ITP 2017 Final Report

Heba Khairy, Grand Egyptian Museum

Introduction:

It is so difficult to memorize and describe the valuable experience I had with the ITP 2017 in

words. I am Heba Khairy, a Curator at the Grand Egyptian Museum; my work is particularly

related to managing the collection database and my main tasks include documentation,

photography and managing stores and archives.

My Expectations:

Receiving an official letter from the ITP telling me that I will participate in the 2017 Summer

Programme, was one of the most precious and happiest moments that I have ever had. There is

nothing like having one of your career dreams come true; my passion for attending the ITP

started 5 years ago, and I paid more attention to the ITP when some of my colleagues

participated in this training. According to what I heard from my colleagues, and what I was

reading about the training in the blog, I believed that the ITP is like no other. After I joined the

ITP I discovered that this training programme exceeded my expectations.

Personal & professional benefits:

Even though I have almost 10 years experience of museum work, I was eager to learn from BM

professionals & other professionals from across the globe. I was also very keen to learn about

every other aspect of museum work, to have the opportunity to learn, collaborate and discuss

with museums & heritage professionals. Through attending the ITP I participated in intensive

sessions and workshops and visited different kinds of museums in the UK (with different display

and concept approaches) which has enriched my knowledge and experience with new skills. As

a result this has led to increased confidence in myself and my museum, it has also raised my

aspirations and ambitions for my work within the Grand Egyptian Museum, to serve it and

make it one of the best museums in the world.

The Grand Egyptian Museum is currently under construction, and is expected to open its doors

to audiences from all over the world in April 2018. The Grand Egyptian Museum will be an

academic and cultural complex, the same role as the British Museum. I hope to help my

museum gain good relationships and keep regular communications with the local and global

community. The ITP experience enriched me with a lot of precious ideas, projects and

exhibitions concepts, which will be amazing to apply in the Grand Egyptian Museum after its

opening, some of the ideas which I found very inspirational at the BM include:

- The donation boxes around the museum to encourage visitors to contribute to the

running of the museum and to enhance their feelings of responsibility toward the

museum.

- Renew or rebuild the old galleries, or creating new gallery spaces through sponsorship

funding

- ‘Hands on’ desk activities

- Renew the vision of specific galleries, or creating new galleries projects, such as the

Modern Egypt project

- Creating an on-line database to share history and art with the globe; I believe that

heritage and artifacts belong to the whole world not to a specific country or culture.

- Creating projects to collaborate with local and international museums as well as by

loans, temporary exhibitions and exchanging projects

- Giving ideas to change the administration construction of your organization, or creating

new departments

After coming back from the UK my vision has changed in many ways about how to work in a

museum. Now I am ready to share all that I have learnt from the ITP with my colleagues in the

Grand Egyptian Museum and other Egyptian museums, through lectures, workshops and

sessions in order to enable discussion and sharing ideas to develop our museums. I believe that

I will face a lot of challenges and difficulties to apply what I have learnt from the ITP in my

museum, but the knowledge, experience and confidence which I gained from the ITP has given

me the strength to overcome these difficulties and challenges, by working and creating new

ideas. That’s why one of my plans is to create an ITP+ Project between my museum and the

BM, to share and exchange experiences, and to deepen the connection between the Grand

Egyptian Museum and the ITP.

Spending 6 weeks at the BM and other museums in UK this summer was one of the most

important stages in my career and my personal life. I believe that one of the ITP legacies is the

new family I have from all over world. It helped me to enlarge my museum and heritage

network with professional friends from 17 different countries: Armenia, China, Greece,

Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Lesotho, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestine,

Sudan, Turkey and Zimbabwe.

I believe that one day I and my ITP friends will be an important part of a huge international

project related to museums and heritage, or we can be a reason for spreading peace around

the world.

Acknowledgements:

I would like to express my deep appreciation and gratitude to my sponsor the de Laszlo

Foundation for supporting and giving me this great opportunity to participate in this amazing

training programme. They have given me the chance to learn and enrich my experience and

knowledge to help and develop my museum as well. Thanks to the ITP and BM team especially

Claire, Rebecca, Vesta and Manuela you were my family and my supporters in my difficult

times.