching Museum Manager, Norfolk Museums Service joined us, as did Neal Spencer and Rebecca Horton, both former ITP team colleagues.
It was a wonderful evening and a true celebration of the International Training Programme – both past and future. We just wished ALL our ITP Fellows had been there too!!