Hayk Mkrtchyan

Biography

From 2001 – 2005 Hayk studied at the Armenian State Pedagogical University, in the Faculty of Culture, Department of Museum Studies and Monuments Preservation. After graduating he qualified as a museologist and guide and began working at the History Museum of Yerevan as a senior researcher and briefly as Deputy Director of Finances.

From 2011-2014, Hayk moved into the position of Senior Researcher at the Memorial Museum of Avetik lsahakyan, which was his role during his attendance of the ITP Annual Programme. After returning from the ITP to his hometown, Hayk has moved to newly established Museum Education Centre in Armenia funded by German Adult Education Association country office in Armenia. Being a project coordinator for more than 4 years, Hayk has been coordinating several capacity building programmes including an exchange programme to museums in Berlin in July-August 2017.

From 2013-16 Hayk was a Board Member of the International Committee for Marketing and PR (ICOM MPR). Hayk was Coordinator for the ICOM MPR Annual international conference ‘Emerging Trends: Technology, Millennials, Controversy’ in Yerevan in 2015.  From 2016 to 2019 Hayk served as a Secretary for ICOM International Committee for Marketing and PR.

On top of his duties as Director of the Association of Museum Workers and Friends, Hayk has worked an Assistant to the Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport (MoESCS) of Armenia. During his time (2019-2021) in the MoESCS, Hayk represented the Republic of Armenia in the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe as a Country Representative.

In 2023, Hayk was awarded his master’s degree in business administration (executive MBA) from the University of Sheffield in general management, with Merit. His master’s thesis was about change management in museums.

From 2021 onwards Hayk has been chairing the ICOM National Committee for Armenian Museums. Between 2023-2024, Hayk led two museum projects aimed at development of inclusion (Beyond Sight: Discovering Museums through Touch, funded by U.S. Dept. of State) and disaster risk preparedness (Preserving our legacy: Mobilizing for Heritage in Times of Crisis, funded by EU) in museums across Armenia.

Currently, Hayk works with the Cultural Development Foundation of Armenia as Head of International Partnerships. Cultural Development Foundation was established in 2023 by the Government of the Republic of Armenia and aims to foster the development and promotion of Armenian culture in and out of Armenia.

At the British Museum

During his time on the International Training Programme in 2014, Hayk was based in the Middle East Department and his partner placement was spent at Glasgow Museums.

During his time as a Senior Fellow for the program Hayk was based in the Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan.

Hayk’s place on the programme was generously supported by the Aall Foundation.

Legacy Projects

In November 2015 Hayk 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 Hayk began discussions with colleagues from Manchester Art Gallery, on hosting an education conference and workshop in Yerevan Armenia.

In October 2016 Hayk, with the help of Marine Mkrtchyan (Armenia, ITP 2014) and Davit Poghosyan (Armenia, ITP 2015) hosted “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 Türkiye.

Hayk returned to the British Museum in 2017 in the role of Senior Fellow. He supported the ITP team in the build up to, during and after the 2018 Summer Programme, attended by 25 museum professionals from 18 countries. In this position, Hayk also took on the role of guest editor of the 2018 ITP newsletter.

With support from the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport and the British Museum’s International Training Program Hayk organized a workshop on “Museum leadership and management” which was held in Armenia in 2019 in partnership with the Association of Museum Workers and Friends of Armenia and delivered by Janet Vitmayer, former Chief Executive, Horniman Museum and Gardens and Iain Watson, Director, Tyne & Wear Archives and Museums.

In 2021 Hayk was awarded an at ITP Research Grant to support his studies on Strategic Brand Management in Museums as part of his Executive MBA within the International Faculty at Sheffield University.

Hayk is also a member of the ITP Advisory Board.

ITP Newsletter Publications
ITP Newsletter Issue 5 (2018), Learning, engagement, and museums
ITP Newsletter Issue 5 (2018), Bulletin Board
ITP Newsletter Issue 5 (2018), The ITP in Armenia: The power of collaboration