Prioritising Human Resources in Museums

Anjchita B. Nair is a Public policy professional and architect with experience of working in the areas of cultural heritage, digital platforms, financial inclusion, urban planning and with multiple projects involving the Central and State governments. She was in the founding team of Sahapedia and also has experience of working as a Government and Public Sector consultant with organisations like PwC and UNESCO. As the Co-founder and COO of Cultre, a creative cultural enterprise, Anjchita strives to promote access, understanding and experience of India’s pluralistic cultural heritage. Apart from creating innovative heritage inspired products, she is working towards promoting cultural content through initiatives such as Heritage Olympiad and Cultreapp.

Dr. A.Nagendra Reddy, Director, Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad is a museum veteran and a thought leader in the space of Indian heritage and culture. He has implemented some award-winning initiatives and practices at the Salar Jung Museum during his tenure. The list of awards includes Traveller’s Choice Attractions Award by Tripadvisor and Certificate of achievement by the Art Institute of Chicago among many others. Through this blog, he talks about the digital journey of museum.

Dr. Jyoti Tokas is an accomplished Museum Professional with more than 17 years’ experience and is presently working as Curator in National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi as in-charge of Exhibitions and Publication. She has successfully curated many Exhibitions and organized various public programs and educational events at NGMA.

Before joining NGMA in 2016 she had worked in different capacities in other major institutions under Ministry of Culture, Govt of India Such as National Museum, Lalit Kala Akademi and Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts. She has deep interest in art history and cultural studies also taught part time in Delhi University and IGNOU. She has published her research articles in publications of national and international repute. She was appointed as official nominator to prestigious fellowships like Van Gough House Museum, London.

Dr. Parul Munjal is a conservation architect with experience of being an academic at School of Art and Architecture, Sushant University for 10 years and Senior Conservation Architect at Development and Research Organisation for Nature, Arts and Heritage (DRONAH) prior to that. With a strong orientation towards interdisciplinary research, Munjal has edited books and published widely in journals of repute, in the areas of heritage conservation, community based approach and heritage tourism. The focus of her doctoral research was on the heritage of small and medium towns in Gurgaon District.

Shalini Bansal has done her post-graduation in Design from NID, Ahmedabad and has been involved for over 2 decades in versatile design projects and design management work across both large impact projects and private sector. Her startup brings together high-quality content, technology and user centric design on one platform to disseminate information about museums, heritage, art and culture. The idea is to tell authentic stories using simple technology and create immersive experiences. They have worked with many government and private museums in India to provide solutions for enhanced visitor experience over the last seven years.

Vani Viswanathan is with TARSHI, an NGO based on Delhi working on sexuality and wellbeing since 1996. She has conducted workshops and trainings on self-care and collective care policies and practices, for individuals, activists and organisations. She’s keen to learn about and explore how institutions and organisations can build safe, inclusive and self-affirming spaces for their members.