122 and where there is such a premium on time, are we frittering away our cultural capital? Even the two-hundred-year-old Indian Museum in Kolkata, which houses an extremely important collection of Indian art (most housed in reserve storage), reflects limited and archaic curatorial and display skills. In the 1980s when the museum raised a demand to build an extension over a lake adjacent to it, public outcry saved the open space, but lost the opportunity for effective, much needed upgrades. The National Gallery of Modern Art commissioned the adaptive reuse of the erstwhile Cowasjee Jehangir Hall to become an extension museum in the culturally vibrant Kala Ghoda precinct in Mumbai. Although there was a design competition for this, its realisation took another decade as public works departments and museum design were clearly antithetic and the final product was, as with most public institutions defined by the lowest cost and the cheapest material. This stands in direct contrast to cultural undertakings across the world where the finest minds are sourced globally and benchmark the achievement of excellence. Is it no wonder then that the National Museum and indeed so many others, have no directors, and continue to be consumed with their own mediocrity, unable to attract inventive and credible talented professionals. It is perhaps even more damning that despite a National Museum Institute housed in its precinct for over 20 years that should have trained a cadre of specialists, there exists an inadequate number of trained and recognised curators and there exists no clearly articulated strategy for building capacities. Worldwide, a museum curatorship is a coveted profession requiring academic credentials, curatorial training and continuous augmentation of interpretive and research skills. Celebrating cultural heritage of a nation requires mobilisation of the finest ambassadors of professional excellence. Whether it is collections management, research, interpretation, conservation, preservation or exhibition, we have fallen seriously short of establishing standards. Will the Museums, libraries and archives of India face the same denouncement as the Archaeological Survey of India; unable to augment professional skills or attract the finest brains, superseded by a National Monuments Authority, a curious creation which has appropriated decision making with no accountability. The protection of the cultural heritage of the Nation is a constitutional responsibility. With that aspect in rigor mortis, is it conceivable that we might articulate a vision for today, for tomorrow harnessing the aspirations of a burgeoning young India. Museums and archives require to be bright vibrant and interactive centres bursting with activity; a major educational tool all presented with cutting edge technology. Specialists academics and design specialists constantly require to reinvent the space and keep the institution at the centre of the cultural life of the country. Envisioning the Future With countless museums, heritage sites and immeasurably immense
resources, some on the brink of being lost, there is a tremendous opportunity to raise the bar, train and educate a new generation of cultural resource professionals to lead the change in transforming the way we appreciate and present our heritage. India ’s soft-power, in effect, is woven into this fabric. It is essential to recognise the issues at hand and engage in introspective thought to chart a constructive way forward on a multitude of fronts. It is equally important to be aware of the immense opportunity that the current state of affairs presents - to re-invent, reach out and bring about a renaissance of cultural institutions that will transform the way we learn, understand and present our living heritage in times to come. A five-pronged approach may perhaps be a good starting point to drive the resurgence and revival of our cultural institutions. These initiatives will provide the necessary platform for spawning cultural communication, education, outreach and research. A. An Effective Museum Policy Framework for Transformative Learning B. A Strategic Plan for 2020: Assessment and Rapid Implementation C. Establishment of a Private-Public Partnership towards a National Museum Foundation D. Indian Institute of Heritage Management and Leadership E. Museums as Regional/National Economic Engines Museum Policy Museums are evolving and transforming themselves and the lives of their diverse audiences. They are seeking new definitions, new approaches, new meanings and new opportunities to enhance learning and bring about sustainable change. The spectrum of projects, industry intersect, living culture and mixed use story-telling exhibit experiences offer a glimpse into the shape of things to come in the decades ahead, as museums continue to grow in myriad ways adapting to the changing needs of experiential learning and collective memory. What was traditionally within the domain of curatorial academe is increasingly being influenced by those considered “outside” the arteries of museology per se. A policy framework that addresses the current and future needs of our museums and allied cultural institutions is a fundamental requirement to set the mandate for custodians of culture and collective memory. Museum policy has to do with the legislative, financial and administrative arrangements made by central and state governments to establish and support museums, and also with the decisions taken by each individual museum to establish its own role among their stakeholders. The internationally accepted definition of a museum, in turn, is “a non-profit, permanent institution in the service of society and of its development, and open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits, for the purposes of study and enjoyment, material evidence (either animate or inanimate) of people and their environment.” The policy needs to address the need for survival, sustainability and success of our cultural institutions and embed it cohesively with collated functions such