14 December 2005 16:56

Museums Development Program

However, Ukrainian museums system is now in deep crisis caused by a complex of problems. Among major ones are lack of stable financing, staff problems, museums’ failure to effectively answer contemporary challenges, lack of communication between museum workers, etc.

In 2004, the Foundation started a special program titled the Museums Development Program to prepare systemic changes in the museum sphere aimed at qualitative improvement of Ukraine’s historical and cultural heritage preservation and its popularization via museums. 

The program’s major task in its initial stage was promoting the renewal of contacts between Ukrainian museums and creating a communication network between museum specialists.

To this end the Foundation has:

• created the only Ukraine’s web portal on museums, Ukrainian Museum Space;
• created a specialized periodical on museum topics, the Ukrainian Museum informational bulletin, distributed free of charge among Ukrainian museums, libraries, colleges, various related institutions, etc.

In 2005 the Foundation organized the annual Program to Support Museum Workers. In the four years of the program’s work, dozens of museum workers have received charitable aid to the total of around UAH 250,000 for their professional activities, research, participation in conferences, etc.

In 2006, the Foundation together with the Ukrainian Museum Development Center initiated and now is implementing the Museum Event of the Year All-Ukrainian Action. It was launched to attract public attention to the most important events and trends in the Ukrainian museums sphere and stimulate the museums’ staff to give more publicity to their projects. Every year, by the results of a poll of a broad range of experts (museum workers, monument protection workers, art critics, politicians, officials, public figures, etc.), the action celebrates the most important museum events of the year, analyzes negative trends, etc.

In 2007, the Ukraine 3000 Foundation jointly with the Ukrainian Museum Development Center started the creation of Ukraine’s first specialized library for museum workers and everyone interested in museum business. The project’s goal is accumulating literature on urgent issues disturbing all museums in the country. First of all, it’s the question of survival in the modern world, where the museums have to fight for their place in the sun. Obviously, there are few or no such books in Ukraine.

The library’s priorities are:

• Collecting all printed and electronic editions by Ukrainian museums (catalogues, albums, journals, conference summaries, leaflets, etc.);
• Subscribing to leading foreign and international periodicals on museums;
• Collecting foreign literature on new fields of museum knowledge (museum management, marketing, PR, fundraising, IT, museum education, etc.);
• Translating into Ukrainian and reprinting most topical foreign papers.

Today, the library preserves around 1,500 items. They are, in particular, books and periodicals from Ukraine, Russia, America, Europe, etc.

A separate area in the Foundation’s work is developing all-Ukrainian friends of museums’ movement.