Silk Road International University of Tourism launches Master’s program in Museum Studies

27.07.2021 1643

The Silk Road International University of Tourism in Samarkand, together with the Art and Culture Development Foundation announce the launching of a new Master’s program in Museum Studies in Uzbekistan.

"Masters in Museum Studies" is the first educational program developed by the world's most famous curators in the field of art and museum science.

The purpose of the training program is to fill the lack of specialists in the field of management of museums, exhibitions and world expositions. The program is focused on the professional training of a generation of museum specialists in accordance with international standards and requirements.

Within the framework of the "Masters in Museum Studies" program, with the support of the Art and Culture Development Foundation, the best experts in the field of museum management, organizing exhibitions, holding auctions, as well as studying the specifics of copyright in the field of art have been attracted to Uzbekistan.

Championing this new venture, Aziz Abdukhakimov, Minister of Tourism and Sport and Rector of the Silk Road International University remarked “The Silk Road International University is proud to offer new programs dedicated to advancing young arts professionals in the early stages of their careers. We see Uzbekistan as an important connector and supporter of burgeoning contemporary art and museums, creating an important bridge between Samarkand, Central Asia and beyond. The collaboration between the University and the Foundation supports the future for young cultural leaders who will have an opportunity to learn from leading local and global arts industry experts. Furthermore, with the forthcoming Silk Road Museum opening on the University campus’s grounds, students will have direct access art, exhibitions and objects, which will further argument learning in an immersive academic environment.”

The program will include a combination of core modules (14 weeks) and optional modules (6 weeks), as well as a two-month international round table for art professionals.

The Masters in Museum Studies is aimed at providing students with theoretical and practical skills to understand the developing local and global ecosystem of art and, importantly, to obtain tools for applying this knowledge in their professional cultural activities.

Briefly about the curators of the program:

Sarah Raza (USA) - Program Director. An award winning art curator and writer specializing in global art and visual cultures from Central and Western Asia. She lives and works in New York City where she founded the curatorial studio Punk Orientalism and is the 2021-2022 Red Burns Fellow at the New York University’s ITP Masters Program and a member of the faculty at the School of Visual Arts for the Masters in Curatorial Practice. She was most recently the Guggenheim UBS MAP Curator for the Middle East and North Africa, where she organized the exhibition But a Storm Is Blowing from Paradise at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York (2016), which travelled to the Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Milan (2018). Raza has curated exhibitions and projects for international museums, biennials and festivals including the Rubin Museum of Art, New York, Mathaf: Modern Arab Art Museum, Doha, Qatar; the MacKenzie Art Gallery, Saskatchewan, Canada; Maraya Art Center, Sharjah, the Tashkent Biennale, Uzbekistan; Rhizoma (Generation in Waiting) (collateral exhibition) 55th Venice Biennale; and the 3rd Baku Public Art Festival, Azerbaijan.

Jeffrey Boloten (Great Britain) (Academic Advisor) - Program Leader for the leading Art and Business Program at Sotheby’s Institute of Art (London). He is Co-Founder and Managing Director of ArtInsight Ltd., the education partner of art market research firm, ArtTactic. He was a director with several leading international publishers, including Penguin Books, and has held posts at the Tate and as General Manager of a London art college. Boloten is a frequent speaker and lecturer at international art fairs and conferences on topics including the global art, and art investment markets. He is a Founding Member of PAIAM, Professional Advisors to the International Art Market. Boloten holds an MA, Arts Man-agement, City University (UK); BComm, McGill University; LL.B, Osgoode Hall Law School (Canada).

The first course "Masters in Museum Studies" launches from January 2022. The duration of the course is one year, the training is conducted in a hybrid format, in English.

For admission in this direction, applicants must submit an application on the university's website

http://admissions.univ-silkroad.uz/