Marine Mkrtchyan

Biography

Marine was a student at the Faculty of Culture, Department of Museum Studies and Monuments Preservation at the Armenian State Pedagogical University from 2001-2005, and qualified as a museologist and guide after graduation. Marine then entered Yerevan State University (YSU) where she received her second specialisation as an Art Historian. While at YSU she organised social-cultural programmes in different Armenian museums, for orphaned children and those with mental health disabilities. In 2007 she began work in the History Museum of Yerevan as a guide and joined the Yerevan State University History Museum where she quickly became Deputy Director. When Marine joined the ITP network in 2014 she was the Deputy Director of the Russian Art Museum in Yerevan, and has since become the CEO.

Since 2008 Marine has been a board member of the ICOM National Committee of Armenia and ICOM/UMAC. One of her proudest achievements was curating a new permanent exhibition on the 90th anniversary of Yerevan State University. The exhibition is a prime example of new approaches to museum management in University History Museums. In 2014 she became an Armenian correspondent of the European Museum Forum. Marine is currently working on her PhD, researching topics such as The Role of Museums in the System of Education in Armenia.

At the British Museum

During her time on the International Training Programme in 2014, Marine was based in the Middle East department and her partner placement was spent at Manchester Museum and Manchester Art Gallery.

In 2014 participants were asked to prepare a project outlining an exhibition proposal based on the Asahi Shimbun Displays – a temporary exhibition in Room 3 at the British Museum. Marine’s exhibition project proposal was entitled Life in Miniature: Armenian Dress at the British Museum.

Marine’s place on the programme was generously supported by the Marie-Louise von Motesiczky Charitable Trust.

Legacy Projects

In November 2015 Marine attended the ITP Mumbai Workshop Creating Museums of World Stories. The workshop was held at CSMVS and was attended by many ITP fellows from different years and countries, UK partners and British Museum Colleagues. At this conference Marine began discussions with colleagues from Manchester Art Gallery, on hosting an education conference and workshop in Yerevan Armenia.

In October 2016 Marine, with the help of Davit Poghosyan (Armenia, ITP 2015) supported Hayk Mkrtchyan (Armenia, ITP 2014, Senior Fellow 2017) to host Learning, Engagement and Museums, a four-day conference and workshop held at Cafesjian Centre for the Arts in Yerevan Armenia. The event was attended by 19 Armenian museum educators from 18 institutions, UK partner museum educators from Glasgow Museums, Manchester Art Gallery and The Collections and ITP fellow museum educators from Egypt, India, Lebanon and Turkey.

In November 2022 Marine participated in an ITP legacy project based on the Museums Association Conference held in Edinburgh. As part of this week, with fellows from Egypt, Guatemala, India, Philippines, Romania, Rwanda and Uzbekistan, Marine attended a programme structured around the 3-day MA Conference exploring how museums can create better places to live and work.

ITP Newsletter Publications

ITP Newsletter Issue 5 (2018), The ITP in Armenia: The power of collaboration

ITP Newsletter Issue 5 (2018), Your collection in focus: Mikhail Vrubel’s Demon and Angel with Tamara’s Soul