Astghik Marabyan

Biography

Astghik Marabyan is am Art Historian focusing on interdisciplinary field of heritage studies and cultural education. She holds her BA in Art History and MA in General History from the Yerevan State University.

Since 2018, Astghik has served at the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of the Republic of Armenia as the Head of Department of Cultural Heritage. She is a Bureau member of the Enlarged Partial Agreement on Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe, and acts as the national coordinator for the UNESCO 1970 Convention and the BSEC Working Group on Culture. Astghik has been widely involved in development of the Law on Museums of the Republic of Armenia, adopted in 2024.

From 2007 to 2018, she worked at the Cafesjian Center for the Arts, one of the leading museums of Armenia, with focus on education and public programming.

She is the co-author of the Museum Education Handbook (2016).

Astghik is an alumna of prestigious U.S. Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program (2019).

Currently, she is pursuing an MA in International Relations with International Law at the University of Kent, UK, and is enrolled in the Stanford Business School LEAD executive education online program.

Her research interests include international legal frameworks for heritage protection, museum studies, modern and contemporary Armenian art, cultural education.

Astghik is a Board Member of the ICOM Resolutions Committee.

At the British Museum
During her time on the International Training Programme 2017, Astghik was based in the Middle East Department and she spent her partner placement with Norfolk Museums Service.

In 2017 participants were asked to develop a proposal for an Asahi Shimbun Display – a temporary exhibition in Room 3 at the British Museum – based around a ‘spotlight’ object.  Astghik worked with fellow Mariem Daniel (Curator, Coptic Museum, Egypt) on her exhibition proposal project, entitled Bridging Voices: Dia Al-Azzawi.

Astghik’s participation in the International Training Programme was generously supported by the Marie-Louise von Motesiczky Charitable Trust.

Legacy projects
In 2018, with ITP UK Partner Ronan Brindley (Head of Learning, Manchester Art Gallery) and ITP 2017 Senior Fellow Hayk Mkrtchyan, Astghik helped deliver a Museum Education Summer School, held at the SMART Center in Lori. The focus was Museums and Communities: from visiting to participation.

In October 2019 Astghik participated in the ITP MA Conference programme in Brighton. With fellows from Egypt, India, Nepal and China and Malaysia, Astghik attended a programme structured around the 3-day MA Conference on Sustainable and Ethical Museums in a Globalised World.

ITP Newsletter Publications
ITP Newsletter Issue 5 (2018), The ITP in Armenia: Engaging teens at the Cafesjian Center for the Arts