New York University’s Program in Museum Studies, with the support of the Getty Foundation, has created an intensive summer institute in museum management for museum professionals in Asia, Eastern Europe, and the former Soviet Union.
The institute, which runs June 4-28, will include approximately 25 participants. In addition to three weeks of classes in New York City, involving sessions in local museums, there will be a one-day trip to Philadelphia institutions and four days of travel to museums in Washington, D.C.
With an international faculty consisting of experienced museum professionals and management educators, including faculty at NYU’s Stern School of Business, the institute will focus on institutional leadership and mission-generated strategic thinking. Among the topics to be included in the curriculum are the development of new audiences, strategic planning, project management, marketing, fund raising, and the relationship between museums and governmental agencies.
NYU’s Program in Museum Studies is part of the university’s Graduate School of Arts and Science.
“Throughout the world museums are increasingly important as sites of historical memory, social interaction, and economic development,” said Bruce Altshuler, director of the Program in Museum Studies. “Nowhere is this more the case than in present and former communist nations, where changing political and economic conditions raise critical management and planning issues for museums. Our goal is to collaborate with museum managers from these transitional economies to develop strategies and skills with which they can better negotiate their new challenges.”
In designing the institute, Altshuler traveled in 2002 to China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Russia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland to meet with nearly to 100 museum professionals to discuss their educational needs.
With support from the Los Angeles-based Getty Foundation, round-trip transportation, housing, meals, course materials, and tuition expenses will be paid for all participants.
EDITOR’S NOTE
New York University’s Program in Museum Studies has offered an innovative course of study in the contemporary theory and practice of museum work for more than 25 years. Emphasizing both the interdisciplinary study of museums and courses of practical training, the program has prepared more than 300 graduates for positions of increasing responsibility in museums throughout the world. In addition to obtaining a broad foundation in the history and theory of museums, the creation and maintenance of exhibitions and collections, and museum management, its students pursue personal programs of study supporting individual academic and career objectives.