Museums Association Conference Leeds 2024: ITP Report

POSTED ON 14/01/2025 IN Conference Legacy Projects Museums Association

Written by George Peckham, Coordinator, International Training Programme

We are very pleased to share the ITP report from our programme at the 2024 Museums Association Conference. Each year the International Training Programme organises a week-long programme structured around the Museums Association (MA) annual conference. The 2024 MA Conference was held in Leeds and was attended by five fellows:

  • Kayla Annen (Hawai’i, USA, ITP Fellow 2023), Ethnology Collections Manager, Bishop Museum
  • Mohammad Al Qaisi (Jordian, ITP Fellow 2022), Education Manager, Jordan Museum
  • Rodah Lange (Kenya, ITP Fellow 2023), Curator, National Museums of Kenya
  • Priyanka Kundu (India, ITP Fellow 2022), Museum Keeper, Lalbhai Dalpatbhai Museum
  • Shreen Mohamed Amin Taher (Egypt, ITP Fellow 2016), Visiting Lecturer of Heritage and Museum Studies, Helwan University and Senior Museum Education and Programme Developer, The Children’s Museum, Egyptian Museum, Cairo
Photograph of five people wearing yellow hard hats.

The theme of the 2024 conference was The Joy of Museums. The theme aimed to celebrate the innovation and creativity that make museums incredible places. Speakers explored social and political issues and covered topics such as economic regeneration and the cost of the living crisis, museums’ role in health and wellbeing, the impact of discrimination, and engaging with communities with contested histories and marginalised groups.

In addition to attending the MA Conference and Exhibition, a key aim for the week was to offer further opportunities for fellows and their institutions to develop skills and experiences and to create new networking opportunities. With that in mind, we put together an additional programme of visits and sessions over three days in Leeds, Wakefield and Saltaire.

Programme visits this year included Leeds Discovery Centre, Thackray Museum of Medicine, National Coal Mining Museum, Yorkshire Sculpture Park and Saltaire.

Group photograph of eight people stood together.

MA Conference Leeds was ITP’s seventh time attending the Museums Association in conference, and we have attended an additional time online. The conference and the week of programming around it always proves to be a highlight of our year and a great opportunity to reconnect with ITP alumni. Don’t forget you can read all our previous MA Conference reports by visiting our legacy projects page: https://www.bmitpglobalnetwork.org/itp-legacy-projects/itp-the-museums-association-ma-conference/

Read the 2024 Museums Association Conference report HERE.